Nikon FM10 Film SLR Camera: A Hands-on Review

How I Came to Own a Nikon FM10

One of my guilty pleasures is window shopping for camera gear. When I can’t do it in person or don’t want to be staring into cyberspace, I have a book that fills the gap at least where Nikon camera gear is concerned. When I pull my copy of Peter Braczko’s Complete Nikon System: An Illustrated Equipment Guide off my bookshelf, my wife will sometimes smile and jokingly say, “Time to look for what to get next!”

I feel pretty comfortable with what I have, so reading Braczko’s incredibly detailed survey of what Nikon produced during the second half of the twentieth century is more an exercise of admiration rather than envy. But in the spring of 2023, when I first encountered Braczko’s book, there was one page that switched on the part of my brain that imagines how I might put such-and-such a thing into use.

At the time, I had just sold my Kodak Ektar H35 half-frame film camera. It was fun to shoot with while I had it. But after putting only five rolls of film through it, I grew frustrated with its shortcomings. I still wanted a cheap knockaround film camera, but I wanted something with better optical quality. The Nikon FM10 seemed to fit the bill nicely. Besides, there was a nostalgic Gen-X appeal about it, too.

Seeing something that’s neat is one thing, but actually getting an example for a decent price is often the harder part especially when that thing is no longer in production.

After some casual searches on eBay every now and again, I found my example. For only $27 shipped to my door, I became the proud new owner of a not-so-carefully-used but still perfectly functional Nikon FM10 with its matching 35-70mm f/3.5-4.8 zoom lens. After a little surface cleaning, the camera looked great.

Lineage

As with several mass-produced astronomical telescopes, it seems the Nikon FM10 represents but one iteration of a base model that was produced by a single manufacturer who badged it under several different other brand names on behalf of other better-known camera companies.

In this case, Cosina was that manufacturer. As reported by Wikipedia, Camera-wiki.org, and several other websites, three successive models—the CT-1, CT-1A, and CT1 Super—spawned a dizzying array of clones:

• Nikon FM10.
• Olympus OM2000.
• Miranda MS-1 Super.
• Petri GX-1 Super.
• Revue SC 4.
• Chinon CM-7.
• Ricoh KR-5 Super II.
• Canon T60.
• Hanimex DR-1 Super.
• Numerous Vivitar SLRs.
• Perhaps many others...

One could probably add the Voigtlander Bessa L to that list. To my eye, it looks like yet another Cosina CT-1/CT-1A/CT1 Super clone but without a viewfinder. Have a look at this 35mmc.com article and this piece on analog.cafe, for instance. Given the fact that Cosina bought the rights to the Voigtlander name some time ago, I can only imagine that the Voigtlander Bessa L was produced in a Cosina factory. If you have the name, why not use it?

As far as the Nikon FM10 is concerned, production and sales lasted from 1995 until at least 2015, as reported by Camera-wiki.org, if not as late as 2022, as reported by Wikipedia.

If availability of new FM10s really did last that long—and I confess that I would be rather surprised if production for any non-Leica film camera reached that far into the digital age—the example I own (serial number 2662XXX) perhaps dates from the early to mid-2010s. That basically makes it fresh off the assembly line especially in the context of most other film SLRs.

Camera Body

There’s no doubt that the Nikon FM10 is but one iteration of an economy camera model that served as the template for several other rebrandings. As such, one might have rather limited expectations for it. And one would indeed be justified to think that way. Still, the Nikon FM10’s overall plasticky finish oddly satisfies me. Using it is almost like driving a Chevy Chevette and being wowed by its ability to get up and go on the highway.

In his review of the Nikon FM10, Ronald Hogenboom writes, “I would even go as far as to claim that the FM10 feels like an extension of me.” I completely understand and agree with him.

