By Charley. on 19th Jun 2003
Charley.'s Ratings| Features | 10/10 |
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| Value for money | 10/10 |
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| Overall value | 10/10 |
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 Charley.'s recommendation |
Good Points
Unheard-of construction quality, utter reliability, and no need to memorize computer functions!
Bad Points
Quality doesn't sell anymore
General Comments
I bought this camera when it first came out, and soon discovered that, like its forbearers, it is an exceptional shooting machine. It's been dropped, taken on a river rafting expedition (everyone else had disposable cameras), used in swamps, blowing sand deserts and extreme temperatures (hot and cold) without incident or problem.
I'd like to add that this camera is perhaps the only SLR available that's still built to older standard. What makes it cost what it does is not on the surface - beepers or blinking lights - but rather it's the materials and construction inside. Instead of the usual cheap plastic gears and transport mechanisms, the FM3a's shutter transport rides on ball bearings. Even the old-fashioned advance lever rotates on ball bearings! What electronics it does have are well protected from shock and heat. And though the hybrid mechanical/electronic shutter is new, it is still an engineering evolution of the long proven and reliable Nikon FE/FE2 and FM2n cameras, rather than an unproven shot in the dark.
My local camera shop these days complains that they must often replace electronic SLR bodies within a month or two after purchase, sometimes more than once, until the customer finally gets a good one. Sometimes the customer drops the camera, which is deadly to many of today's offerings. But sometimes they don't do anything at all to it, and it still malfunctions. They say that happens with all the current SLRs except the Nikon FM3a. They don't sell a lot of this model because people want autofocus, but when they do sell an FM3a, it never, ever comes back.
Nikon F75 35mm Film Camera
Nikon B3 Screen For Fm3A
Nikon FM3A Type E3 Focusing Screen
