Amateur Photographer - UK 2019-07-12)

their complicated menus and choices of so
many auto functions, the FA seems almost
ridiculously simple. At one end of the top plate
there’s the fi lm wind lever which is set at its
stand-off position to turn the camera on.
Beside that there’s a switch for the four
exposure modes, the shutter button and
speed-selection dial. As well as stepless
electronic speeds this also allows a 1/250sec
mechanical speed, so the camera can still be
used if the two 1.55V batteries fail. At the
other end of the top plate there’s the fi lm
rewind knob surrounded by a fi lm speed
setting dial and another for setting plus or
minus two-stops exposure compensation.
A split-image rangefi nder in the viewfi nder,
interchangeable focusing screens, delayed
action, depth-of-fi eld preview and a multiple-
exposure facility complete the specifi cation.
As with the loading of most 35mm cameras,
the FA needs to be wound two frames before
starting to shoot, and here the camera has an

extra little trick up its sleeve. If the exposure

mode is in program or aperture priority and

the lens cap is left in place while loading,

winding and fi ring, other cameras might

be fooled into setting incredibly long and

inconvenient shutter speeds. Aware of this,

Nikon designed the FA so that the fi rst two

frames fi re the shutter at the mechanical

1/250sec and the automation only kicks in

at the true starting frame.

Metering with the FA

Until the advent of the FA’s AMP metering,

camera meters operated in one, some or all of

three modes. Centre-weighted metering gave

prominence to reading a central area of the

picture where the main subject was most

likely to be placed. Average metering set

an exposure based on an average of all the

brightness levels in the picture. Spot metering

narrowed the meter’s view to as little as 3° and

based exposure on one small, specifi c area of

the subject. Large areas of brightness or

darkness could overly infl uence all of these

metering systems. If, for example, a person was

being photographed in the vicinity of a large

white wall, the meter could be fooled into

thinking the whole picture area was brighter

than it really was, setting the exposure to

compensate and under-exposing the

person who was the principal subject. The

opposite was true if large areas of darkness

such as strong shadows were present, leading

to overexposure.

The FA’s metering, described in Nikon

brochures of the time as ‘multi-technomode

automatic exposure capability with cybernetic

override’, sets out to make such problems a

thing of the past. It does this by dividing the

picture area into fi ve segments: a circular

centre area, plus four segments at each

corner of the picture. As the shutter release

is pressed, seven phases kick off

in sequence:

‘It was the world’s fi rst camera with

automatic multi-pattern metering.

In 1983 it was revolutionary’

View from the top: Film

speed setting and exposure

compensation on the left;

shutter speed dial, exposure

mode setting, frame counter

and film wind lever on the right

How the FA divides the subject into five segments, each of which is measured separately