Additional Information on Nikon FM-10 Personal Comments

File Size: HTML Page (54k) File is BIG - Loading now ...

It is pity fact and one just cannot blame any follower that has voiced their dissatisfaction over the poorly featured spec sheet of the Nikon FM-10. It does not have interchangeable focusing screen features available as with the FM2 or FM2n (Although the same applies to FM and Nikkormat FT3 on the focusing screen section). It cannot accept any Nikon automatic film advance accessories such as the MD-11 nor the current MD-12 Motor Drive - this also means remote photography other than cable release method, many of the remote accessories designed to work with the motor drive system is not permissible on this camera as well. The lack of databack terminal and a PC flash terminal means it does not permit the use of any newer (MF-16) or older cord-based (MF-12) databack for data recording.

It has a poly carbonated body shell as compared with the robust aluminum alloy casing like those used in a 1977 Nikon FM or even the earlier Nikkormat; the meter coupling ring and the lever have been replaced with plastic material; it does not even has a ADR (Aperture Direct Readout Window) so aperture value used in exposure will not be shown inside the viewfinder, the hot shoe has only a main flash contact (The camera does not provides any PC-terminal).

Therefore flash ready light signal feature has been omitted from the feature list, the film rewind knob has no safety lock feature anymore and obviously, it also cannot accept any non-AI lenses. Errr.. can you blame anyone who has been yelling all these while ? A hawk-eyed friend of mine was even cursing: "... the FM10 and FE10 are not even mentioned in Nikon's official site ! .." IF we are using a 1977 Nikon FM or the Nikkormat FT-3 to compare with the 1995's FM-10, it didn't fair too good either. Strange to see Nikon has stripped the basic specifications of the FM-10 camera to such bare bone standard. It won't hurt too much to accept a work horse motor drive like the MD-12 (naturally, MD-11 will work). If the camera was originally designed for "third world countries"..The removal of the PC terminal is not logical either, since Nikon has not provide a cheap and economical auto flash in its line up (the SB-16B is just too expensive). At least with the PC terminal, one can still hunt around for some cheapo cabled flash units in the used market and more importantly, at least the FM-10 will have a 'poor guy' databack to work with (Cable required MF-12). I am not so sure if the dimension will fit a motor winder and since from ground up, it has not been building with a removable film back in mind. The omission of the ADR (aperture direct readout) can be considered as another cost saving attempt, and neither it is a popular decision because since virtually ALL Nikkor optics have ADR facilities and probably, the FE-10 and FM-10 are the only two Nikon bodies that cannot take advantage of it.

Features	Nikon FM-10	Nikon FM	Nikkormat FT-3	Nikon FM2(n)	OM 2000	Pentax P30T	Canon T-60
Lens Mount	F-mount	F-mount	F-mount	F-mount	Zuiko OM	KA mount	FD mount
Compatibility - old and new	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no
AI - including AF Nikkors	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes (OM)	yes (KA)	no (EF)
non AI lenses	no	yes	yes	yes	-	-	-
Mirror Lock up	no	no	yes	no	no	no	no
Self Timer	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Depth of Field Preview	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no
Multiple Exposure Lever	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no
Highest shutter speed	1/2000	1/1000	1/1000	1/4000	1/2000	1/1000	1/1000
Lowest Shutter speed	1 sec	1 sec	1 sec	1 sec	1 sec	1 sec	1 sec
PC terminal	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no
Flash Ready Light	no	no	no	yes	yes	yes	yes
Bulb, T	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Film Speed Range	25 -3200	12-3200	12-1600	12-6400	25 -3200	25-1600 (DX)	25-1600
Metering Range	EV 2 -19	EV 1 -18	EV 3 -17	EV 1 -18	EV 2 -19		EV 2 -18
Spot / Partial metering	no	no	no	no	yes	no	no
Meter ON	shutter btn	lever	lever	shutter btn	shutter btn	shutter btn	shutter btn
Shutter	metal	metal	metal	metal	metal	metal	metal
Motor Drive | Winder	no	yes	no	yes	no	no	no
Interchangeable Screen	no	no	no	yes	no	no	no
TTL flash	no	no	no	no	no	no	no
Auto/Manual Flash	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Highest Sync Speed	1/125	1/125	1/125	1/250	1/125	1/100	1/60
Standard lens (zoom)	35-70mm	50mm	50mm	50mm	35-70mm, 70-210mm	35-70mm	35-70mm
Dimensions (mm):	139 x 86 x 53	142 x 89.5 x 60.5	148 x 96 x 54	142.5 x 90 x 60	138 x 87 x 51	-	136 x 86 x 46.5
Weight:	420g	590g	780g	540g	430g	-	365g
Price:	US223 with 35-70 zoom lens	US150-235 body only	US180-300 body only	US265-325 body only	US200 with 35-70 zoom lens	US130-150 body only	US body only
Availablility:	new	used	used	new	new	used	used

