This was my first camera. It was 2005. I was 24, just dropped out of college for the third time, and I was working at the local newspaper on their printing press. I was about to drop a forklift of garbage in the dumpster when I saw a big pile of darkroom equipment. I parked the forklift, and jumped in the dumpster, and salvaged everything i could. There were film prints from the 60s and 70s, half an enlarger, a bunch of filters and a pair of Nikon FM2 cameras. One was pretty much trashed, but the other needed a new battery and a solid cleaning.
After I got home from work that morning, I sorted everything out. I had a working camera with a pair of decent lenses. The label ring had fallen off this lens a long time ago, but it was still a crisp telephoto that didn't grind or stutter when I focused it. On the bottom, someone engraved the newspaper's name and phone number. Give 'em a call. Tell them I said so long, and thanks for all the fish.
I hadn't done much photography. I took a cool photo of an amusement park once on a rangefinder, but that was it. But this camera? It opened up something inside of me. I had no idea what I was doing, but within a few months, I was back in school and enrolled in every photography class the college had to offer.
when you look through the viewfinder of the FM2, you have two data points: the ISO, and the f-stop. in the center of the frame is the split image focus circle. when the image is out of focus, the image within the circle is split. when the image is in focus, the two halves are aligned.
it's a minimalist design, and it's highly intuitive. you turn the knob, and the setting is changed. with enough practice, and the right combination of film and shutter speed, you can focus on an object very quickly. i find myself in a place of mindlessness. i am doing without thinking, acting without decision. it's easy to work with this camera. it is enjoyable. it is effortless.