Early on a sunny autumn Saturday, I went for a walk around the neighbourhood to experiment with Ilford Delta 100, a new lens, and a Red 25 filter.
I started my film photography journey in the spring of 2022. I have followed a three-pronged approach to learning film photography: I bought as many different films as I could, I read as many books and articles as I could, and I brought a camera everywhere.
I got my first camera in 1966, it was a plasticky grey Ilford Sprite. I took mostly terrible photos on this little camera, but some were quite good, capturing the look of the time in swinging London. The Ilford gave way to something more substantial in my teens when I got a Leica IIIC with 3.5 Elmar. I was into street photography at the time, and wandered the West End of London looking for interesting subjects. I got some good snaps, sometimes selling my pictures to the tabloids if I got something interesting. The Mirror usually brought the whole roll unseen once they got to know you.
I’ve heard the Nikon FM3A being described as “The most advanced manual focus SLR camera ever”, “Nikons mechanical epitome”, and “The Perfect Desert Island Camera” by Anil MISTRY (Link). Nice write up Anil, it was your article that finally made me pull the trigger on mine.
Dang, this lens is heavy. It seems to pull on the body of the FM3a as if it’s trying to escape using gravity as a weapon and 900g as ammunition. But little does it know that although the FM3A is light in comparison (about 600g) it too is built like a nuclear bunker.
Last year I wrote a short piece for 35mmc as part of the “5 frames with” series. The camera I used was my Nikon Fm3a with the Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS lens- a combination that I just adore.
During the writing of it, I realized that if I could only have one camera and one lens forever, then this would be it. I also shoot with a Leica M7, a Contax Rts ii , an Olympus Om2 and a whole load of other medium formats and compacts. And I love them all to bits, but for me, Nikon Fm3a just nails everything beautifully for me and I’ve found myself using it more and more as my main go-to street portrait camera
