Design and Construction
The FM was constructed almost entirely from metal and used a mechanical shutter. It was manual-focus-only, with manual exposure control. Being mechanical the FM needs no batteries to operate (though two 1.5 volt LR44 or SR44 cells are required to operate the light meter). The metering system comprised a gallium-arsenide-phosphide photodiode (with 60/40% centre-weighting) that metered through-the-lens at maximum aperture. Its reading was displayed by a "center-the-LED" system using vertically arranged light-emitting diodes (LEDs) next to +/O/- markers on the right side of the viewfinder that indicated overexposure, correct, or underexposure, respectively. The photographer adjusted the aperture or shutter-speed until the "O" LED illuminated to indicate correct exposure. This system can be traced back to the Nikkormat FT of 1965 and its "center-the-needle" system. The succeeding Nikon FM2 used an improved center-the-LED system until 2001.
For its time, the FM utilized a modern titanium-bladed, vertical-travel focal plane shutter capable of speeds from 1 second to 1/1000 of a second, plus bulb. Flash X-sync was at speeds up to 1/125th second.
The body has dimensions of 89.5 mm height, 142 mm width, 60.5 mm depth and 590 g weight. It was available in two finishes; silver with black trim and all black.
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