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Nikon FM s/n 2101313
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The FM was one of two compact SLRs introduced by Nikon to compete in the consumer category of SLR systems with the Olympus OM line of cameras. The FM model was a fully mechanical body, with a TTL center-weighted gallium arsenide phosphide photodiode light meter that used Nikon's now-classic 60/40 percent center-weighted metering pattern. The auto-exposure counterpart to the FM was the FE, which had a match-needle light metering system,and a very accurate electronically-timed shutter that allowed either aperture-priority automatic operation,or manually adjusted match-needle exposure metering. Nikon, in introducing the FM, was responding to customer interest in a full-featured but compact SLR system. The FM was much smaller than the professional F and F2 line of Nikon SLRs, but retained the traditional rugged metal construction of its predecessors. Early production FM's had a knurled rotating collar/switch located concentrically around the shutter release button; this switch functioned as a shutter release lock when the camera was used alone; however,when either a Motor Drive MD-11 or MD-12 was attached, the switch was supposed to be turned after attaching the motor drive but BEFORE turning on the MD-11 or MD-12. Rotating this concentric switch to the ON position after the motor drive had been mounted and then turned ON would immediately lock up the camera,rendering the camera inoperable, and it was then necessary to remove the MD-11 or MD-11 from the camera base,and to touch the motor drive's exposed contacts with a penny to clear the jam caused by the out-of-synch camera/motor combination. Nikon FM's made after about 1979 or so dispensed with the rotating switch around the shutter release,and were not afflicted by this awkward mechanical/electric problem when using either MD-11 or MD-12 units. On these later production FM bodies, the shutter release lock was integrated into the film advance lever; quite logically,when the film advance lever was pressed close to the camera body's top deck,the shutter was locked,while pulling the advance lever away from the body disengaged the shutter lock.
