Nikon FM10

Bhup wrote:
Nikon should never have built (sorry they never built it ) I mean sell
rebadged cameras. The marketing department had an inspiration when the
development and production unit were on holiday . they called up a friend in
China and rebadge some rejected Cosinas as FM10.

I don't know if the Cosinas were "rejected" or not, but this was not the
first time. The Nikorex F from the late 1960's was made by Mamiya.
It was a useable camera. It was replaced by the Nikon made Nikkormat which
still lives on in the FM3a. Was there ever an FM3 (no "a")?

The FM10 is definately a pivotal camera in history. It along with the
FE10 and the Olympus version started Cosina on the road to replicas,
which gave birth to the Voightlander (sorry about the spelling)
rangefinders and whatever they call their screw mount camera.

I'm sure by now everyone knows that the Voightlander rangefinder cameras
and lenses are not Leica quality, but they do fill a need. The Russian
Leica and Contax copies have not been made in a long time and the
small production run of Leica copies in made in China never caught on.

In fact the Chinese Leica copies were advertised as the last that would
ever be made and were 2 to 3 times the price of the Voightlanders, so
they may be very happily sitting on collector's shelves never to be used.

-- If you want a full mechanical Nikon with a shutter system that's going to
last say 40 years go for the FM2n the one with Titanium shutters will run
without batteries in all extreme weathers. Flash Sync 1/250
-- If you just want a good Nikon just go for the FE2 has the same Titanium
shutter its a no brainer. Flash Sync 1/250 TTL

The only problem with them is they will not last forever and there are
no new parts left. You have to hope that you can find a repairman that
has a good stock of junk cameras and your camera did not fail from
exactly the same thing all of his others did.

The youngest FM2n you can get is about 10 years old and the youngest FE2
is at least 15 years old. If you do buy one keed that in mind. You may
with luck, good maintainance and carefull handeling get another 30-40
years out of it, you might only get one roll of film.

It's a chance you have to take.

-- You say you have difficulty in low light.

The later F3 cameras (F3hp), 8008, 8008s, F60, F90, F100 have a "high eyepoint"
finder. They are much bigger and brighter than the small finders in
the FM,FM2.FE,FE2,FA,F65,F75,F85. You might want to look at them,

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
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Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:


first time. The Nikorex F from the late 1960's was made by Mamiya.

OOPS, they were made by Miranda.

Geoff.
--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
You should have boycotted Google while you could, now Google supported
BPL is in action. Time is running out on worldwide radio communication.

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:


first time. The Nikorex F from the late 1960's was made by Mamiya.

OOPS, they were made by Miranda.

Nope, Mamiya.

http://www.cameraquest.com/nfrex.htm


Geoff.
--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
You should have boycotted Google while you could, now Google supported
BPL is in action. Time is running out on worldwide radio communication.

In article ,
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
It was replaced by the Nikon made Nikkormat which
still lives on in the FM3a. Was there ever an FM3 (no "a")?

What do you mean with 'lives on in the FM3a'? The Nikkormat has almost
nothing in common with the FM3a. Well, the Nikkormat FT3 has the 'F' and the
'3' in common with the FM3a. And the Nikon mount of course.


--
That was it. Done. The faulty Monk was turned out into the desert where it
could believe what it liked, including the idea that it had been hard done
by. It was allowed to keep its horse, since horses were so cheap to make.
-- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

(Philip Homburg) writes:

In article ,
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
It was replaced by the Nikon made Nikkormat which
still lives on in the FM3a. Was there ever an FM3 (no "a")?

What do you mean with 'lives on in the FM3a'? The Nikkormat has almost
nothing in common with the FM3a. Well, the Nikkormat FT3 has the 'F' and the
'3' in common with the FM3a. And the Nikon mount of course.

The Nikkormat sure has a lot in common with the FM and the FM2. Is
the FM3 that different?
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
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Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/ http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
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In article ,
David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
(Philip Homburg) writes:
Well, the Nikkormat FT3 has the 'F' and the
'3' in common with the FM3a. And the Nikon mount of course.

The Nikkormat sure has a lot in common with the FM and the FM2. Is
the FM3 that different?

What do you think the Nikkormat FTN has in common with the FM2?

If we start with the mount:
- lenses made for the Nikkormat (i.e. non-Ai) cannot be used on the FM2
without modification.
- The Ai lenses that Nikon sells at the moment, do not meter with the
Nikkormat without modification.

