Nikon released this cute small camera with some good lenses. Mostly battery dependent with a small group of less-costly Nikon Series E lenses, it made a big splash upon its introduction but never really took hold. That is, it was a commercial failure, and the line died with this model.
The line wasn't dead. It was followed by the FG and the FG.20 which used the same body case. You can see that the motor drive of the G fits on the EM also and vice versa.
I have to add 2 comments: 1. the body of the EM wasn`t plastic but a special compound metal. 2. there is an irreparable fault on many of the EMs today. I have 3 EMs and 2 have this fault. The resistor arc for the AI input of the aperture is worn out. You can see that if you look in the viewfinder to see the pointer of the exposure time ist shaking and quaking if you change the aperture on the lens and you'll get a lot of wrongly exposed pictures. The exchange parts for repairing are sold out since decades. So check this using a knob cell if you are to buy an EM! The following models FG and FG-20 used a better shielded resistor arc.
I think (but I'm not certain) that the model you have there is an early version due to its blue highlighted buttons. I would also suggest that yours has been 're-skinned' with a more attractive covering. I absolutely love my EM. It's so lightweight and easy to carry everywhere that I use it far more often than either of my F2's which are massively heavy (even more so with a lens attached). The EM is not a camera to take into a war zone (like the F2), but perfectly adequate for most people's 'ordinary' needs. They obviously lack the features of the 'pro' models but are great as, say, a travel camera. And they're so easy to use with simple match-needle metering rather than the confusing and hard to see red LEDs of many other Nikon SLRs. Have a look at David Hancock's review for detailed information.
Hi, thanks for the comment. This was in so-so condition when I received it, and I felt that no one had touched it probably for maybe 20 years. The covering that you see is the one that was on the camera when it came to me. Back around 1980, a buddy of mine bought one of these, and I recalled it having the same type of covering. Of course, we're talking about a 40+-year-old memory. I think this was fine for amateurs, although Nikon took great pains to remind everyone that it was going to be a quality camera. Today, no one cares if a camera body is plastic. In fact, most people expect it to be. Times change, for sure.
