Nikon FM2N - black or chrome

K

kabooi

Suspended / Banned
Messages
284
Edit My Images
Yes
On wednesday I have the funds to buy myself this camera, but I cant decide between black or chrome. I know it's a personal taste, but what are your thoughts?
 
Mine is Chrome!
 
chrome ages better than the black ones ,,,mines chrome ,and ive got a black fm
 
donutagain said:
chrome ages better than the black ones ,,,mines chrome ,and ive got a black fm
Click to expand...

But does it? I like the way the black ones wear and show the brassing, mine has and it looks like it's had a good and productive life.
 
For me the older Nikons look better in black.
 
It is to a large extent personal taste but I meant to say in my earlier post that when new the black one was £40 more than the chrome. I bought the chrome and used the difference towards a lens.

I think many Pro's did use black ones, I have two very well earn FM's that have clearly had hard lives.

The question might be which of black or chrome might have had less of a hard life?
 
Mine is black and has had an easy life. That was the colour they had in the shop at the time and I prefer it anyway. That gold one sounds more like a radio station.
 
I like both but if you only have one, it's got to be black! ;)

Me - chrome FM, black FM3A and black F3.
 
BLACK

042.JPG


Just looks stealthy and professional. Plus some black insulating tape and you can totally stealth it.
 
Nar Chrome all the way it gives it that classy look :)
 
Most 35mm SLRs were chrome/silver in the 60s IIRC, but there was a shift towards black bodies at some point and people starting associating them with 'professional' photographers. I haven't a clue if there were any good reasons for this, or if it was just a perception. Does anyone have any thoughts about it?

Personally, I prefer the black bodies. They look good in mint condition, and I think they age gracefully as the brassing develops. Nothing wrong with chrome though. Herbert Keppler suggested carrying one of each if you were using two different types of film. It was a good idea.
 
I probably lean towards black too, from a visual point of view, though I think the chrome is harder wearing (not that it matters). Actually it might matter in one respect - because the paint wears off in a way that the chrome doesn't, it is easier to see if a black one has been well-used. Whether that is a good or a bad thing is less clear....a cosmetically mint camera often hides 'issues'.

This next point doesn't apply to the FM series, but on bodies with plastic top/bottom plates, they definitely look and feel better (and a bit less plasticky) in black. Things like the FG, FG-20, EM (though this only comes in black), and the FA (top plate plastic, bottom plate brass, for some reason). Probably because the chrome isn't really chrome, and you can tell.

I think generally black versions of all Nikon cameras carry a price premium though, so if you can't decide which you like more I would recommend going for chrome, as you'll save a few quid.
 
Last edited:
Black is always sexier for a camera in my book, unless the maker has a lot of silver lenses in their range which always look a little funny on a black camera. (I am looking at you 90mm silver elmarit on my M6!)
 
Back in the 60's black was seen as the cheap budget option compared to chrome, at least for Leica cameras. Also, being able to get the brass showing on a chrome camera is impressive (check out Winogrand's M4), anyone can get a black camera to brass. :p
 
I think the chrome is a very classic, elegant look which suits a short prime + body set-up quite nicely. Black definitely has its charms, and is a tad more stealthy.
 
Chrome.

The white "FM2" on black looks wrong to me
 
Gotta be chrome always ... classic and beautiful
 
Jao said:
It is to a large extent personal taste but I meant to say in my earlier post that when new the black one was £40 more than the chrome. I bought the chrome and used the difference towards a lens.
Click to expand...

A wise decision..the lens wouldn't care if the camera body was pink ;)
 
Last edited:
After a lot of thought a picture perving, I think I'm going to go black. It's just so beautiful. I'll let the thread know what I finally go for tomorrow. :)
 
JCoquillon said:
FM2 is for masochists and purists.
Click to expand...

And folk stood around in a freezing snowy Edinburgh courtyard getting pelted with snowballs because the angry students couldn't be bothered to wait for their intended target (the then secretary for education) to turn up hours late.

Finally he arrives, press shutter, clonk, nada, electronics gave up. Mechanical from then on. That was an Oly though, not a Nikon.
 
That tends to be more the fault of the battery - certain battery types are actually better for using in lower temperatures. The last time I shot with my K1000 it was near freezing and the battery refused to supply power to the meter, a few minutes in my pocket to warm up and the battery sprang the meter back to life :thumbs:
 
freecom2 said:
That tends to be more the fault of the battery - certain battery types are actually better for using in lower temperatures. The last time I shot with my K1000 it was near freezing and the battery refused to supply power to the meter, a few minutes in my pocket to warm up and the battery sprang the meter back to life :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Strange about the meter, as I can't remember a torch not working when it's "UK" cold and would think they would use similar power.
 
Maybe a stack of coin batteries works slightly better than one lone LR44?
 
freecom2 said:
Maybe a stack of coin batteries works slightly better than one lone LR44?
Click to expand...


Dunno? maybe cameras with AA batteries are better still......my Minolta SRT with meter has one small battery and if I can remember will leave it out in a very cold day and see what happens.
 
boliston said:
I find that after a while with the FM2 I kind of forget about the meter anyway. "Sunny 16 rule" is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.
Click to expand...

:plusone:
 
It probably was the battery, in the cold the mirror moved up but the shutter didn’t fire. Back in the warmth it went back to normal. After that, though, and maybe before, that camera (OM10) frequently under or over exposed despite sending it off to get fixed once . There was no obvious pattern – sometimes it took great shots, other times the exposure was all over the place.

So why, given that this thread is about Nikons, and I have three 35mm ones, does it make me want to get an OM1n?
 
boliston said:
I find that after a while with the FM2 I kind of forget about the meter anyway. "Sunny 16 rule" is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.
Click to expand...

True. I couldn't afford a camera with metering or a separate meter when I was growing up, and learned to estimate exposure quite accurately. I still do it now and again, just to see if I can, and I haven't lost the knack. I do find Sunny 16 a bit optimistic though. Wasn't this originally developed in California or somewhere that actually gets bright, sunny, weather? I find f11 at 1/125 and ISO 100 is usually good in this country, and go back to f16 in South Africa. Sometimes this can still give overexposure and I'll increase the shutter speed to 1/250 if the light is extremely bright.

Still, most B & W and colour reversal films have a fair amount of exposure latitude.
 
Martyn - I find sunny 16 a tad optimistic as well, my Sekonic tends to lean towards sunny 11 as well. Never had much faith in the rule for that reason - I always remembered what ISO400, f/5.6 1/60s looks like and that's about it!
 
freecom2 said:
Martyn - I find sunny 16 a tad optimistic as well, my Sekonic tends to lean towards sunny 11 as well. Never had much faith in the rule for that reason - I always remembered what ISO400, f/5.6 1/60s looks like and that's about it!
Click to expand...

The one thing about Sunny 16 is you have to be able to recognise the light availability well and relate that to the film you are using, but it is a lot better once you understand the process than some of the cheap meters that you need to calibrate using SUNNY 16. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top