- View finder. The Nikkormat has a type J screen, for the FM2, types B, E,
and K are available.

- On the Nikkormat, the shutter speed control ring and the ISO setting is
around the lens mount, whereas the FM2 has a shutterspeed dial on top.

- Mirror lock-up is on the other side of the lens mount.

- The Nikkormat has the DoF control button on top of the body instead of
next to the lens mount as the FM2.

- Needless to say, the Nikkormat has a completely different shutter assembly
(not even made by Nikon)

- I think the Nikkormat has a CdS lightmeter.

- The Nikkormat has a match needle light meter whereas the FM2 uses LEDs.

- The Nikkormat still has support for flash bulbs. No hotshoe though.

So, what do they have in common? They are both
- Manual focus,
- not-automatic,
- 35mm cameras,
- with an F mount.

Everything else is different. There does however seem to be an
evolutionary path from the Nikkormat FTN through the Nikkormat EL
to the FM, and then to the FM2 and FM3a.


--
That was it. Done. The faulty Monk was turned out into the desert where it
could believe what it liked, including the idea that it had been hard done
by. It was allowed to keep its horse, since horses were so cheap to make.
-- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Well put its easier to list the common elements we can miss out the 35mm
camera bit
So, what do they have in common? They are both
- Manual focus,
- offer only one exposure system fuly manual ( not automatic)
- with an F mount


so all in all they are very similar
----------------------------------------- snip
quote--------------------------------------
So, what do they have in common? They are both
- Manual focus,
- not-automatic,
- 35mm cameras,
- with an F mount.

Everything else is different. There does however seem to be an
evolutionary path from the Nikkormat FTN through the Nikkormat EL
to the FM, and then to the FM2 and FM3a.

In article ,
Bhup wrote:
So, what do they have in common? They are both
- Manual focus,
- offer only one exposure system fuly manual ( not automatic)
- with an F mount

Yeah right. If you put an MF lens on a D2X, you get a combination that is
- manual focus,
- offers a manual exposure mode
- with an F mount

Yes, it must be the irresistible urge to use AF and automatic exposure that
makes cameras with those features completely different.


--
That was it. Done. The faulty Monk was turned out into the desert where it
could believe what it liked, including the idea that it had been hard done
by. It was allowed to keep its horse, since horses were so cheap to make.
-- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Get a real Nikon used. The FM10 is a POS from Cosina and is available under
several different names. It is junk of the lowest order. Check out bodies
at: keh.com or one of the other reliable used camera dealers.

--
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home of The Camera-ist's Manifesto
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wrote in message
...
I'm trying to decide whether to replace my Canon FTb with a Nikon FM10. I
know that the FM10 has a reputation for being plasticky and cheaply built,
but my question is, is it _that_ bad, and from those who have handled and
used it, does it score well in terms of functionality, as a basic SLR? And
is it worth the price? (around $250 for the standard kit). Call me a
luddite
but I am really only interested in manual exposure/manual film advance
camears, and the FM10 is the only SLR retailing at a price point that I
can
afford. I have also heard that the FM10 kit comes with a substandard lens.
But I'm not too concerned about that as I'm hoping the Nikon name still
means something, and that, bad as it may be, I'm sure its no worse than
the
equally plasticky Canon FD35-70mm 3.5-4.5 I'm using right now.

I've grown quite fond of the FTb's tank-like build and 2+ pound weight,
however my main gripe with it, other than the battery issue (although I've
found that a plastic o-ring around a relatively inexpensive hearing aid
battery works quite well), is that the microprism-only focusing screen
makes
it very difficult and frustrating to focus accurately, especially for
finely
detailed objects and in low light. And again I have doubts about the
efficacy of the aging CdS meter inside.

Thanks
Peter L.

(Philip Homburg) writes:

In article ,
David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
(Philip Homburg) writes:
Well, the Nikkormat FT3 has the 'F' and the
'3' in common with the FM3a. And the Nikon mount of course.

The Nikkormat sure has a lot in common with the FM and the FM2. Is
the FM3 that different?

What do you think the Nikkormat FTN has in common with the FM2?

So, what do they have in common? They are both
- Manual focus,
- not-automatic,
- 35mm cameras,
- with an F mount.

Everything else is different. There does however seem to be an
evolutionary path from the Nikkormat FTN through the Nikkormat EL
to the FM, and then to the FM2 and FM3a.

They both fill the same role in the product line -- manual pro-grade
not top-of-the-line body. Dearly identical feature-sets.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com/ http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/ http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/