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“The Nikon FM3a 35mm SLR camera has been a fabulous...”

written by Perry Munson on 23/01/2006

Good Points
The Nikon FM3a works all the time. If the batteries go, you can just guess the exposure like a real photographer and get a great picture by bracketing.

I love the brightness of the viewfinder, and the ease of using the match-needle feature when I run it on manual.

This camera takes fabulous pictures, and I bought a Nikon (real glass) zoom lens that goes up to 105. The camera deserves a real lens.

It has a wonderful feel and fits my medium-sized hands perfectly. Everything seems to be pretty much in the right location. Dials are big with white numbers and letters, and will enable us to keep shooting into our later years.

Bad Points
I do not like the f-stop ring. It is too small and far back against the camera body. That is a function of the lens, but still a bit of a problem. When loading film, the uptake spool works, but I am insecure with it because there are just two little hooks that catch the film. The under/over exposure knob is a bit hard to set. If you want to simply shoot one shot under or over, it is easier to click it off automatic and use manual and match the needle. If you were in an environment where you might want to always shoot just a bit under most of the time, it would be OK.

General Comments
The Nikon FM3a 35mm SLR camera has been a fabulous replacement for my old Fujica 701, which, incidentally, still works perfectly. I bought it because it may well be the last high-quality manual SLR on this planet. I expect it to last me long enough so that one of you will be able to buy it in great shape when I am gone.