The camera body is die cast from an aluminum alloy. The top of the camera has the rewind crank, a light meter readout, the flash shoe, the depth-of-field preview button, the exposure counter, the shutter button and the film advance lever. The front of the camera has the self-timer lever, the shutter speed dial surrounding the lens mount, the film speed index, the shutter speed lever and film speed lock, the lens release button, the mirror lock and the light meter coupling pin. The bottom of the camera has the rewind release button, the tripod socket and the battery cover. The back of the camera has the viewfinder eyepiece. The left side of the camera has the flash PC socket and the latch for the back cover.
The shutter has vertically traveling metal curtains. It runs from 1/1000 to 1 second plus B. The shutter button is threaded for a standard cable release. The self timer gives about an 8 second delay. The shutter speed is set by using the lever on the dial surrounding the lens mount. The lever gets in the way of the lens release button when the shutter is set to 1/4 or 1/8 second. The instruction booklet advises against leaving the shutter cocked overnight or longer.
The viewfinder has a split image prism surrounded by a microprism ring at the center of the ground glass. There is a circle showing the center weighted area of the light meter. The meter needle is at the right and the shutter speed is visible at the bottom. The focusing screen is not interchangeable, although I think there were factory options for different focusing screens.
One improvement from the previous Nikkormat FTn is that the light meter on the FT2 was powered by a silver oxide button cell instead of a mercury cell. This means that the light meter uses a currently available battery. The battery compartment has the typical screw cover with a slot for a coin to turn the cover. The light meter can be set for film speeds running from ASA 12 to ASA 1600 using the index on the shutter speed ring. You pull out the catch on the shutter speed lever and slide the film speed index to the correct number for the film you have loaded in the camera. You need your fingernails to slide the index. The light meter uses a cadmium sulfide cell to read light through the lens. You get a good exposure under most circumstances by centering the needle visible in the lower right of the viewfinder or the one on the top of the camera as you adjust the shutter speed and lens aperture. The light meter uses the normal Nikon 60/40 center weighted system. The film advance lever acts as the meter switch. The meter is on when the film advance lever is pulled back to uncover the red dot on the top of the camera and off when the film advance lever is pushed in to cover the red dot.
The camera back is hinged on the right and has a latch on the bottom left. Loading film is like most manual 35 mm cameras. The film winds onto the take-up spool emulsion side out. The film counter resets to "S" for start when you open the back of the camera. It takes 3 pulls of the film advance lever to get to frame 1. The exposure counter is under a little magnifying glass on the top of the camera. To rewind the film you press the release button on the bottom of the camera and rotate the rewind crank on the top left.
To remove the lens you press the lens release button and rotate the lens to the right. To replace the lens you push the light meter pin all the way to the right and set the lens to f/5.6. You need to make sure the meter ears on the lens engages the meter pin on the camera when you put on the lens, then turn the lens counterclockwise until the lens release clicks. Finally you do the “Nikon Shuffle” by turning the lens aperture ring all the way to the left and then all the way to the right. This will set the camera to the maximum aperture of the lens (f/5.6 to f/1.2, depending on the lens). You can check this by looking at the scale on the right side of the lens mount. A small red dot appears on the scale to confirm that the meter is set to the maximum aperture of the lens. If the lens does not have meter ears it is still possible to meter using the stop down method by pressing the depth of field button on the top of the camera. The meter coupling pin has to be pushed all the way to the right for this to work.
The mirror can be locked up using a slide on the lens mount above the lens release button. This allows mounting some Nikkor fisheye and wide angle lenses that protrude into the mirror box. Mirror lockup also can reduce vibration from mirror slap when you are using a telephoto lens.
This example is in decent shape despite the little dent in the back and works fine. It is a mass unit of a camera, weighing in at two and a quarter pounds. Nikkormat was the name for export models. The version for the domestic Japanese market was called Nikomat. The Nikkormat is your classic manual focus, manual exposure camera with a through the lens light meter. Nikon made the Nikkormat as a camera for photographers who wanted to use the excellent Nikon lenses but didn't want the professional F2 camera, or wanted a backup for their F2.
The Nations Silo on Centennial Blvd, Nashville, TN. Artist Guido van Helten painted a portrait of Lee Estes on an old grain elevator.
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