Nikon FM3A is a manual-focusing SLR (single-lens reflex) film-based camera released in July 2001, offering aperture-priority auto and manual exposure controls.
Nikon's first SLR camera to incorporate an aperture-priority auto-exposure (AE) mode is Nikkormat (Nikomat in Japan) EL introduced in 1972. The aperture-priority auto-exposure (AE) mode allows the user to easily obtain the correct exposure by selecting a desired aperture, since the camera automatically determines the optimum shutter speed for the selected aperture. This mode was incorporated in Nikon F3, FE and other various models. It was the most common automatic exposure control system before the emergence of the programmed auto-exposure in the 1980s, which automatically selects an optimum combination of aperture and shutter speed.

Cameras have been equipped with automatic functions primarily by adopting electrical controls to take on the operations and settings in place of the users. In order to implement the automatic exposure control, cameras have been equipped with electronic circuits for electronic control of shutter speeds in synchronization with metering system and exposure meter. Then, in the cameras with the aperture-priority AE mode, the timing of shutter operation was controlled by an electronic timer in most models even in the manual exposure mode, in which any desired shutter speed may be selected at the users' discretion.

On the other hand, before the electronically controlled automatic exposure (AE) control became available, users used to manually select the appropriate aperture and shutter speed combination to take photographs by referring to the readings on the exposure meter and/or based on their experience. It was exactly a manual exposure mode. Nikon's SLR cameras were based on the manual exposure except some models until the Nikkormat EL was introduced. In response to the user's selection of shutter speed, the timing of shutter operation was set on the mechanically operated governor. The governor required some energy to operate, though the operation of a lever for film advancing acted as clockwork to charge the energy to the governor, obviating the need for a battery. In those days, when batteries were hard to obtain unlike recent years, or in frigid regions where batteries do not work, the manual exposure control cameras came in very handy.
Many users were demanding both features, the convenience of aperture-priority AE and the reliability of mechanically controlled shutter operation without any battery (some models with an electronically controlled shutter were designed to allow mechanical shutter control at only one speed such as 1/90 sec. for emergency use in the event of battery depletion).
The FM3A successfully implemented both features in conjunction. It was equipped with a shutter to allowed electronic control in the aperture-priority AE mode, and a mechanical control in the manual exposure mode. Because it adopted both control systems, electronic and mechanical, the shutter was called hybrid shutter. It was the first shutter system for Nikon and was also a very valuable system around the world.
The FM3A was also equipped with TTL (through-the-lens) flash control of Speedlight, automatic setting of film sensitivity and other features in addition to the exposure meter with an indicator needle which had an established reputation among the users.
The FM3A was placed on the market in July 2001 at 96,000 yen (tax not included) for the silver finish body and 99,000 yen (tax not included) for the black finish body.

In July 2001, the single focal-length manual-focusing lens went on sale simultaneously with FM3A. It features a thin and lightweight design with a distance of 17 mm from the mount surface, and a weight of approx. 120 g. It is commonly called pancake lens for the external view. Due to the newly designed Tessar-type optical system (configuration of 4 elements in 3 groups) and the 7-blade circular diaphragm, it provides excellent imaging characteristics. In consideration of the proper matching to the FM3A, it was finished with a quality metallic appearance. The filter, hood, and cap were also designed specifically for this lens system, and particularly the hood was equipped with a specific function to allow installing a cap over the hood and a novel conical-dome design. A CPU was integrated in the system to allow all exposure control modes, programmed, aperture-priority, shutter-speed priority, and manual. In addition to the silver finish, the black finish system was released in November 2001 at 48,000 yen (tax not included).

Around April of 1999, when a rough product concept of FM3A was established after about four months of discussion, the project went into full swing.
The manual exposure and mechanically controlled New FM2 had long been a best-seller since its first introduction in 1984, enjoying a persistent popularity. It was favorably used by experienced amateur photographers, students of photography fundamentals, and other users deeply interested in the operations and processes for taking photographs. In addition, it offered the major benefit of shooting being possible even when the battery was exhausted. On the other hand, however, there was an increasing demand to provide the New FM2 with the aperture-priority AE and automatic flash control of Speedlight.
The project team studied over and over how to meet the demand. Eventually, in order to address the primary concern of users, that is, the simultaneous availability of aperture-priority AE and battery-free shutter operation, the project team decided to adopt the mechanism called hybrid shutter.

