The Nikkormat EL is probably one of the most underrated film cameras today. Let me explain why...but first a bit of the boring details that all of us love. This camera was released in 1972 and it was one of Nikon's first attempts to create an electronic shutter. Now imagine 1972....
|
There you are, shortly after man landed on the moon, David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is all the rage, your standing there in your bell bottom jeans, platform shoes knowing that the future has arrived!!
But here is the thing, as a Nikon shooter you have just seen the Nikon F stop production in favor of the Nikon F2...but, while a tank of a camera (one of my favorite of all time) it was still...well mechanical. Gears, sprints and levers make the shutter operate with all of its limitations. We put a man on the moon but you were still making me shoot with mechanical technology...and this is where Nikon was really torn...they wanted to bring in the future of photography but they had just replaced the rangefinder dominance for the SLR and they did not want to lose their recent converts...you see moving to electric systems filled professionals with dread...a mechanical camera would always work but al electric one... |
But Nikon had a minor league company in Nikkormat, whose role was to be able to build more affordable cameras without threatening the Nikon brand of professional, top of the line quality products. Why not see what the consumer market does with an electronic shutter and see where it goes...
Out comes the Nikkormat EL....it featured their electronically-timed shutter ranging from 4 seconds to 1/1000. It has center-weighted meter enabling aperture-priority. It was a pre-AI body so it needs the ranging of the aperture lens options (the twist when loading a new lens). It had an all metal shutter curtain made by Copal. It is indeed heavier than other cameras of this vintage and it was a pain to take apart. The wires were soldered point to point so to open it up you had to remove a ton of them. But Nikon did learn from this and better solutions were found.
The point is that for the first time, a Nikon camera had an electronically controlled shutter worthy of the future, worthy of man landing on the moon, worthy of David Bowie!
Out comes the Nikkormat EL....it featured their electronically-timed shutter ranging from 4 seconds to 1/1000. It has center-weighted meter enabling aperture-priority. It was a pre-AI body so it needs the ranging of the aperture lens options (the twist when loading a new lens). It had an all metal shutter curtain made by Copal. It is indeed heavier than other cameras of this vintage and it was a pain to take apart. The wires were soldered point to point so to open it up you had to remove a ton of them. But Nikon did learn from this and better solutions were found.
The point is that for the first time, a Nikon camera had an electronically controlled shutter worthy of the future, worthy of man landing on the moon, worthy of David Bowie!
|
So why is it that I think it to be very underrated as a camera? Because these things are cheap today and they are a workhorse. Unlike many camera of this vintage, the camera's battery is readily available today (I bought the lithium version from Duracell labeled the 28L but if you want a cheaper option the 28A works just as well).
But why is it so undervalued today? I don't know, but its odd placement, below the mirror, makes allot of people think the camera is broken perhaps that is why. Or perhaps it is the old tales of the repair men complaining about those damn wires...or maybe it is because it is a Nikkormat versus a Nikon. I don't know but I do know that these things seem to work forever. |
|
|
At the end of the day, a camera is a black box and the quality of the image it takes is mostly determined by the lens, film and the shooter's methods for capturing the image. So a camera that works, each and every time, is cheap and can easily be powered with current batteries seems to be a no brainer.
I purchased a mint version for USD 85 and I have seen some beat up version going for around USD 50. To be able to purchase a trustworthy film camera for under USD 100 and get access to a massive line up of Nikkor glass and a wide ISO options from 25 to 1600 seems to me a gift from the film gods. The Good: This camera takes contemporary batteries, is simple to operate and has Aperture priority mode. It handles a wide range of ISO |
|
film and is easy to load. It gives you manual options as well and the light meter is easy to see and understand. The CdS light sensor is very robust and I have not seen too many of these things not working. Slap in new batteries and a fresh roll of film and get to it. Save your money and buy more film. This is THE camera if you want to get into film photography. Buy it cheap versus the Canon AE1 and take the USD 200 you saved and buy a bunch of film with it.
The Bad: Ok it is heavy. Sure. Some say they have seen battery drain issues with it. I have not and kept batteries in there (as a test) since January of this year and they are still going strong after nine months. So no real drain. Forget about having it repaired but frankly why would you? Just put it on a shelf and purchase a new one. |
|
The Ugly:
This camera gives you no options. You cannot plan to compensate the exposure on your shot, you cannot expose for a different region of the viewfinder and forget about autofocus. But the flip side of that coin is that the camera is simple. It gets out of your way and dares you to shoot it. This is like a Disco dance challenge saying...pick me up and show me what you can do!!
If you are getting into film cameras, and want to have some extra money for some film, this is the camera to buy. If you already have film cameras, this is so cheap it is worth adding to your collection. For a time, Nikon thought that the future was electronic but they were not sure, this camera represents their first, tentative step which would ultimately lead to the Nikon F3 and all future cameras.
This camera gives you no options. You cannot plan to compensate the exposure on your shot, you cannot expose for a different region of the viewfinder and forget about autofocus. But the flip side of that coin is that the camera is simple. It gets out of your way and dares you to shoot it. This is like a Disco dance challenge saying...pick me up and show me what you can do!!
If you are getting into film cameras, and want to have some extra money for some film, this is the camera to buy. If you already have film cameras, this is so cheap it is worth adding to your collection. For a time, Nikon thought that the future was electronic but they were not sure, this camera represents their first, tentative step which would ultimately lead to the Nikon F3 and all future cameras.
