2nd nikon manual focus body?

[bevan.n.z]

Hi

Thanks in advance for any replies I really appreciate them.

Now I am curious as I have a nikon fm3a currently and am very pleased with it but am now looking for a 2nd camera body and wish to take advantage of the current lense I have. I have looked briefly in the sites regarding nikon bodies but I wanted to know if any of you have any inside info on a great manual body.......the one i had bracketed were the :

Nikon F2 , F3 , FE, FA

The main feature I am after is depth of field, a top shutter speed of over 1000/sec able to accept ai and ais lenses and a semi pro or pro one would be great....

Please give any ideas on which one of these beauties you would recomend??????
thanks again
Bevan.n.z

[another view]

None of them are bad choices, and I'd add the FM2, FM2n and FE2 to that list as well. Do you want an aperture priority automatic mode? How much do you plan on using this second body with flash?

[bevan.n.z]

None of them are bad choices, and I'd add the FM2, FM2n and FE2 to that list as well. Do you want an aperture priority automatic mode? How much do you plan on using this second body with flash?

Hi
I like the aperture priority mode and frequently use that mode and flash I dont really use much at all...so which of these cameras has the higher spec while still retaining that classic nikon manual body charm??
thanks

[another view]

That will rule out the F2 from your list, and the FM2/FM2n from mine.

F3: Really nice big, bright viewfinder. Mirror lock-up. Interchangeable viewfinders (removeable so you can look thru the top of the camera, like a waist-level finder on a Hasselblad). Built like a tank but not really that heavy compared to something like an F5 or D1X. Ridiculous amount of available accessories! This includes several different viewfinders, a 250-exposure film back, etc... F3's were about $2k US when they recently stopped being available but nice ones go for under $300 US all the time on ebay.

FE: Smaller, darker viewfinder but not real bad especially compared to some DSLR's. Very small and light. Has pseudo-mirror lock up via the self timer. Fastest shutter speed is 1/1000, can't remember what flash sync is - maybe 1/125? Lots of accessories available including a motor drive.

FE2: Same as above but supposedly the focusing screen makes the viewfinder a little brighter (never used one personally). Higher max shutter speed of 1/4000, and flash sync of 1/250.

FA: Adds Nikon's first matrix metering mode to the FE2 and a shutter-priority auto mode - for this you'll need AIS lenses, otherwise AI will be fine.