Best spec within catagory

Alarming

Excellent spec

Other than the below-spec FM-10, It is such a sad state to see most Nikon SLR camera come with such a high price tag even as used unit. Are they killing the goose to get the eggs ? There will be less and less new 35mm SLR photographers while the market will be more and more competitive. The secondary used market provides a temporary solution to such dilemma, school boys, colleague and art students - essentially forms the potential pool for talents need to be given some attention. Anyway, there is always a product to fulfill a vacuum in the industry, the FM-10 may raise some hot debate and look as if Nikon got a hints of how the consumer's reaction to such idea. If I would have a choice, I would rather see oldies such as the EM or FG given a rebirth or let a third party manufacturer licensed to product a SLR with the F-mount. I felt quite upset to see the 'FM' product name being abused but If the company should decide if Nikon FM-10 will be here to stay why don't they do something to restore users confidence by putting some attention to their products ? There is definitely having a lot of room for improvement, neither it is wise to reserve them for an upgrade in a FM-3, because, again, we still require a good, reasonably well spec and solidly made entry model that carries a F-mount.

| Previous | Next | Specifications |
DOWNLOAD a COPY of the Main Reference Map
Camera Instruction Manual (3 parts)

| Back | to Index Page of FM-10
| Back | to Main Index Page of FM Series Models

| Message Board | for your favourite Nikon FM Series SLR models
| Message Board | for your Nikon Optics in a shared environment
| Message Board | Specifically for Dispose or Looking for Nikon/Nikkor Photographic Equipment

Standard production Nikon FM Series models:- Nikon FM | Nikon FM2 | Nikon FM2n | Nikon FM10 | Nikon FM3a |
Known variants:- Nikon FM Gold | Nikon FM2/T | Nikon FM2N Tropical Set | Nikon FM2/T Limited Edition | Nikon FM2N LAPITA | Nion FM2n Millennium 2000

Shared Resources: MD-11 | MD-12 | Focusing Screens | Titanium Shutter | Flash Units -SB-16 | SB-15 | SB-10 or other Options | Databack | Nikkor lens mount (related info)

Others:- Nikon AF-TTL Speedlights | SB-20 (1986) | SB-22 (1987) | SB-23 | SB-24 (1988) | SB-25 (1991/2) | SB-26 (1994) | SB-27(1997) | SB-28 (1997) | Nikon SB-29(s) (2000) | Nikon SB-30 (2003) | Nikon SB-600 (2004) | Nikon SB-800 (2003) Nikon AF-TTL Speedlight DX-Series: Nikon SB-28DX (1999) | SB-50DX (2001) | SB-80DX (2002)

Nikon BC-flash Series | Original Nikon Speedlight
SB-2 | SB-3 | SB-4 | SB-5 | SB-6 | SB-7E | SB-8E | SB-9 | SB-E | SB-10
SB-11 | SB-12 | SB-14 | SB-140 UV-IR| SB-15 | SB16A | SB-17 | SB-18, SB-19 | SB-21A (SB-29) Macro flash | Flash Accesories | SF-1 Pilot Lamp

Instruction Manual: Nikon FM (HTML | PDF) | Nikon FM-10 (HTML) | Nikon FM2n's User's Manual available only in HTML format (6 parts) | Nikon FM3A (HTML)
Specifications: Nikon FM, FM-10, FM2, FM2n and FM3A / Main Reference Map: (HTML) Nikon FM, FM2, FM-10, FM2n (Applicable to FM2T, FM2 "Year of the Dog"; Millennium 2000") and Nikon FM3A