To be sure, the Nikon FM10 is by no means a professional F-series Nikon. Upon operating it, the feeling one gets with the camera in hand underscores that. The vertically-travelling Copal square shutter actuates with a dry and rather audible clack-clack sound. The movement of the metal shutter curtains and reflex mirror is just as loud as my Nikon F, but that movement announces itself to the world in a more penetrating way than what the much silkier Nikon F has to say upon making an exposure. The film advance lever moves smoothly and effortlessly, and it gives the photographer assurance that it’s doing its job just fine. But it also gives off a brittle tick-tick-tick sound that raises questions about what exactly is going on inside the camera body. The FM10’s depth of preview control lever is there—and its very presence is a major checkmark in its favor considering that most other cameras of this grade simply lack it—but its operation has somewhat of a flimsy, spongy feeling. The same can be said for the shutter speed dial.

Overall, the camera feels low-end in certain bad ways. But in another respect, those characteristics are somehow assets. Spending a day with a chunky 1960s-era film SLR strapped around one’s neck drives home the virtues of a compact and lightweight film camera.

And that plastic finish is actually only skin deep. The Nikon FM10 has a metal chassis that is plainly visible upon opening the film compartment door. Upon closer examination, it turns out this camera has tougher guts than its cheap mid-1990s champaign-colored outward appearance may lead one to believe.

In hand, the camera does not feel hollow like so many plastic fantastics out there. The Nikon FM10 has a good weight to it without feeling too heavy.

The light meter’s indicator, which is visible on the left side in the viewfinder, is simple and easy to understand. A green LED light signals correct exposure, and red plus and minus indicators on top and bottom indicate over and underexposure. You meter a scene’s light either by a shutter button half-push or by depressing a separate button on the other side of the camera near the lens mount. The center-weighted meter is powered by two ubiquitous LR44 alkaline or SR44 silver batteries that load into the bottom of the camera. Since the only thing those batteries power is the light meter, and since that light meter remains on only when you engage it, they last forever. Especially if they are kept inside the camera for a long period of time, your primary concern will probably be battery corrosion more than anything else.

Otherwise, the camera is completely mechanical. For me, this is a huge thing. Simple is better. I often have a hard time trusting electronics in mass-produced cameras from the 1980s and 90s.

In addition to the depth of field preview lever (such as it is), the FM10 has a self-timer and a double exposure lever both of which I’ve never used. But a lot of cheap SLRs don’t have features like that. It can also be mounted on a tripod equipped with a typical 1/4-20 screw, and the shutter button has standard threading for a cable release.

I shoot with eyeglasses on, and I have no problem seeing the entire frame of the viewfinder. The built-in, non-removable focusing screen has both split-image and micro-prism focusing aids.

One word of caution: I was fortunate to end up with an example with a foam mirror shock pad and light seals that were still supple. I imagine that one of the first points of failure on an FM10 would be these foam parts. Be sure to ask about their condition before purchase.

In his Complete Nikon System (p. 83), Peter Braczko writes that the Nikon FM10 has a plastic bayonet lens mount. That is simply not true. My example and every other one I’ve seen in sales listings have all-metal lens mounts.

More generally, Braczko unfairly dumps on the FM10 by enumerating all of its apparent shortcomings: no interchangeable viewfinder or viewing screen, no automatic DX coding, no display of exposure settings in the viewfinder, no flash cable socket (there is a built-in flash hot shoe), no TTL flash, no matrix metering, no motor drive coupling, and so on. But honestly, the photographer who wanted any of these features would never have reached for a Nikon FM10.

Braczko throws it a bone by writing that “it has the advantage of being very simple and easy to handle.” And indeed it does. It was designed to be that way. Given most shooting scenarios, what more could someone ask?

Lenses

If I’ve learned one thing about photography, it’s that a camera body is essentially nothing more than a holder for a medium that records light. Whether that medium is a roll of film or a digital sensor, all that the camera body is really doing is controlling how light is exposed to that medium. It does so in two basic ways: housing a shutter mechanism and holding a lens.

The length of time a shutter exposes the recording medium to light is obviously critical. But the character of an image is far more a function of the lens. And this is where the Nikon FM10 really shines.

