Nikon FE
It seems that Nikon always wanted to have a camera for everybody. From the time Nikon released its first SLR (the Nikon F), their designers and engineers made cameras with real photographers in mind. Nikon followed up the release of the fully manual Nikon FM in 1977 with the Nikon FE. The FE featured an electronically controlled, vertically travelling shutter, which allowed the camera to have an aperture priority shooting mode.
Like its immediate predecessor the FM, the FE was designed to use the newly created "Automatic Indexing" lens mount that coupled the aperture ring on the lens to the light metering tab on the camera body. This made mounting and removing lenses a bit easier, and the connection between the two a bit more intuitive.
At the time, one of Nikon's main design goals was full compatibility. As the "Auto indexing" was a fairly new feature, Nikon gave users of their first generation "Non-AI" lenses an additional feature that allowed for their continued use - by flipping up the small, metal AI tab on the camera's lens mount, Non-AI lenses could be used with stop-down metering.
When the replacements for each of these cameras were released (the FM2 and FE2), Nikon made the ai coupling tab and ring out of one piece of plastic that could not be flipped out of the way, meaning older non-ai lenses will not mount properly on those bodies. For people concerned with the greatest compatibility, this feature should be of significant interest.
Unlike Canon's cameras with electronic shutters (the A-1, AE-1, and AE-1 Program) that wouldn't fire without a battery, Nikon gave its users a way to fire the shutter if the camera's batteries died. On the extreme end of the shutter speed dial, settings marked "M90" and 'B" represented the 1/90th of a second and Bulb shutter speeds. These speeds will always fire, even in the event of a dead battery.
Although some people refer to the Nikon FE as a "beginner's camera," the features built in to it are anything but rudimentary. Its solid build, instinctive controls, and classic look make it one of many cameras that can be your first and last purchase.
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