page_title: Nikon FA
section_title: Features
hierarchical_section_title: Nikon FA / Features
caption_attribution_description: English: The titanium honeycomb shutter featured in the Nikon FA and other Nikon cameras. Suomi: Nikon FA -järjestelmäkameran suljin
context_page_description: The Nikon FA was an advanced amateur-level, interchangeable lens, 35 mm film, single-lens reflex camera. It was manufactured by the Japanese optics company Nippon Kogaku K. K. in Japan from 1983 to 1987. The FA used a titanium-bladed, vertical-travel Nikon-designed, Copal-made focal plane shutter with a speed range of 1 to 1/4000th second plus Bulb and flash X-sync of 1/250th second. It was available in two colors: black with chrome trim and all black. The introductory US list price for the chrome body only was $646. Note that SLRs usually sold for 30 to 40 percent below list price.
  The FA was the most sophisticated member of the remarkably long-lived, classic Nikon compact F-series SLRs and was built upon a compact but rugged copper-aluminum alloy chassis developed from the ones used by the earlier Nikon FM, FE, FM2 and FE2 cameras. The FM/FE series have only minor external controls and cosmetic differences, but the FA had a distinctly chunkier body and larger, boxier pentaprism cover to house its extra electronics. The limited-production Nikon FM3A of 2001 continued to use this body design until 2006.
  The Nikon FA is a historically significant camera.
context_section_description: The FA accepted all lenses with the Nikon F bayonet mount (introduced in 1959) supporting the Automatic Indexing-Shutter (AI-S) feature (introduced in 1981). The contemporary Nippon Kogaku AI-S lenses were the Nikkor AI-S, and Nikon Series E types. The AF-S Nikkor, AF-I Nikkor, AF Nikkor D and AF Nikkor autofocus lenses are also AI-S types, which will work too but for manual focus only.
  The FA could also use the older Nikkor AI (introduced in 1977) and AI'd Nikkor lenses, but in that case, the AMP meter and the shutter priority and High Speed program autoexposure modes would not work as well as AI-S lenses allowed (this is due to their non-linear aperture stop-down mechanisms).
  Nikon's most recent 35 mm film SLR lenses are not fully compatible with the FA: the AF Nikkor G type (introduced in 2000) lacks an aperture control ring, and the AF Nikkor DX type (2003), with image circles sized for Nikon's digital SLRs, will mount, but will not function properly. IX Nikkor lenses (1996), for Nikon's Advanced Photo System (APS) film SLRs, must not be mounted, as their rear elements will intrude far enough into the mirror box to cause damage.
  During the early 1980s, Nippon Kogaku manufactured approximately 70 manual focus Nikkor AI-S and Nikon Series E branded lenses. They ranged from a Fisheye-Nikkor 6 mm f/2.8 220˚ circular fisheye to a Reflex-Nikkor 2000 mm f/11 super telephoto. This was the largest and widest ranging lens selection in the world by far.
  Major accessories for the FA included the Nikon MD-15 motor drive (automatic film advance up to 3.2 frames per second, plus power for the camera electronics), the Nikon MF-16 databack (sequential numbering, time or date stamping on the film), and the Nikon Speedlight SB-15 (guide number 82/25 (feet/meters) at ASA/ISO 100) and Nikon Speedlight SB-16B (guide number 105/32 (feet/meters) at ASA/ISO 100) electronic flashes. The FA can also utilize the Nikon MD-12 motor drive of the Nikon FM and Nikon FE series, but the unit will not provide power for the FA.
  The Nikon FA was a mostly metal, heavily computerized version of the Nikon FE2. The FA was a battery-powered (two SR44 or LR44, or one 1/3N) electromechanically (much electronics, but many springs, gears and levers) controlled manual focus SLR with manual exposure control or aperture priority, shutter priority and programmed autoexposure. The FA was Nippon Kogaku's first SLR to have shutter priority autoexposure and first to have all four of the now standard PASM exposure modes. The FA actually had two programmed modes: a normal mode and a High Speed mode that automatically biased toward faster shutter speeds whenever an AI-S compatible lens (including Series E) of 135 mm or longer focal length was mounted.
  Unlike the other compact F-series SLRs, the FA used a plastic top plate: fiberglass reinforced polycarbonate for the black bodies, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) for the chrome ones. The FA also used the ultra-fast, bearing-mounted, honeycomb-patterned, titanium-bladed shutter and through-the-lens (TTL) off-the-film (OTF) electronic flash automation of the FE2, but added a digital liquid crystal display (LCD) information panel at the top left of the viewfinder to indicate the readings of the built-in, open aperture, through-the-lens (TTL) light meter versus the actual camera settings. Depending on the set exposure mode, the LCD would display +/– over/underexposure markers, HI/LO out of metering range warnings, shutter speed and/or f-stop. Unfortunately, the LCD could not be illuminated in low ambient light situations. The FA also had a removable finger grip, similar to the one introduced on the Nikon FG, and an eyepiece blind. However, the FA's real claim to fame was the AMP meter.
  AMP used a light meter with two segmented silicon photodiodes to divide the field of view into five segments: the center and the four outer quadrants. The readings of the various segments would be analyzed by a four-bit microchip computer (with a 524 kHz central processing unit (CPU) and 8 KB of memory) programmed to look for exposure errors 
caption: The FA's honeycomb titanium shutter
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