But first, let’s have a look at what the camera originally came with.

“Nikkor” 35-70mm f/3.5-4.8 Zoom Lens

Along with a carrying case and neck strap, new FM10s were packaged with a capable yet rather basic 35-70mm f/3.5-4.8 zoom lens. I deliberately put the term Nikkor in figurative quotes. (I suppose I could also be a snob and put the term Nikon in quotes when referencing the not-Nikon-produced “Nikon” FM10, but I’m only a snob where lenses are concerned.) Like the camera body that it came with, this ostensibly Nikkor-branded lens also appears to find its lineage in Cosina’s offerings.

It’s highly unlikely that Nikon manufactured this lens. After a close look at all the many CT-1 variations I list above, one may see strong resemblances in the kit zoom lenses that are often attached to them. This discussion thread on pentaxforums.com, for instance, describes a Cosina (Vivitar) MC Macro 35-70mm f/3.5-4.8 zoom lens that is almost certainly the basis for the clone that is the “Nikkor” 35-70mm f/3.5-4.8 zoom lens. I’ve also seen images online depicting the Ricoh KR-5 Super II and the Olympus OM2000 both with very similar zoom lenses.

The 35-70mm f/3.5-4.8 zoom lens shares similarities with Nikon’s Series E lenses in that it lacks a claw that engages with the older Photomic viewfinder’s light meter indexing mechanism. It also has the little AI-S notch on the lens bayonet ring, though the FM10 camera body doesn’t have the corresponding linkage for shutter priority and other auto-exposure features. All of the pictures I’ve seen of the more automated Nikon FE10 also lack this linkage.

Interestingly, the serial numbers for mated Nikon FM10 camera bodies and 35-70mm zoom lenses match (almost). My camera body’s serial number is 2662XXX and the lens’s is 5662XXX, the “XXX” representing the last three digits that are identical between the two. (Sorry, but I’m always a little reluctant to reveal specific serial numbers for my gear online.) This is yet another indication that both the camera body and the lens were likely manufactured by Cosina and brought together in the same factory. If this is an important detail for you, keep an eye out for that. Some examples listed for sale have mismatched serial numbers between camera body and lens.

Generally speaking, I’m not a big fan of zoom lenses with variable minimum apertures. I never really know what F-number I’m actually shooting at when I’m out and about, and I have to rely on the built-in light meter more than I care to when I’m zoomed in at 50 or 70mm.

A bigger concern is this lens’s maximum aperture, which ranges from f/3.5 to 4.8 depending on the selected focal length. This makes image brightness in the viewfinder rather dim especially on the long end of the zoom range, and achieving focus can be challenging as a result. For subjects under bright outdoor sunlight, viewfinder illumination may be adequate enough. But for interior shots, I find that the split-image rangefinder on the built-in focusing screen tends to black out. A faster lens will certainly offer more brightness in the viewfinder and will make composition and focusing much easier.

But those few complaints aside, the image quality I’ve gotten from this 35-70mm f/3.5-4.8 zoom lens is fine. It’s not spectacular or even notable but instead just fine especially for casual snapshots. Personally speaking, its value for me lies mostly in the way it gives me a bit of nostalgia for that 1990s film shooting experience. Although it’s not a perfect match in terms of its maximum aperture, the focal length range reminds me what it was like to shoot with my Olympus Stylus Zoom and its fixed 35-70mm f/4.5-6.9 lens when I was in my late teens and early 20s.

I’ll let these sample images speak for themselves:

If you’re looking for the unique character of an art lens, you won’t find it here. But if you’re after something for easygoing film photography and you don’t want to lug a bag full of prime lenses, this basic zoom lens will serve you well.

Other Lenses

Out of all the positive things I can say about the Nikon FM10, the one asset that sits at the very top of the list is its ability to mount Nikon’s vast selection of F-mount lenses (not including non-AI lenses, that is). After all, the quality of a photographic image is due mostly to the lens, and Nikon glass is first-rate in that respect.

