Nikon Nikkormat EL Review

Good Points
Quick and easy to use. Accurate exposure meter(compares well with modern super-duper multi-matrix metering). Compact but solid, quality feel. Controls fall easily to hand.

Bad Points
No aperture value in viewfinder. Noisy shutter.

General Comments
As anyone would expect from a Nikon of this era, this is a well-made and solid camera - a bit chunky and lumpy, perhaps, compared to Olympus, but without the fragility.



The camera sits easily in the hand and all the controls are there at your finger tips (OK, so I've got big hands!). There isn't an aperture value shown in the viewfinder, but familiarity with the lens and aperture ring almost makes this redundant. The aperture ring and focussing ring position make shooting simple, fast and accurate. The only other controls needed are the wind on lever and shutter button - you can confidently shoot a series of frames without taking your eye from the viewfinder.



In manual mode things slow a little if the shutter speed dial has to be rotated, but this is defeating the point of the EL - centre-weighted metering and a stepless shutter give good results 99% of the time. If I want to use a manual camera, I don't pick the EL.



The depth of field preview button - so often absent in more recent cameras - is a useful bonus and one I use a lot when taking low light shots with wide apertures.



The only mild annoyance is the rather clangy shutter which tends to turn heads in the near vicinity - not conducive to good candids! Perhaps mine is a bad example and others may be better.



Overall, a very useful camera, particularly to anyone who already has a collection of pre-AI lenses.