Lucky recipient of a Nikon FM2! What next?

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expwmbat

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A dear friend just gifted me his late wife's FM2 with 50/1.8 lens. It's a wonderful gesture, and the camera is in amazing condition--the battery and meter even still work (it hasn't been used since she passed away in 1995).

I can't believe how compact and light it is--makes my Canon F1 feel like a brick! I think this might be my grab and go B&W camera, but I'm uncertain about the lens options. I like shooting 50mm and do regularly with my FD 50/1.4 and Sonnar 50/1.5 (on A7II). How does the Nikkor 50 compare? If I were to just go for a great all around lens for B&W, what direction should I head? Bonus if it's a good match for the Sony A7II as well.

Right now I'll probably just shoot a couple of rolls with the 50 to see how it feels (everything turns the opposite direction, which is weird), but I'm leaning toward picking up the 28mm (AI-s?).

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

Daniel
 
Not sure which 50/1.8 you have, a few are rated highly. I don't remember which though, sorry.

If you want to dive into the world of 28mm, go with a Nikkor 28/2.8 AIs, it is one of the best. Close focus, sharp, low distortion and priced reasonably on the market. Check the serial numbers to make sure it's an AIs.

B2 (;->
 
About the 28mm 'AIs or not'-the AIs version focussus down town 0,2 meters-all the other versions go to 0,3...
 
I have an FM2 (and an F, F2, FM, FE, FE2, N80, D90, D610) 😀😎😱

If its in good working order, its a wonderful body.

There are quite a few variants of Nikkor 50/1.8 lenses. I have at least 3 of them. They are all good, but some are truly excellent stunners. The Series E lenses are the "E"conomy line, but remarkably good. I have an AIS variant with amber coating that rivals all my best 50mm lenses (Zeiss, Leica, Canon, Minolta, Rollei, you get the idea). I think you're going to be happy with the results (assuming the lens is also in good working order).

I don't have a Nikkor 28mm lens (any more). I hear that there are some variants that are better than others. Seems the AIS version of the 28/2.8 is the one. I think the CRC designation is what you want. [Now you're going to ask me what CRC stands for]. Someone here can tell us what CRC means. Then go get one of those lenses.

Congratulations on your gift. I think you'll really like it. You may eventually switch from Canon to Nikon for all your film SLR needs.
 
I agree with all what has already been said: the FM2 is an excellent camera.
I recently bought a second one (first had an accident!). I usually shoot with a 50/1,4 AIS and when I got the second I bought the 28 F2.8 AIS CRC already recommended.
It's an excellent lens, with the ability to focus very near. Additional info about this lens here, where the friends from RFF are always very useful!
I'm sure you'll enjoy this camera!
robert

25495668351_e8f12285df_c.jpg
[/url]Nikon FM2/T.jpg by robert, su Flickr[/IMG]
 
BillBingham2 said:
Not sure which 50/1.8 you have, a few are rated highly. I don't remember which though, sorry.

If you want to dive into the world of 28mm, go with a Nikkor 28/2.8 AIs, it is one of the best. Close focus, sharp, low distortion and priced reasonably on the market. Check the serial numbers to make sure it's an AIs.

B2 (;->
Click to expand...

I'll second the recommendation for the 28/2.8. I did most of my newspaper work with one on an F3 and it was just spectacular.


Mario and a Table, Northfield, MN, 1987 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Lara, I-70 Overlook,Colorado, June, 1989 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

Congrats on the FM! I wish I'd had one of those instead of the F3, honestly.
 
Thanks for the great replies. I'm excited to use the camera, and the fact that it was a heart-felt gift makes it even better.

I'll have to check the information on the lens when I get home. I'm not sure how to tell, but it sounds like it's going to be great. I have been using the Canon FD lenses on my Sony A7II so that I have good overlap between the film and digital (I shoot a lot more of the latter), so this is a great way to discover and use some other great lenses on both film and digital too. Everything seems to operate really well and in beautiful condition, so I just need to run some rolls through (and think about how to land the 28mm).

The 28mm might be a great all around lens to just keep on the body all the time...