Considering my wholehearted love for the Nikon F, it’s not surprising that nearly all of my F-mount lenses are period-correct non-AI ones. When I got my FM10, I acquired my first auto indexing (AI) Nikon camera body.

But I was not about to plow lots of resources into lenses for a rig that cost me $27. In keeping with the spirit of my dirt-cheap example, I sought and ultimately found a couple of “nifty fifties” that paired wonderfully with the FM10. The 50mm focal length is my favorite one for a camera lens, and finding usable, well-priced Nikkors at this focal length is not hard.

Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AI

For a brief period of time, I owned a 50mm f/1.8 AI lens that was Nikon’s basic normal lens from the late 1970s onward.

I’ve been around the block enough to know that, when buying vintage lenses sight unseen through online sales listings, I want a reasonable return policy. I’m glad I sought this out because the example I got of this 50mm f/1.8 AI lens model, optically excellent though it was, had an excessively dry and squeaky focus action. For the $73 I paid for it, that one flaw was a step too far, and the retailer that I bought it from kindly honored its return policy.

Over the brief span of time I had it in my possession, I got some nice images with it:

Nikkor 50mm f/2 AI

After that initial minor disappointment, I continued my search for a better general-use lens. Having shot my Nikon F quite extensively with a wonderfully compact 50mm f/2 non-AI lens and learning all of its strengths and weaknesses, I decided to look for a usable AI version of this lens, a version that Nikon produced only for a handful of years before transitioning to the f/1.8 version in the late 1970s.

In keeping with the spirit of the camera body that I paired it with, I found a somewhat worn but perfectly functional 50mm f/2 AI lens listed by KEH for $45 with free shipping. Perfect.

It seems I am not the only one with a taste for classic Nikon optics with later AI capability. As the writer behind The Noisy Shutter blog aptly characterized the Nikkor 50mm f/2 AI, “the aesthetic was modernized, but it had an old soul.”

Again, these sample images speak for themselves:

For all intents and purposes, I can’t tell the difference between the older f/2 and newer f/1.8 optical formulas. But I can certainly tell the difference between these two lenses and the kit zoom lens that the FM10 was originally packaged with.

Conclusion

The Nikon FM10 is a great basic knockaround camera. This is the one I grab when I want to shoot film in an environment where I can let loose and not feel protective of my Nikon F camera body and lenses. I’ll admit it: I’m hopelessly fussy especially about the gear that I really care about. To be sure, I don’t abuse anything I own. But the FM10 is definitely further down in the pecking order.

My expectations for this camera were not high. But it meets those expectations just fine. Indeed, the FM10 exceeds them. Being able to use classic Nikon glass on an inexpensive, superficially flawed, yet well-operating camera body is awesome.

Having done a quick search for “Nikon FM10” on eBay, I found examples listed at insane asking prices many at several hundred dollars. Has the renaissance of film photography inflated prices even for a model that was meant to be more affordable? Are sellers just being greedy and opportunistic? I can’t speak for them, of course. But I would say that, having used this camera for a while now, I wouldn’t pay more than $80 or $100 for one. Anything higher than that deserves to go into a better camera.

At bottom, the Nikon FM10 is a great camera to have fun with. Find a good one, load it up with some cheap Kodak Gold or Kentmere film, and start shooting!

Further Reading

A few helpful online resources about the Nikon FM10 include:

• Documentation:
  • Sales brochure (archive.org).
  • Instruction manual (nikon-cdn.com).
• Online encyclopedia references:
  • Camera-wiki.org.
  • Wikipedia.
• Reviews:
  • Ronald Hogenboom’s review of the Nikon FM10 (kosmofoto.com).
  • Richard Haw’s review of the Nikon FM10 (richardhaw.com).
  • “Camera Geekery: Nikon FM10 Review” (japancamerahunter.com).
  • “Camera Review Blog No. 140: Nikon FM10” (alexluyckx.com).
  • “Defending the Nikon FM10” (johnnymartyr.wordpress.com).