The FM2/FE2 twins were improved successors to the successful Nikon FM/FE cameras with enhanced features, but minor external controls and cosmetic differences.

IX Nikkor lenses (1996), for Nikon's Advanced Photo System (APS) film SLRs, must not be mounted, as their rear elements will intrude far enough into the mirror box to cause damage.

It has a match-needle exposure control system using two needles pointing along a vertical shutter speed scale on the left side of the viewfinder to indicate the readings of the built-in 60/40 percent center-weighted light meter versus the actual camera settings.

The major improvements in the FE2 compared to the FE are a brighter viewing screen, provision for through-the-lens (TTL) off-the-film (OTF) electronic flash automation (essentially identical to the system introduced in the Nikon FG in 1982) and a quartz oscillator timed, bearing-mounted, titanium-bladed shutter reaching an ultra-fast top speed of 1/4000th second (plus world's fastest X-sync to 1/250th second).

The industry was trying to expand out from the saturated high-end professional market and appeal to the large mass of low-end amateur photographers itching to move up from compact automatic leaf-shutter rangefinder (RF) cameras to the more versatile SLR but were intimidated by the need to learn all details of its operation.

The FE2's deliberately conservative external features (no program modes or matrix metering) were not intended to appeal to beginners, but rather to experienced photographers who required a reliable camera capable of withstanding extremes of climate, impacts, and extended use.

A black Nikon FE2 is used by Cailee Spaeny's character (Jessie Cullen) in the 2024 film Civil War,[2] directed by Alex Garland.