Nikon FA - Design History

Design History

The 1970s and 1980s were an era of intense competition between the major SLR brands: Nikon, Canon, Minolta, Pentax and Olympus. Between circa 1975 to 1985, there was a dramatic shift away from heavy all-metal manual mechanical camera bodies to much more compact bodies with microprocessor electronic automation. In addition, because of rapid advances in electronics, the brands continually leap frogged each other with models having new or more automatic features.

After many years of conservative designs, the Nikon FA was intended to be Nippon Kogaku's technological blockbuster, surpassing such worthies as the Canon A-1 (released 1978) and the Olympus OM-4 (1983) then pummeling Nikon sales. Nikon Inc. (USA)'s brochure referred to it as "THE TECHNOCAMERA". The FA did have one very rare and conservative feature for an electronically controlled camera. Nippon Kogaku's philosophy that a camera must always work when called upon resulted in the FA's backup ability to operate without batteries - albeit in a very limited fashion: completely manual mechanical control with two shutter speeds (1/250th second, marked M250, or Bulb) and without the light meter.

The FA was initially in high demand, despite its very high price - selling at barely 10% lower than the professional level Nikon F3HP - because many Nikon owners were eagerly awaiting such a technology leader. Unfortunately, early production teething problems with all of the sophisticated electronics meant that Nippon Kogaku could not meet the demand. The FA picked up a reputation for unreliability (for a Nikon) and ultimately did not sell as well as hoped because, by the time production got rolling, its technology was eclipsed in the public's imagination by the advent of autofocusing SLRs - especially the landmark Minolta Maxxum 7000 in 1985. The FA also marked the end of the road for Nippon Kogaku's electromechanical cameras. All future Nikon camera development would emphasize the computerization of picture taking.

Time has proven the Nikon FA to be very mechanically tough. Unfortunately, the complexity of all of its electronics made the FA less reliable than the other, simpler Nikon compact F-series SLR models, although still better than multimode SLRs from competing brands. During the mid 1990s, it was fairly popular on the user-collectible market and commanded prices ($500 in pristine condition) higher than when it was new - almost as high as the very popular, but much lower featured Nikon FE2, making the FA a relative bargain. However, since spare parts to repair any failed electronics became unavailable around the year 2000, the FA has become much less desirable to user-collectors, with a concomitant and commensurate drop in prices. Because of this, as with many other electronically controlled cameras, a working Nikon FA can be a bargain on the used market.

The Nikon FA is still regarded as one of the most fascinating SLRs of its generation.