In article <45oqch$i3c@rebecca.albany.edu>, dr8192@CNSVAX.ALBANY.EDU says... (...)
> The only compliment I have for the FA is that it must
> be very durable. I despise it so muchthat for 5 yrs
> I took no care to protect it or go easy on it. Every
> day I hoped it would suffer something terminal.
(MUCH negative about FA deleted)

I had two mint FE-2's, and I sold them and replaced them with two
FA's. I liked the FE-2's (especially the metering - THE best in
v.f. control over exposure going, though the meter could be hard to read in low light situations). But I am too often asked to shoot in
absurdly low light conditions and the shutter release is softer on
the FA than on the FE-FM; I get sharper pictures at 1/8, 1/15,1/30 second exposures with the FA. I use F3's when I need framing
accuracy and can do without flash (same meter read-out as FA), and 8008's when static electricity is not a problem for me (motors and
I do not get along much of the year, forcing me to use manual-wind cameras, alas [not a problem with color, but static discharges have
spoiled EVERY B & W negative on too many jobs for comfort]).
Hope this helps.