Wieland wrote:
> What will Pentax do to beat the FM3A??????
>
> THE WORLD IS WAITING!
>
> The Nikon users are in heaven. What about us? I don't need a computer with
> motor, I want a
> REAL CAMERA(tm).
Sadly, and somewhat ironically, it may be that only a company that is doing
well with its "computers with motors" that can afford to produce a manual,
metal throwback camera recalling the classic era of the SLR (1959-1981, from
the introduction of the Nikon F to the introduction of the Canon A-1). Nikon
has a large base of established professional and semiprofesisonal users to
keep happy, many of whom have not been particularly sanguine about the
demise of the FE2, which was notable to them mainly as a backup body that
had TTL metering and a high snyc speed. The FM3A, the advent of which is
indeed interesting, is more or less the introduction of a new shutter--a
remarkable one which works manually without batteries but is electronically
timed with batteries, allowing aperture-priority AE *and* fail-safe manual
operation. If technically the shutter (a much more central mechanism of most
cameras than most consumers think it is) is the point, conceptually it is
that the FM3A is essentially a combining of the FM2 and FE2. It could have
been as much improved with a better viewfinder; the one in the ongoing
FE-FM-FM3A lineage is relatively sucky.
The true "classic" throwback manual-mechanical metal SLR recalling the best
of the old days as interpreted by modern technology has yet to be made. It
may never be. I agree with Weiland that it should be. It would be gratifying
if Pentax would do it. But I wouldn't hold my breath.
--Mike J.
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