Cheers,
Daniel
 
Congratulations on getting such a wonderful gift. The Ais lenses have minimum aperture marked in orange as an easy way to tell from Ai. The 28mm Ais is indeed a great lens if you can get one and the 50 f1.8 Ais is amazingly good. I hope you make good use of it as your late friend would have wanted.
 
Update--the lens is a Zykkor MC Auto 50/1.8, which looks like a pretty cheap non-Nikon lens. I'll just have to take some pictures to see how it is, but that pushes me toward acquiring the 28mm when I can.

DJK
 
Hmm, keep the Zykkor, since it was a gift, but get yourself a Nikkor 50/18. They can be had pretty inexpensively. (But don't look the gift horse in the mouth, of course!)

In terms of Nikkors generally, you will want to get AI lenses for this camera -- the pre-AI lenses only meter properly stopped down. At a glance you should be able to tell an AI lens (or one that's been modified properly) as having a smaller second set of aperture numbers close to the lens mount (thus enabling you to read the aperture setting off the lens through a small periscope in the finder). The AIS lenses have these small aperture numbers engraved in orange.

Another lens to consider is the Series E (not technically a Nikkor) 100/2.8 -- very compact and light, and sharp. Reasonably priced also, since it's a Series E. The Series E lenses are all AI.
 
By all means keep the Zykkor. Never heard of it, but I used to always keep such lenses (3rd party, unknown quality) around if they came my way. I would use them in "dirty" situations where I wouldn't mind as much when the sand, mud, whatever got on the lens.

I see AI and AIS Nikkor 50/1.8 lenses for sale quite often at good prices. I just posted in another thread here on RFF about a Nikkor AIS 50/1.4 on the Portland, OR craigslist that is offered at $15. That's a phenomenal bargain for the faster 1.4 lens! Probably gone by now, but just gives you an idea of the possibilities out there.
 
KoNickon said:
In terms of Nikkors generally, you will want to get AI lenses for this camera -- the pre-AI lenses only meter properly stopped down.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind also that generally the pre-AI lenses won't even mount on this camera, unless they've been modified. The AI metering ring has a tab on it that can't be folded up like the earlier FM (and F3, F2, etc).
 
Uncle Bill said:
Congratulations on the FM2 gift. The 50 f1.8 Ais lens, even the series E is very good glass. I also recommend getting the 28 f2.8 Ais lens, along with the 105 f2.5 they are the best lenses in the Nikkor line up.
Click to expand...

Totally agree, and I would throw in a 55mm micro-nikkor, if you are into that. I picked up a first version (non AI version, 3.5 that had been AI'd) that has the built in exposure conversion and it is a lot of fun and super sharp. All 3 of these lenses often make me say "wow", even on my one Nikon digital body. For film I also recommend highly the 35-105 and Series E 70-200 zooms...
 
expwmbat said:
A dear friend just gifted me his late wife's FM2 with 50/1.8 lens. It's a wonderful gesture, and the camera is in amazing condition--the battery and meter even still work (it hasn't been used since she passed away in 1995).

I can't believe how compact and light it is--makes my Canon F1 feel like a brick! I think this might be my grab and go B&W camera, but I'm uncertain about the lens options. I like shooting 50mm and do regularly with my FD 50/1.4 and Sonnar 50/1.5 (on A7II). How does the Nikkor 50 compare? If I were to just go for a great all around lens for B&W, what direction should I head? Bonus if it's a good match for the Sony A7II as well.

Right now I'll probably just shoot a couple of rolls with the 50 to see how it feels (everything turns the opposite direction, which is weird), but I'm leaning toward picking up the 28mm (AI-s?).

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

Daniel
Click to expand...
Be careful not to touch the shutter curtains, like I did!

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk
 
love my FM2, with the Voigtlander 28mm 2.8 and Nikon 50mm 1.8 AI-S makes a very small kit.

Vics said:
Be careful not to touch the shutter curtains, like I did!
Click to expand...
why, what would happen?
i noticed that my shutter curtain on some spot is bent but so far no light leak.
 
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