Certain Exposures
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Hello ladies and gents. Just a couple questions for you:
1. Is it true that the Nikon FM (original, not FM2) mirror box comes from the Nikon factory with foam underneath the mirror box dampening spring?
The potential buyer claimed that the Nikon FM should have a piece of foam under the mirror box dampening spring that deadens the sound of it. He stated that after the foam disintegrates the spring makes an annoying sound he doesn't like so he decided not to buy the camera after checking the other functions were alright.
I was curious about this so I asked if he had the part number. He did not. However, he used this video of Mike's Nikon F2 disassembly with the sound off and paused around 28:53 to demonstrate where the Nikon FM foam should be located. Here's a screenshot of the video at the timestamp - all credit to mikeno62. I believe this counts as fair use. The yellow arrow points at the foam:
Soure: mikeno62, YouTube
I reviewed Mike's video with the sound on at home. Here's what he says from 28:43 - 29:29: "Let's take a look at this mirror house. Here we can see on the other side, this will be the damper for the mirror. I looked at the internet and found out a guy he actually put in a foam. Some light foam. Light sealing foam, put it under the spring here so it will, actually, the spring will not make that much noise. Boing! As I said when the mirror flips back to position."
My interpretation of Mike's statement there is that this foam piece is not an original Nikon factory addition. Am I misunderstanding him? He hasn't replied to a few recent comments. I reviewed a copy of the Nikon FM service manual here and I did not see a similar foam piece indicated.
2. Is this sound problem uncommon with the FM in your experience?
Although the FM series has always been a 'loud camera' to me (I've tried several) I never investigated the sound this much. I compared the shutter of my FM camera to a few others and I can't hear the specific sound he that was irritating him. I am older, though. There's also a comment under Mike's video with someone complaining about the sound.
3. Am I jerk for suggesting he ask about this before meeting sellers?
I suggested that he bring this up before meeting folks because it's a very specific complaint and he might run into the same issue with several sellers. I don't think he appreciated that because he walked off unceremoniously. That was a first. I'll probably put a video up of the camera and clean audio of the shutter firing for future buyers.
1. Is it true that the Nikon FM (original, not FM2) mirror box comes from the Nikon factory with foam underneath the mirror box dampening spring?
The potential buyer claimed that the Nikon FM should have a piece of foam under the mirror box dampening spring that deadens the sound of it. He stated that after the foam disintegrates the spring makes an annoying sound he doesn't like so he decided not to buy the camera after checking the other functions were alright.
I was curious about this so I asked if he had the part number. He did not. However, he used this video of Mike's Nikon F2 disassembly with the sound off and paused around 28:53 to demonstrate where the Nikon FM foam should be located. Here's a screenshot of the video at the timestamp - all credit to mikeno62. I believe this counts as fair use. The yellow arrow points at the foam:
Soure: mikeno62, YouTube
I reviewed Mike's video with the sound on at home. Here's what he says from 28:43 - 29:29: "Let's take a look at this mirror house. Here we can see on the other side, this will be the damper for the mirror. I looked at the internet and found out a guy he actually put in a foam. Some light foam. Light sealing foam, put it under the spring here so it will, actually, the spring will not make that much noise. Boing! As I said when the mirror flips back to position."
My interpretation of Mike's statement there is that this foam piece is not an original Nikon factory addition. Am I misunderstanding him? He hasn't replied to a few recent comments. I reviewed a copy of the Nikon FM service manual here and I did not see a similar foam piece indicated.
2. Is this sound problem uncommon with the FM in your experience?
Although the FM series has always been a 'loud camera' to me (I've tried several) I never investigated the sound this much. I compared the shutter of my FM camera to a few others and I can't hear the specific sound he that was irritating him. I am older, though. There's also a comment under Mike's video with someone complaining about the sound.
3. Am I jerk for suggesting he ask about this before meeting sellers?
I suggested that he bring this up before meeting folks because it's a very specific complaint and he might run into the same issue with several sellers. I don't think he appreciated that because he walked off unceremoniously. That was a first. I'll probably put a video up of the camera and clean audio of the shutter firing for future buyers.