The Nikkormat FT was an all-metal, electromechanically (some solid-state electronics, but mostly springs, gears and levers) controlled, manual-focus SLR with manual exposure control or aperture-priority autoexposure, manufactured in Japan from 1972 to 1976. It was available in two colors: black with chrome trim and all black.
The EL had dimensions of 93.5 mm height, 145 mm width, 54.5 mm depth and 780 g weight. This was large and heavy compared to many other SLRs of the mid-1970s.
As Nippon Kogaku's first electronic autoexposure camera, the EL required a battery (one 6V PX28 or one 4SR44 in the bottom of the mirror box) to power its electronically-controlled, metal-bladed, vertical-travel, focal-plane shutter with a speed range of four seconds to 1/1000 second (plus Bulb and flash X-sync at 1/125th second).
Nikkormat EL Match-needle Display
The battery also powered the camera's coupled 'match-needle' exposure metering system. This consisted of two needles pointing along a vertical shutter-speed scale visible in the viewfinder. In manual mode, a black needle pointed out the shutter speed recommended by the built-in 60/40 percent centerweighted, cadmium sulfide (CdS) light meter, while a translucent green needle showed the current (actual) shutter speed setting of the camera. The photographer would then adjust the shutter speed and/or the lens aperture until the needles aligned, at which point correct exposure would be achieved.
In automatic mode, the EL's black needle indicated the shutter speed automatically set by the camera in response to the light available and the lens aperture set by the user. The green needle just indicated that the EL was in "A" mode.
Setting a manual-exposure camera to expose the film properly takes two steps, even after taking a light meter reading. Autoexposure systems that greatly simplified the process were a boon when first introduced in the Konica AutoReflex (Autorex in Japan) in 1965. Nikon's autoexposure system was advanced at the EL's launch in 1972, and proved to be long-lived. Nippon Kogaku/Nikon continued to use aperture-priority autoexposure, with considerable development, in the Nikon FE, FE2 and FM3A of the succeeding Nikon compact F-series SLRs until 2006.
In common with other manufacturers' first-generation electronic autoexposure SLRs, the EL had a reputation for rapidly draining batteries; later models had much more energy-efficient electronics. Note that the EL would still function without batteries in a very limited fashion: fully mechanical operation, with only one shutter speed available (an unmarked, fixed 1/90 second) and without the light meter.
Like the contemporary Nikkormat FTN (see above), the EL accepted all 'rabbit-ear' Nikkor lenses (requiring a double-twist of the lens aperture ring on mounting), and its viewfinder had a choice of Type J or Type A fixed focusing-screens