Wow! Had a great find today while running around doing some errands for my “real” job.
While driving around, I happened upon a garage sale and decided to browse for a few minutes. Just as I was about to get back in my car and drive away, I saw it…
The metallic hue of a what appeared to be a late 1970′s era Nikon film SLR. Closer examination revealed this model was a Nikon FA with a Nikkor 50mm 1.8 AIS lens attached.
I asked the seller if it was functional, but she replied: “I have no idea, it was my father’s and he passed away about ten years ago”. I was not really too familiar with this particular camera, but I inquired about the selling price and was told I could have it for $35.
Well, I pulled out my cell phone and did a quick search, finding that, even in mediocre condition, it should sell for quite a bit more. And here is the thing, it looked to be in near pristine condition. There were two barely visible scuffs on the vulcanite, plus the diopter ring and flash coupler plug were missing, but aside from this, it was in great shape. No scratches on the base plate or top, the batteries were dead but this model can be operated manually and mechanically everything seemed perfect. The attached lens was perfect, no scratches or fungus anywhere to be seen. It even came with the original manual – a little dog eared – but complete none the less.
I offered her $25, and to my great surprise, she accepted readily – awesome!
After work I headed over to my local camera shop (New York Camera – no, they are not in NYC, but are located suburban Philly – go figure…). Anyway, I purchased a couple of LR44 batteries and a diopter ring and flash coupler plug from their used inventory (these little “trinkets” actually cost me slightly more than the camera and lens!), and installed everything. To my amazement, everything worked fine, the camera meters correctly and the shutter is good, it all seems to operate as smoothly as the day it was manufactured. They even had a used FA for sale in the store, and it was priced at $299 – body only!!
As it turns out, this was a pretty ground-breaking model for Nikon in it’s day. The FA was the first Nikon to offer full matrix metering (it also has center-weighted capability) and Program mode. It was a pretty expensive camera when it was released, selling for almost as much as Nikon’s flagship F3 at the time.
Here’s a bit of info from Wikipedia…
After many years of conservative designs, the Nikon FA was intended to be Nippon Kogaku’s technological blockbuster, surpassing such worthies as the Canon A-1 (released 1978) and the Olympus OM-4 (1983) then pummeling Nikon sales. Nikon Inc. (USA)’s brochure referred to it as “THE TECHNOCAMERA”. The FA did have one very rare and conservative feature for an electronically controlled camera. Nippon Kogaku’s philosophy that a camera must always work when called upon resulted in the FA’s backup ability to operate without batteries – albeit in a very limited fashion: completely manual mechanical control with two shutter speeds (1/250th second, marked M250, or Bulb) and without the light meter.
The FA was initially in high demand, despite its very high price – selling at barely 10% lower than the professional level Nikon F3HP - because many Nikon owners were eagerly awaiting such a technology leader. Unfortunately, early production teething problems with all of the sophisticated electronics meant that Nippon Kogaku could not meet the demand.
Here’s a link to Ken Rockwell’s review of this wonderful find.
Needless to say, I’m ecstatic, it’s a very nice early Christmas present, that’s for sure! I don’t know whether I will keep it long-term or sell it for a nice profit, but I can’t wait to run some rolls of film through this baby.
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