Nikon FA
The Nikon FA is an analog single-lens reflex camera (SLR) from the Nikon brand . It was built from 1983 to 1989.
General
With the Nikon FA, Nikon was the first manufacturer worldwide to bring a camera with matrix exposure metering onto the market. It was also Nikon's first camera with built-in auto iris . Another, newly introduced technology was the internal digital processing of the measurement data. As early as 1981 Nikon introduced a new range of lenses, the AI-S ("Automatic Indexing Shutter") Nikkor lenses, which enable the Nikon FA to reliably control the automatically set aperture and select the automatic program mode depending on the focal length.
The Nikon FA was offered in black and chrome, and a gold-plated special edition appeared in 1984.
Despite the technical innovations that were unsurpassed for the time, the camera was not a sales success. Some of the reasons for this may have been the initially too small number of units and the relatively high sales price of approx. 1300 DM.
The Nikon FA was well integrated into the mid-range Nikon camera system of that time, which also included the Nikon FE , Nikon FM, and later the Nikon FE2, Nikon FM2 and Nikon FM3A . Most of the time, the motor, setting screens and rear panels were interchangeable.
technology
At the time, the Nikon FA was presented in the sales brochure as the "Technocamera" and "intelligent multi-automat". The main reasons for this were the matrix exposure metering and the internal data processing with a microprocessor. The camera has a vertically running titanium lamellar focal plane shutter with a shutter speed range from 1 to 1/4000 second, plus B and 1/250 second flash sync time. The 1/250 second is also the "emergency time", which is also available without battery power.
With the AMP ("Automatic Multi-Pattern") exposure metering used in the FA, the correct exposure is calculated in several stages. First of all, the brightness values of five sectors into which the viewfinder image is divided are recorded individually by analog measuring cells. Sequential A / D converters convert the analog values into digital form. The type, light intensity, number of f-stops and focal length are read in from the lens. After determining the character of the subject, the parameters are compared with tens of thousands of reference images and the optimum exposure is calculated by the microprocessor.
The automatic program automatically uses a normal or a short-term program depending on the focal length of the lens. Even if the smallest aperture is not set, the camera tries to achieve the correct exposure by selecting a shutter speed that matches the aperture.
With the automatic shutter, there are 13 fixed time steps from 1 to 1/4000 s to choose from. Here, too, the camera automatically corrects the exposure time in favor of an optimal exposure if the correct exposure is not possible with the shutter speed selected by the photographer.
Aperture priority and manual exposure control are available as further modes.
A digital liquid crystal display in the FA's viewfinder provides information about the measured shutter speed. The calculated aperture value is only displayed here with automatic iris (S). Additional viewfinder displays are the working aperture, which is optically reflected in operating modes A and M, the shutter speed in a separate viewfinder area in operating mode S, a light-emitting diode as an indication of a set exposure correction and a flash readiness lamp.
Even if the battery that supplies the measuring system with power fails, photography is possible with a mechanically determined exposure time of 1/250 s.
Technical specifications
| Camera type | Single-lens 35mm SLR camera |
| Image format | 24 × 36 mm |
| Lens connection | Nikon F bayonet |
| Viewfinder | Fixed prism viewfinder, with eyepiece lock |
| Shim | Full matt screen with Fresnel lens and central cross-sectional image indicator as well as microprismatic ring (Nikon screen K2, exchangeable for full matt screen B2 or grid screen E2) |
| Exposure metering |
|
| Measuring range |
|
| Focus | manually |
| Exposure control |
|
| Exposure compensation | −2 to +2 EV in 1/3 steps, only possible with center-weighted measurement |
| Clasp | electronically controlled, vertically running metal slat focal plane shutter with titanium curtains |
| Shutter speeds | 1 to 1/4000 second, long exposure (bulb) |
| Film sensitivity adjustment | 12 to 4000 ASA in third stages |
| Film transport and rewind | manual, optional motor drive MD-12 and MD-15 |
| Picture counter | mechanical, counting up, self-resetting |
| Lightning contact | Standard ISO norm shoe |
| Flash control | TTL |
| Flash synchronization | 1/250 s or longer |
| Self timer | mechanical, 10 s lead time |
| Power supply | One 3 V lithium battery or two 1.55 V silver oxide batteries or two 1.5 V alkaline manganese batteries |
| casing | Copper- silumin- aluminum alloy |
| Dimensions | approx. 143 × 92 × 65 mm |
| Weight | approx. 625 g |
See also
swell
- Instruction manual of the Nikon FA
Web links
literature
- Günter Richter: Nikon FA . Laterna Magica publishing house, 1984, ISBN 3-87467-244-1 .