I was asked before Christmas by a friend and neighbour whether I would test her 1970’s Nikon FM2 camera. I agreed but have only just got around to it. The final stimulus to getting started was finding an old, heavy and very beaten up 1975 Nikkor 135mm f2 lens in a charity shop for £10.

It is ‘well used’ bordering on knackered, has a slight chip out of the rearmost lens element but is considered by some as the best lens that Nikon made at the time – it is a real quality piece. It needed testing, as did the camera, as did the original 55mm lens that came with the kit.

I went and made a circuit taking in several of my regular spots allowing 12 shots per lens using Ilford HP5 B&W film, finishing at Snappy Snaps to pop it in for (very expensive!) Dev only processing.

The results answered a couple of questions: the camera works, but the 55mm lens focus ring is all but seized from grease that has changed to glue. The question of whether the 135mm lens works is a bit up in the air as the results are filmicly grungy. It was also quite a challenge using an almost manual camera; no autofocus or autoexposure. Not that I had forgotten how to do it, but there are a series of checks associated with each shot that I am out of practice with. The results are ‘dramatic’, but not necessarily technically good. I enjoyed the process and am quite pleased with some of the results. In all ways it is good to be out with a camera again.