The Nikon FE is a bit of a sneaky, good camera.  It was designed to be used by professional, as well as amateur, photographers; often used as the back up camera for the venerable Nikon F2s and F3s, carried by photojournalists.  As such, it needed to be rugged.  It needed to be modular.  It needed a certain degree of additional functionality to satisfy the demands of the professional world.  As a result, the Nikon FE (and by extension the FM, FM2 and FE2) are incredibly reliable.  They allow the attachment of motor drives and replacement of focusing screens.  The camera's functions include a depth of field preview, self-timer, mirror lock up, and a multiple exposure lever.  Another additionally nice feature is that the film advance lever doubles as an on/off switch, allowing the camera to easily be switched off to conserve battery power - which in the FE controls both the meter and shutter.⠀ ⠀

There are four popular cameras in the FE/FM series.  The Nikon FE and FM are nearly identical, the big difference being that the FE is an electronically-governed camera (hence the E) where the FM is mechanical (hence the M).  The FE allows an aperture-priority automatic exposure mode, as well as an extended range of slow shutter speeds beyond 1 second on the shutter dial.   The FE2 and FM2 have additional top speeds up to 1/4000 of a second.   In truth, any of these four cameras will make an excellent starting choice; they are incredibly well built and designed.⠀ ⠀ ⠀

The FE/FM cameras are reliable; they will last for years and are easy to maintain and have refurbished.  They are simple and easy to learn, but leave plenty of room to know deeper.  Another advantage to these cameras is that the Nikon lens mount has remained consistent over the decades, allowing the use of most manual and auto focus lenses.  The only real disadvantages that we can think of are that the line of Nikon lenses have become more expensive in the last few years, due to the interchangeability among manual focus, auto focus and digital bodies.⠀ 

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The Nikon FE/FE2/FM/FM2 series of cameras might just be some of the sneaky best cameras Nikon ever made.  We all know how good the professional F series of Nikon cameras are - F2 owners, don't fret - we honor those cameras.  Today, however, we want to give some love to the FEs and FMs of the world.  They get a bit overlooked, but are so well built and well designed.   The FM2 is the kind of camera you can own for several years before fully appreciating how nice a camera it truly is.⠀ ⠀

All four cameras within this series are pretty similar, but there are a few distinct differences that we want to point out.  The FE and FE2 have electronically controlled shutters and are, therefore, battery dependent.  They also have the capability of doing aperture priority exposure.  The FM and FM2 are entirely mechanical cameras, hence the M in the name.  They still use a battery, but only for metering.  The FE2 and FM2 have higher top shutter speeds up to 1/4000, while the FE and FM  top out at 1/1000.⠀ ⠀

All four cameras have a vertically-travelling shutter that allows flash sync speeds of anywhere from 1/125 to 1/250, depending on the model.  They all also have multiple exposure switches.  The film advance lever serves as the meter on/off switch, and shutter lock too - a very nifty feature, unless you are a left-eyed photographer.⠀ ⠀

...We could go on.  As we said, its taken us a bit too long to really appreciate the sublimity of these Nikons.  If you are in the market for a really good, but less expensive, Nikon SLR, give these four cameras a hard thought.

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There are few more sublime combinations out there than a Nikon FE with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4.   In its simplicity, these two can do so much together.  They don't call it the "nifty fifty" for nothing.

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