Nikon Nikomat/Nikkormat FT3 (1976–1978)
The Nikkormat FT3 is a 35mm manual-focus SLR that Nikon produced from 1976 to 1978. It was the last of the Nikkormat line. Externally it is nearly indistinguishable from its predecessor, the FT2 - big, heavy, and built like a tank. The difference is inside. The FT3 was the first (and only) Nikkormat to use Nikon's new AI (Automatic Indexing) aperture coupling system. With AI, the meter reads the lens aperture automatically, so the photographer no longer has to index it by hand via the lens ring. That one change made it the bridge between the older Nikkormats and the AI-compatible Nikon F-mount system that followed.
For the most part the FT3 is a fully mechanical camera that doesn't depend on a battery. The Copal Square vertical metal shutter runs from 1 second to 1/1000 plus B without power, and flash syncs at 1/125. The meter is different. It is a center-weighted (60/40) full-aperture match-needle design that needs a battery, and the needle shows both in the finder and on the top plate. The camera accepts any AI Nikkor lens via the Nikon F-mount and offers an ISO range of 12 to 1600. The body is dense and unrefined, available in black or silver, and it works.
Its production run was short. Nikon introduced the far more compact FM in the same year, which reportedly made the FT3 one of the shortest-lived SLRs Nikon ever made. KEH Camera (a major used dealer, not a magazine - but its catalog notes confirm the 1976-78 window) lists the production span, and Kamerastore corroborates the 1977 introduction. After the FT3, the Nikkormat name disappeared from Nikon's lineup entirely.
Surviving documentation is thin. No original manual, no period reviews, and no original price have surfaced in the archive. What is known comes from dealer listings and enthusiast sites. A used body in good condition recently listed at €129 EUR, and a body with a 50mm f/2 lens in "excellent vintage condition" appeared at 107,090₽. One unit offered by a German specialist had new light seals and a mirror damper installed, with the meter tested and working.
Known specifications, as documented:
- Format: 35mm (135), 24×36mm frame
- Lens mount: Nikon F-mount, AI coupling
- Shutter: mechanically timed vertical metal focal-plane, 1s – 1/1000s + B
- Flash sync: 1/125s
- Metering: center-weighted (60/40), full-aperture match-needle, ISO 12–1600
- Body: metal, black or silver finish
- Dimensions: 145 × 55 × 100 mm
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