The hybrid shutter electronically controls the shutter in the aperture-priority AE mode, while it provides mechanical control of the shutter in the manual exposure mode. This means the shutter can be operated in the manual exposure mode even without a battery.
This design means that one shutter must properly operate with two control systems, resulting in a complicated shutter mechanism. Furthermore, the number of required component parts and also the size of the shutter unit had to be increased accordingly. To install the shutter unit, it was essential to increase the space for mounting. In practice, however, since the FM3A was considered as a successor to the New FM2, the upsizing of the camera was not permitted. A method for mounting the unit in a limited space had to be devised.
In addition, the fabrication of shutter units had been assigned to subcontractors, although the development of the shutter unit operating on special mechanical and electrical combined designs was limited to some experienced expert engineers. The experienced engineers repeatedly offered advice to younger engineers.
In general, it is difficult to ensure the accuracy of mechanical shutters as they are designed to offer higher operating speeds. In addition, it was extremely difficult to develop a shutter unit with a complicated mechanism for hybrid operation, and in the early stages, it was thought that the highest speed of 1/4000 second would be impossible to realize. However, finally, after careful adjustment, the demanding criteria were successfully cleared.

The hybrid shutter was an innovation for the FM3A. On the other hand, FM3A adopted the traditional exposure meter with indicator needle, which had been continuously applied from the Nikkormat EL released in 1972. Looking at the viewfinder, several pieces of exposure-related information are indicated on the left side of the screen. For the analog meter, a rough estimate of needle position helps to intuitively understand the shutter speed in the aperture-priority AE mode. Thus this model was highly regarded especially by experienced users.

The meter with needle indicator is an ultra-compact ammeter similar to those used in level meters for audio equipment. However, there was no Japanese manufacturer in those days that could fabricate an ammeter that was small enough to install in the camera and satisfy the specified precision. The request for fabrication was rejected because, "We are not competent to fabricate such a small and high-precision product." After a long search, a manufacturer specializing in the production of ammeters was discovered in a foreign country. However, satisfactory accuracy was not achieved, then, after repeated consultations with the on-site engineers, and with patience, finally a satisfactory level of product accuracy was attained.
A used FE2 was procured from a second-hand camera shop and it was dismantled and the ammeter was removed. It was found that the compact-sized and high-precision ammeter that Nikon was seeking to design was built largely based on hand work. The real ammeter removed from FE2 was shown to the engineers in the subcontractor and specific instructions were repeatedly provided.

After the successful reduction of backlash in the control section to the possible minimum level, in the final gear engagement section with the shutter unit, careful manual adjustment was carried out for individual cameras. The tactile click touch dial and accurately responding shutter operation may be attributed to the diligent handwork by the workers in the process of fabrication.
The background described above indicates that the FM2 and FE2 look similar in the external view but they are independent of each other and there has been no camera developed uniting the two models. This was a comprehensive compilation of manual SLR cameras, and Nikon took on the challenge of implementing it as the manual camera for the 21st century.

For the FM3A, the external frame parts were also very hard to implement. The body top cover was formed by drawing a solid plate of brass, which could be implemented fortunately based on the know-how. In the typical drawing method, drawn-to-thinner portions are likely to be easily broken. In actuality, brass plate is drawn gradually based on a step-by-step approach rather than by a single action to form the external frame. Also for this drawing process, the advice of elderly experienced engineers was useful. The raw material for the external frame of FM3A is 0.7 mm in thickness, which is drawn to the thinnest portion of only around 0.2 mm.
In those days when metal body cameras were in full flower, it was a common practice that metallic materials were mechanically stamped to form the camera body. However, in recent years, as the molding of plastic materials becomes predominant, the mechanical pressing of metallic materials is a vanishing technology falling into disuse. The engineers who have experienced the age of the traditional technology contributed to the successful implementation of FM3A.

At first glance, the FM3A looks the same as the FM2, though the pointed section of the pentaprism is designed, taking a cue from the Nikon F, as the starting point of Nikon's SLR cameras. In addition, in contrast to the FM2 which adopted the black shutter dial for the chrome body, the dial was changed to a chrome finish in the FM3A to better fit the chrome body. It was a design of exquisite taste.
In addition, the release button ring and the film windup lever are designed with lathe-turning patterns on the top surface, showing the designer's care with texture. The attention to every detail of the product produced such refinement as that of craftwork. To the camera, functionality is not necessarily everything. It also demonstrates how eager Nikon was to manufacture the camera, as the costs incurred were very high due to the previously unimaginable details.

The FM3A manufactured as a manual SLR camera in the 21st century has made steady progress also in the details with cutting-edge specifications. One of the enhancements includes TTL flash control of Speedlight, which has been strongly requested by users. In addition, at the base of the mount in the windup side, a flash control button of one negative step is newly installed. This flash control button will be useful as a solution to overexposure in taking portrait photos. Furthermore, the DX contact is installed for automatic setting of film sensitivity, one of the essential elements for the present-day specifications.
On the other hand, some sections are designed with analog technologies. Since the 1990s, when the full proliferation of AF SLR cameras started, electric circuits integrated in cameras have been successively digitized, though the FM3A adopts analog circuits. Besides, the digital signals from film speed dial and DX (film cartridge) are converted into analog signals for determination of exposure levels.

