The Nikon FA SLR camera which first came out in 1983, and finished production in 1987. It was revolutionary in many ways and a lot of our digital photography today has been influenced by something that resides right at the top here.
I'm going to break down all the different components of this camera, and where you can go away and start shooting with it, so let's dive in.
Understanding Nikon FA Lenses
Let's start off by looking at the lens. To remove the lens, you just need to press this silver button here and then rotate. This is a 35mm lens perfect for street photography, and it's the original one that came with the body itself.
The brilliant thing about Nikon is that you can use modern lenses with an F Mount. Therefore you can go ahead and shoot with a 50 mm or a 70-200 mm that you bought for your DSLR.
To change the aperture, you rotate the dials on the lens itself. So this particular lens goes from F2 all the way through to F22. Changing the focus is pretty simple and straightforward, you just need to rotate on this grip on the lens and then you're good to go.
What is the Close Loop Exposure System
The Close Loop Exposure System was revolutionary when the Nikon FA was first released. Once you have focused your shot and pressed the shutter, the exposure will be adjusted electronically in the camera itself. It actually exposes one stop down to compensate for how the light is going into the diaphragm of the lens itself, which is incredible, because every single time you'll get that shot spot on.
Back in 1983 there were a lot of photographers who didn't like that. They were kind of averse to anything new coming out, they wanted to stick with what they knew, and what worked for them. As such Nikon added this little button to the bottom left side of the lens.
By pressing and rotating it, it takes it back to the original exposure system that existed prior to the system that was developed in this camera. Therefore if you want to stick to the old school settings, all you have to do is use that function there.
I’m not sure if the close loop exposure system works with modern F Mount Lenses but if you do let me know!
Adjusting the Shutter and Aperture Settings
Let's have a look at the dials at the top of the camera itself, on the left hand side of the camera here, you've got your ISO settings, and you can just plug in what speed ISO film you'll be using, so for example, in this case we'll be using some Ilford HP5, you just lift this up a little bit and then rotate the red mark until you hit ISO 400.
If you wanted to bracket your images, that's pretty simple to do, depress and rotate the little silver button at the top.
At the top also on the right hand side of the camera, you will find the shutter speeds. The Nikon FA goes from bulb mode all the way to 1/4000th of a second. Ideally you should be using a dedicated light meter when finding the ‘correct’ settings for your image.
Nikon FA Matrix Metering System
The camera does have its own matrix metering system which was revolutionary at the time. It has continued to be used in digital cameras up till today. I'm not so familiar with whether that's the case with the mirrorless cameras but certainly with DSLRs has been used across all different brands from Canon to Sony.
For the first time, you also had ‘Program Mode’, ‘Shutter Priority Mode’, ‘Aperture Mode’, and complete ‘Manual Mode’ too. For anyone who has picked up a modern DSLR will know and often be scared off by these dials! My preference is to gravitate to manual mode. However most amateur photographers prefer to be in program mode.
Managing your Hot Shoe
At the top, you've got the shutter release as well as the hot shoe. Remember always to, regardless of a camera you've got, look after your hot shoe. Don't just rip off any remote that you might have plugged in at the top. Gently take it out cause you want to look after the metal bits and particularly with all the cameras. You don’t know if you'll be able to source parts for it, so bear that in mind.
Film Loading Basics
Once you've loaded up your film, to the first frame all you have to do is pull on the shuttlecock. Press the shutter and repeat until you get to the first frame. If you're careful and for example, if you load your film in a dark bag, you can actually start firing and get probably one or two extra frames on your roll film.
My advice would be to pull off the side of the box the the cover, and then slide it into the holder on the back of the camera. When you finish your 36 frames or maybe 37 or 38, press the silver button found at the bottom of the camera. Then once that's been depressed inside so you can't feel it on the outside, you can go ahead and roll your film and so just rotate it and then keep going until you hear a little click at the end. Once you've done that, all you have to do is open up and pull out your canister. Close the back and then send off for development!
There are some wonderful other little functions. There's a self timer, which is found at the front of the camera. Pull the lever with a dot on down and then once you depress the shutter, it will release, and at 10 seconds the picture will be taken. That's something for you to use if you want to do a selfie. You have also got a cable release option at the top and the left hand side here, there's two different versions, one which goes directly into here and also a cable release at the top here, which you can screen at at the top.
At the bottom of the camera, you may have noticed that there are some different things going on here. If you're going to be using the light meter embedded within the camera at the top, then you're going to need to have a functioning battery. Using a coin twist, open the silver tab. You will need two A76 batteries.
I would recommend investing in the A76 batteries, because there is a traffic light system on display when you look through the viewfinder. Red obviously means you are not advised to shoot the frame, amber it's exposed ok, and green obviously is good to go.
You'll notice on the far left hand side of this camera, there are these golden bits, which is where you can add a speed grip to your camera. The grip itself requires eight AA batteries to function and consequently adds more weight. I find that it comes in handy if you're doing a fashion shoot or you are doing some portraits perhaps in a studio, as such, I strongly recommend it.
When to Shoot with the Nikon FA
Use an appropriate lens for the conditions that you are working in. If you're doing some street photography, then I recommend using a 35 mm. If you are working with a singular person or a couple of people, then I would go for the 85 mm. Alternatively a 50 mm is perfect if you're not sure about whether you're going to be shooting some landscapes or portraits.
A 70-200 mm, especially if you're going to be shooting from some distance, would become highly recommended. You can use the newer DSLR F Mount VRII 70-200mm, obviously the auto focus is not going to work on this but the manual will, and you'll get some beautiful images for sure especially with that new glass that you might have.
The fact that you can use F-Mount DSLR lenses can be for most photographers a game changer. The ability to be able to use modern and older lenses easily on analogue and digital bodies saves you considerable amounts of money.
The Nikon FA is hardly ever talked about, you're going to find this camera online, at a very modest price compared to say the Nikon FM2, which is a very, very popular Nikon camera. In fact, I would strongly recommend investing in one if you are a Nikon shooter already.
You'll save a lot of money too. Generally these older cameras are really super well kept. It is a little bit trickier to find the black bodied ones with the silver bodied ones being a lot easier to find.
Finally, this is a super light camera to carry, once you've taken the handheld grip off, easy to use. Iif you've used the Nikon before, you know exactly how to use it straight away, It would just be seamless. It's lightweight, easy to carry, perfect, I would strongly recommend it if you're looking to do street photography, very easy to throw into your bag, and take with you anywhere that you go.