My latest acquisition is a Nikon EM and Series E 50mm f/1.8 lens.
Why, do you ask, would you bother with an old manual camera, when you have much more modern ones, digital and analog?
Well, I’ve been looking at getting an old manual focus camera for a while. After all, that’s how I got started in the 1980s. Then, the first SLR I had was a Konica TC-X, followed by Olympus OM-1, Olympus OM-4 Ti and the last ones I had were two Canon T90. Somewhere in there, for a very short period, I had an autofocus Minolta, don’t remember which model, but it was stolen and not replaced.

The Nikon EM is a manual camera, produced 1979-1982, with aperture priority. You set the aperture and the camera selects the appropriate shutter speed.
That’s about it. Full specifications here.
It’s relatively small and light (460g), and feels a bit “cheap” to hold and operate. I guess coming from F5 and D800e it would. But considering its price when sold new, the cheapness is easy to overlook, I think.
The cheap feeling is probably coming from the plastic outside. It is supposed to have a metallic frame though, so it should last.

The controls seem distinct enough, shutter speeds seem correct (at least they change), and film loading works fine. And the lens is clear, focusing and aperture rings run smooth, and the aperture stops down as it should.
One tidbit from the introduction of the EM we can read directly from Nikon. The EM was called a “cute, easy-to-use ‘SLR Camera for Women’, appealing to a market whose needs were not being met sufficiently by conventional heavy, ‘uncute’ SLR cameras on the market at the time.”
For now, I leave you with these videos. I’ll get back to you with photos as soon as I can.
And now I feel like finding a camera strap fitting the age of the camera.
