The
Nikon EM is a beginner’s level, interchangeable lens,
35 mm film,
single lens reflex (SLR)
camera. It was manufactured by Nippon Kogaku K. K. (today
Nikon Corporation) in
Japan from 1979 to 1982 (available new from dealer stock until circa 1984). The camera was originally designed and marketed to the growing market of new women photographers then entering the SLR buyer's market. The EM uses a
Seiko MFC-E
focal plane shutter with a speed range of 1 to 1/1000 second plus Bulb and flash X-sync of 1/90 second. It is high, wide, deep and weighed . Unlike most Nikons of the time, it was available only in black. The EM has no full manual exposure mode capability, but instead was intended to be used by inexperienced photographers who could not easily master the intricacies of
shutter speeds and
f-stops. There were also significant changes over previous cameras in the internal mechanics and electronics of the EM, designed to lower costs. Gone were the tight tolerances, ball bearing film advance, and high-quality titanium shutter. The introductory US list price for the body plus normal lens was only $231 – note that SLRs usually sold for 30 to 40 percent below list price.
The EM accepts nearly all lenses with the
Nikon F bayonet mount (introduced in 1959) supporting the Automatic Indexing (AI) feature (introduced in 1977). The contemporary Nikon made AI lenses were the Nikkor AI-S, Nikkor AI and Nikon Series E types. ...
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