Nikon F | Nikon F2 | Nikon F3 | Nikon F4 | Nikon F5 | Nikon F6 | Nikkormat / Nikomat | Nikon FM | Nikon FE/ FA | Nikon EM/FG/FG20 | Nikon Digital SLRs | Nikon - Other models

Nikon Auto Focus Nikkor lenses:- Main Index Page
Nikon Manual Focus Nikkor lenses:- Fisheye-Nikkor Lenses - Circular | Full Frame | Ultrawides Lenses - 13mm15mm18mm20mm | Wideangle Lenses - 24mm28mm35mm | Standard Lenses - 45mm 50mm 58mm | Telephoto Lenses - 85mm105mm135mm180mm & 200mm | Super-Telephoto Lenses - 300mm 400mm 500mm 600mm 800mm 1200mm |

Index Page

Special Application lenses: Micro-Nikkor Lenses - 50mm~55mm -60mm 85mm -105mm 200mm Micro-Zoom 70-180mm Perspective Control (PC) - 28mm 35mm PC-Micro 85mm Dedicated Lenses for Nikon F3AF: AF 80mm f/2.8 | AF 200mm f/3.5 EDIF Depth of Field Control (DC): 105mm 135mm Medical Nikkor: 120mm 200mm Reflex-Nikkor Lenses - 500mm 1000mm 2000mm Others: Noct Nikkor | OP-Nikkor | UV Nikkor 55mm 105mm | Focusing Units | Bellows-Nikkor 105mm 135mm Nikon Series E Lenses: 28mm35mm50mm100mm135mm | E-Series Zoom lenses: 36~72mm75~150mm70~210mm

MF Zoom-Nikkor Lenses: 25~50mm | 28~45mm | 28~50mm | 28~85mm | 35~70mm | 36~72mm E | 35~85mm | 35~105mm | 35~135mm | 35~200mm | 43~86mm | 50~135mm | 50~300mm | 70~210mm E | 75~150mm E | 80~200mm | 85~250mm | 100~300mm | 180~600mm | 200~400mm | 200~600mm | 360~1200mm | 1200~1700mm

Tele-Converters: TC-1 | TC-2 | TC-200 | TC-201 | TC-300 | TC-301 | TC-14 | TC-14A | TC-14B | TC-14C | TC-14E | TC-16 | TC-16A | TC-20E

Recommended links to understand more technical details related to the Nikkor F-mount and production Serial Number:
http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-153.html by: my friend, Rick Oleson
http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/lhhansen/photo/fmount.htm by: Hansen, Lars Holst
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/nikonfmount/lens2.htm
http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html

W A R N I N G: The New G-SERIES Nikkor lenses have no aperture ring on the lens, they CANNOT ADJUST APERTURES with any of these manual focus Nikon FE series SLR camera models; please ignore some portion of the content contained herein this site where it relates.

| Back | Main Index Page of Nikkor Resources
| Back | Main Index Page of Pictorial History of Nikon SLRs

| Message Board | for your Nikkor optics ("shared" because I do wish some of you to expose to other's perspective as well. Isn't it a sad sate to see photography has to be segmented into different camps from the use of various labels)

about this photographic web site

Home - Photography in Malaysia

Credit: To all the good people who has contributed their own experience, resources or those who are kind enough granting us permission to use their images appeared in this site. Mr. MCLau®, who has helped to rewrite some of the content appeared this site. Chuck Hester® who has been helping me all along with the development of all these Nikon websites;LarsHolst Hansen, 'Hawkeye' who shares the same passion I have; Ms Rissa, Sales manager from Nikon Corporation Malaysia for granting permission to use some of the official content; TedWengelaar,Holland who has helped to provide many useful input relating to older Nikkor lenses; Some of the references on production serial numbers used in this site were extracted from Roland Vink's website; HiuraShinsaku from Nikomat Club Japan. t is also a site to remember a long lost friend on the Net. Note:certain content and images appeared in this site were either scanned from official marketing leaflets, brochures, sales manuals or publications published by Nikon over the years and/or contribution from surfers who claimed originality of their work for educational purposes. The creator of the site will not be responsible for may discrepancies arise from such dispute except rectifying them after verification."Nikon", "Nikkormat", "Nippon Kokagu KK" & "Nikkor" are registered tradename of Nikon Corporation Inc., Japan. Site made with an Apple IMac.