Nikon FE - Design History

Design History

Beginning in 1977 with the advanced amateur Nikon FM, there was a complete overhaul of Nippon Kogaku's entire Nikon SLR line. 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. The industry was trying to expand out from the saturated high-end professional and advanced amateur market and appeal to the large mass of low-end amateur photographers itching to move up from compact automatic leaf shutter rangefinder (RF) cameras to the more versatile and glamorous SLR but were intimidated by the need to learn all the gritty details of operating a traditional SLR.

Although Nippon Kogaku enjoyed a sterling reputation among professional photographers with their Nikon F2 of 1971, the F2 was far too massive, expensive and complicated for most amateurs and beginners.

Nippon Kogaku chose an unusually high standard of workmanship for amateur level SLRs. It kept using high strength alloy parts, hardened metal gearing, ball bearing joints and gold plated electrical switches, all made to precise tolerances and largely hand assembled, in the Nikon compact F-series. As a result, the Nikon FE could endure conditions that would cause virtually all other contemporary non-professional level SLRs to break down. A higher price was considered a fair trade for impressive durability.

The Nikon FE was a conservative design compared to its competitors. It can be described as a twin of the Nikon FM mechanical (springs, gears, levers) camera with precision electronic controls grafted on. Its unusual roots were most obvious in its backup ability to operate without batteries – albeit in a very limited fashion: completely manual mechanical control with two shutter speeds (1/90th second, marked M90, or Bulb) and without the light meter.

The FE's deliberately limited but tightly focused features were not intended to appeal to snapshooters with no intention of learning about shutter speeds and f-stops. Nippon Kogaku believed that advanced amateur photographers were not interested in every possible automated bell and whistle, but rather the highest possible quality and precision of control.

The Nikon FE was a good seller, but not as popular as more cheaply built and less expensive competing autoexposure SLRs, such as the Canon AE-1 (released 1976) or the Minolta XD11 (in the USA/Canada; XD7 in Europe; XD in Japan; 1976). Its design and functions were more similar to contemporary enthusiast SLRs such as the Leica R3. Time has proven that Nippon Kogaku's choice of simplicity over gadgetry made the FE tough and reliable, and it is now regarded as one of the finer SLRs of its generation.