Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/09/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I had the shutter replaced on my 1977 FM (also Lika Leica, to keep it on topic) a couple of years ago and was told that it was one of the last new FM shutters available from Nikon. They said that they would all be gone in a few months from that time. At least, for now, Leica seems to be keeping the parts in stock a little longer. Allen >Afterswift@aol.com wrote: >> >> In a message dated 9/25/03 6:28:11 PM, kenf@speakeasy.net writes: >> >> << So you paid $77 for a perfect Nikon F? Pretty damn unusual. >> >> >> Maybe my arithmetic may be off. I think I paid about $300+ for the Nikon F >> new with a standard pentaprism and f2 50mm lens, which I had >>converted by Nikon >> to AE for $30 when they offered that deal. The store in question >>was charging >> $600 for the pentaprism and $800 for the pentaprism and lens >>combined. I don't >> know what they wanted for an F body. But it seems the F is constantly rising >> in the market. Ever try to sell a used Olympus 4040 digital after >>the Oly 5050 >> came out? Want a real bargain in a new Nikon? Take a look at the >>latest Nikon >> FM family. I recall this baby will provide a full range of >>mechanical as well >> as electronic shutter speeds. I have no idea how Nikon did that. Leica Solms >> should have done it in the M7. I think the M7 furnishes two >>mechanical speeds. >> >> br > >I still have my FM from '77 when it first came out and it's just like a >Leica. (nod nod wink wink) >It has a battery which runs the meter. That's it. The similarities go on >and to be eerie it also only goes to 1000th of a second. Also it used >LED's to center the meter with just like an M6 vanilla classic or close. >It does sync at 125th though instead of our 50th so you can go outside >with a small flash and shoot something more than 5 feet away. > >The FE came out the next year with an automatic setting and silicon >cells - same sync. I didnt like the looks of it. I like the M7 though! >Wrong millennium! >The FM2 didn't come out until '82 and the FE2 '83. >These had a stop faster synced titanium shutters and faster shutter >speeds by a couple of stops! The shutters were changed to good old >aluminum at the very end of the decade. I shot my FM2 in the studio at >the mechanical 250th of a second sync speed not draining batteries. Lots >of film went through those camreas with those cheap MD 11 and 12 moter drives. > >The Titan FM2 was mainly made of aluminum but had titanium top plate, >upper cover, bottom plate, rear cover. No empty Krylon titanium spray >paint cans were evident. > >The High tech FA came out in 83 with microprocessor and a year before >the Mac and the M6 and the Death of Ansel. When did that Canon A1 come out? >The FG was an EM not made for the mass market and with better bells >and whistles. >I recall the FM ad campain used womens hands as if it were designed as a >"womens camera" or for people with small hands. Every photogapher I knew >had at least one. Few had small hands. Few were women. One was a women >with big hands. I think they owed thier existence not to a new womens or >small handed market but to the sudden existence of the revolutionary Oly >OM1 which made everyone realize it didnt take a camera the size of a >typewriter to expose a 24x36mm chip of film. And "it's the water". > >ANd that they could be more Like a Lieca. SLR Leica's. >And a lot lite-a and cheep a. >We tried to be HCB with them but our wide angles got in the way- 24's >or 28's most of us. A 35 was considered a tele to this group of people >here in 70's Portland. >As we know on the LUG HCB used 50's. >And Rangefinders. >I'd never sell my FM's so what its worth does not interest me that much. >I replaced the shutter at least once for more money then I could buy a >whole camera used I'm sure. But it wouldnt be MY camera. It was worth >it. The bulk of my body of work was shot with Fm's. I found Leica in >1990 and lost interst in the FM wavelenth. >Now listening to the groovy LM electro-magnetic spectrum. >LSMFT. >Lucky strike means fine tobac-a. > >Mark Rabiner > >Portland, Oregon USA >http://www.rabinergroup.com >-- >To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html