Major features of the Nikkormat FTN include:

• 92% of the actual picture field
• Sturdy mechanical metal focal plane shutter that travelled vertically that works without any battery.
• The most significant change from the FT mode of exposure reading (Nikkormat FT employed with full screen average meter reading) was at the way how the camera performs the metering. FTN's built-in center-weighted through-the-lens exposure meter, it was the first Nikkormat that uses the 60/40 metering distribution. The center-weighted (heavy-centered) metering, where sixty percent of the metering is read in the viewfinder's 12 mm center circle, and the remaining 40% is determined by the rest of the viewfinder area. Meter needle visible in the finder viewfield and atop the body. It employed with a CdS exposure meter powered which by a 1.3V mercury battery. Battery requires only for metering.
• Range of metering: EV3 - EV17 at ASA 100 (e.g. f/1.4, 1/4 sec.- f/11, 1/1000 sec.).
• ASA sensitivity setting: 12 - 1600.
• Maximum aperture setting: f/1.2 - f/5.6.
• Meter diaphragm coupling: f/1.2 - f/32. Couples with both diaphragm and shutter speed dial
• Single-stroke film advance lever (135°, throw angle 26°) also serves as on-off switch of the meter.
• Synchronization: X and M synch terminals. X synch at 1/125 sec. or slower. FP- and MF-class bulbs also usable.
• Depth-of-field preview control
• Independent mirror lock-up
• The selected shutter speed is visible in the viewfinder.
• An exposure needle (surrounded by brackets) in the viewfinder moves toward the corresponding "+" or "-" symbol to indicate whether the photographer should increase or decrease exposure.
• The camera automatically recognizes the maximum aperture of the lens in use. Initial ASA/ISO film speed setup is thus much simplified.