Nikon FE

When I think about what a camera looks like I imagine it to be like the Nikon FE.

While this is not the first Nikon to use this body design (the FM precedes it) and also not the first by other manufacturers (think Pentax, Olympus, Canon), it is still a classic.

The FE has no wasted functions. It is smaller than the professional Nikon F2 and enthusiast Nikon EL that precede it (and the FM). Thus, it is what photographers wanted from a camera.

The first time I picked it up was in a store. I was actually shopping for a wide lens (24mm to 35mm prime) to use on my D610 (now D850) and D500. But I immediately fell in love with it. The body balanced perfectly with the 24/2.8 AI lens I chose. The FE had aperture priority, something I had not thought was possible with film cameras. It felt like any of the more modern Nikon bodies I had used until then. It was a point-and-shoot but for film.

So, I bought the body as well.

As I write this with the camera next to me, it visually looks perfect. And I think that is the feeling many camera lovers have thought as well.

The FE was released in 1978. And the AI Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 (I bought with it) was release one year prior in 1977, along with the FM. The FM is fully mechanical. The FE is electronic with a limited mechanical mode in a pinch. That was good enough for me. I wanted the convenience I had come to expect from cameras.

Like the F2 , EL and FM, the FE is almost all metal. The copy I have is near-mint. I can see it has been cleaned and restored. That is fine. It feels like what it would have felt like in 1978. I was still in elementary school then. But if I was a kid with someone who showed me this camera I would instantly fell in love with it. But, no. I encountered this only in 2026. Even so, it made me feel nostalgia. Movies and TV shows from the late 1970s and early 1980s would have shown scenes with these cameras. So I think I understand the vibe and nostalgia even though I missed the photography boat back then.

Yes, I would have liked to get into cameras and photography back then. But no one around me owned such objects. I was late to the hobby. The first SLR I bought was in 1997. It was a Canon EOS888, a cheap entry level camera. It had PASM. It did the job. I joined the university photography club and learned to develop and make black and white prints. I enjoyed that period of my photography journey immensely.

Next, I bought the EOS55. It was a step up but big and unwieldy. I never quite got back into photography because it was impractical.

The point is, I learned that it is not about having a camera, but about having a camera you can use and want to use. And the FE is one such camera.