A geek and his camera: Nikon EM

The second half of the Twelve Months Of Film project begins with camera number seven, the Nikon EM.

The EM was a slight change in direction at the time for Nikon as it was a camera aimed more at the beginner just getting into SLR photography. It was a semi automatic camera where the user selected the aperture and the camera chose the shutter speed which it thought was correct. Designed to be small and light, the outer shell was of plastic construction which covered a copper aluminium alloy body. This differed quite radically from the models that Nikon had produced previously which were solid, heavy cameras aimed more at the serious amateur and professional markets. That's not to say that this camera isn't tough. It's actually great in the hand and feels plenty rugged enough, just maybe not quite as tough as other Nikon models of the same era. Nikon wanted to go after the market that Canon, Minolta, Pentax and Olympus had moved in to and the EM fitted the bill nicely being manufactured by Nippon Kogaku K.K. from 1979 through 1982.

Fairly simple to set up and use, there is an A.S.A. dial on the left hand side of the body with the shutter button and three way selector switch on the right hand side. The three way switch could either be set to auto, bulb or M90. The last setting, M90, was useful if the battery were to die whilst in the field. It allowed for the camera's shutter to fire at a speed of 1/90sec, just without a light meter to aid exposure. The shutter on my project example sounds positive on release and it's a fun camera to carry around and use being so small and light. I have two of them. The one used for the month's project had a slightly dodgy light meter and at times was a bit erratic, but most of the exposed film came out fine. Since the shoot I managed to pick up another mint example, light meter works great and it even makes the audible beep, warning the user of a potentially slow shutter speed. I used the EM with a Nikkor 50mm f1.8D lens which fits the camera well and makes for a great combination.