The No-Nonsense camera. Review on Nikon FM2n

My first camera was a Canon Elan IIe - with all possible frills and feathers - eye-movement-controlled focusing, automatic modes, continuous mode, very high and very low shutter speeds..u name it and its there..

i was really thrilled about owning such a sophisticated piece of equipment and took pride in showing off my Elan II, fixed with a 100-300 USM lens, mounted on the newly acquired Silk Tripod. So, the first long weekend we had after my camera purchase, I carried it to Niagara Falls. I finished 2-3 fuji reala films, capturing the (slightly over-rated) beauty of the falls.

When we got back home, first thing I did was to run to the nearest 'premium' photo-processing shop (couldn’t trust the K-mart processing) and give all my rolls for processing.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked at the photos I got, most of them dull, or over-exposed, out of focus, bad framing...simply trash. I was really upset. When I recovered from the shock, I began analyzing what went wrong. I realized that I had not used all the features in the correct way. I had changed the metering mode and forgot to change it back, I had set the picture mode to portrait and forgot to change it back to landscape, kept in in aperture priority and did not change back to shutter priority etc...

Then one of my friends, whom I consider a better photographer, suggested that I take a look at Nikon FM2n. He told me that after changing a lot of automatic cameras, he moved to this no-frills, manual camera.

I was curious. I researched in the net for user reviews etc. and I liked what I saw.

now the problem was getting rid of my canon equipment and buying this one.

fortunately for me, one of my friends was planning to buy a canon for his sister. I didn’t think twice, barely three months after the purchase, I sold my Elan IIe,28-80 and 100-300 USM lenses to him at about 70% of the price I paid. Went to the city next weekend and bought a FM2n and a 50/1.8 manual lens from B&H Photovideo on 34th street.

Man! What a camera. as one of my friends put it ''Its a light-tight box that will expose the film for the duration u set, and at the opening diameter u set, and probably will make a good projectile weapon''. That’s it, nothing more, nothing less.

The difference starts from the feel of holding it. It feels solid – considering that its all metal casting, its no surprise. With FM2n, you have to set the ISO speed, Aperture, Shutter speed. Everything. After clicking your shot, you have to manually wind the film to the next exposure. Nothing automatic, camera does not think for you. You can take the credit of everything about your photo, but the same applies when you screw-up, you cannot blame the camera.

My photos are better now. These days, I show off my photos, not my camera.

So my suggestion, for a beginner photographer, would be to get a manual camera like the FM2 and once you are comfortable with the fundamentals of photography, upgrade to an Automatic SLR.

After all, greats photographs are created in your mind; the camera just helps you to translate it to a film.