One of the important points to remember regarding the features of FM3A is the viewfinder, which is important for manual focus cameras. Taking a look at the design values of finder coverage of 93% and 0.83x magnification (with use of 50 mm standard lens, at infinity (∞)), the viewfinder seems to offer typical performance, though it is found brighter and easier to see when actually viewed compared to the one in the FM2.
In addition, for the manual focusing camera, a special attention has been paid to the focusing screen. It is designed with improved diffusion of transmitted light and also the same technology as adopted in F3 for the central split. The diffusion is increased by the addition of grids onto the smooth split prism surface, thereby eliminating possible blackout even when a slightly darker lens is mounted. Complete blackout of finder image never occurs even when the aperture is stopped down to f/22 and the preview button is pressed. The focusing screen is available in three types, K3 (split-image microprism type) provided as standard, B3 (matte type), and E3 (matte type with horizontal and vertical line etchings).

However, the photocells (SPD: silicon photo diode) in the FM3A are located in the right and left sides of the eyepiece behind the pentaprism and the light-receiving faces are not separated. In order to make the spot metering practically available, the physical "screens" are required immediately before the photocells to expose only the central part to the light rays. In practice, however, the pentaprism is confined in a limited area and the two photocells are located on the right and left sides. The adoption of spot metering advanced to the trial-manufacturing phase, though it was extremely difficult to ensure that the "screens" for both photocells moved forward and backward accurately as intended in the mass-production phase, and unfortunately the spot metering did not become a reality.
Similarly, the adoption of the mirror-up function was also abandoned, due to the efforts to achieve the hybrid shutter as the heart of the FM3A and due to the concentration of efforts on the implementation of successful interlocking by the control section.

After about one year of the development phase, volume production of FM3A was launched in April 2000 in Mito Nikon. The interlocking between control section and shutter unit required a great deal of labor. Fine adjustment of individual units was persistently performed on the production line.
After clearing many obstacles, the FM3A reached completion and went on the market in July 2001.

It was a period of transition from film-based camera to digital camera. Making a debut under those conditions, the manual SLR camera had a great impact on the users and received an enthusiastic response. Before the product went on sale, a rush of orders came from the users, and specialized camera magazines published a detailed feature story about FM3A one after another. At the period of sale in 2001, production could not catch up with the demand.

The camera received the 2001 Good Design Award and it was selected as 2001 Japanese Historical Camera (sponsored by the Japan Camera Industry Institute). In addition, it won the Special Prize in the Camera Grand Prix 2002 selected by the Camera Journal Press Club. Remarks on the selection state that FM3A excels in popularity, topicality, and advanced state. Today when the AF, digital and other electronic applications are in full flower, development of the genuine MFSLR (manual SLR) camera is very meaningful. Specifically, the camera was highly evaluated as follows: "It is the genuine MFSLR camera which allows the users to actually feel the pleasure of taking photographs through the operation of camera; it is an easy-to-handle camera also for beginners gaining experience in taking pictures due to the simple manual exposure setting, aperture-priority AE function, and the match-needle, stop-down metering." These remarks just refer to what Nikon intended when it decided to manufacture the camera. In this regard, Nikon earned an excellent reputation as a manufacturer taking on the challenges of answering the needs of Nikon product lovers in a situation in which the competitors were backing away from production of manual focus cameras.

In the heyday of digitization, the FM3A helped to teach the enjoyment of taking photographs slowly and carefully without haste. However, it could not live long like the previous generation model FM2 that had been a best-seller for 16 years. This was caused by fast progress of digitization that was beyond expectations. In January 2006, five years from its birth, production of FM3A was discontinued. In addition, F100, F80 and other major film-based cameras were also dropped from production in conjunction.
The reduction of the lineup of film-based cameras was necessary, to allow Nikon to concentrate its resources on the digital camera business. Regrettably the FM3A came to an end.
In the production of FM3A, the subcontractors closely associated with Mito Nikon played an important role. They had been involved in the production of FM2 and/or F3, and in the neighborhood of Mito Nikon, production of manual cameras was growing actively as a local industry. This suggests that FM3A may not be realized in any location other than Mito.
However, in the period of transition from manual focus to auto focus and digital control, the engineers competent to fabricate component parts for manual cameras were getting on toward the age of retirement. An engineer from the subcontractor engaged in the production of leather grain for FM3A was also getting close to retirement age. There is a story that he had ideas about retiring from the company, but he was reportedly prevented from leaving the company.
"The timing was really good for the implementation of the project," a staff in charge of design said later. Year 2001 was just the right time for the realization of FM3A.