Common problems with the Nikon FE

BradS · Apr 12, 2009

I've been looking at a replacement for one of my Nikon Fe bodies that died on me recently and reading the ads on the auction site, it seems like these things have some common failure modes...mine is locked up and I see a bunch for sale that are also "locked up" - that is, you cannot advance the film and you cannot trip the shutter...

I thought it might be interesting if other Nikon FE owners chimed in with whatever failure modes they've experienced...

ideally, we'll find a repair technician among us whose looked at a bunch of these and say...oh, yeah...they have this and such weakness and they do this but it is an easy repair...and so on...

so, all you Nikon FE users...bring it!

mudman · Apr 12, 2009

My FE has a problem with the release for getting the back open. It still works, but you have to be careful how hard you push the locking mechanism.

elekm · Apr 12, 2009

The FE requires a battery for the shutter to run, except for flash synch and maybe B. I think what you see in most listings is a camera with dead batteries or no batteries. And then the person winds the shutter, and the camera won't fire.

In general, you're going to have to replace the foam seals (par for the course for Japanese cameras) and clean the viewfinder.

I've been lucky in that my FE (bought new in 1979) continues to work flawlessly after 30 years. I've put a lot of film through it, but I don't abuse my cameras like many photographers do.

Let me qualify that by saying that cameras fail, regardless of how gingerly they're handled. But tossing a camera about on a regular basis can't be any good for it.

Jon Shiu · Apr 13, 2009

I think some of the "locked up" ones will work if set to the mechanical 1/90th setting.

Jon

BradS · Apr 13, 2009

Jon Shiu said:
I think some of the "locked up" ones will work if set to the manual 1/90th setting.

Jon

Yeah, I'll know what you mean. When reading the typical ebay ad....
"I don't know anything about cameras...blah, blah blah..."
it is hard to tell which simply have a dead battery and which truly have a mechanical failure.

...mine is locked up hard. Even on 'B' an 1/90th. Even with a fresh battery....won't wind and won't fire....definitely a mechanical failure.

harrygrey382 · Apr 13, 2009

elekm said:
The FE requires a battery for the shutter to run, except for flash synch and maybe B. I think what you see in most listings is a camera with dead batteries or no batteries. And then the person winds the shutter, and the camera won't fire.

I think you've hit on it - my FE does this when it's out of batteries - but the flash synch is electronic. You need to move the shutter speed knob to M90 and it should release if this is the problem.
Mine did it, I thought it ws stuffed, I fiddled and put it to M90 and it's still good. Sometimes the wind-on's a bit stiff but otherwise no complaints

Jon Shiu said:
I think some of the "locked up" ones will work if set to the mechanical 1/90th setting.

Jon

like what Jon says...

BobNewYork · Apr 13, 2009

Try removing the baseplate. You'll often find that one of the mechanical levers has become hung up. I'm not an engineer, (I can screw in a lightbulb - just) and I did this on an FM one time 'cos I figured I had nothing to lose. In the base is a maze of incredible complexity but if you gently move the mechanisms you'll likely find you can trip the shutter. In my case it was fixed. It's worth a shot in my mind.

Bob H

mooseontheloose · Apr 13, 2009

I've got two FE's -- one I bought off ebay (in France) and had to replace the very dry seals -- but it works perfectly. The other is the first SLR I ever bought, about 8 years ago in Japan, and has developed a quirk that if the shutter is cocked for too long (say, more than two seconds) it will not fire correctly (too slow) and thus my photos will be overexposed. My prism is also a bit crooked on it - not sure how to fix it, and not sure if that's the cause of all my tilted horizons!

nyoung · Apr 13, 2009

BradS said:
"locked up" - that is, you cannot advance the film and you cannot trip the shutter...

I've killed a couple like that.

Most likely something is broken/bent in the gear/drive train from the film advance lever to the shutter cocking and film transport mechanism.

When these cameras were new (1980s), Nikon warned against running them on the MD 12 motor drives at shutter speeds less than 1/60 for fear of damage to the drive mechanism.

BradS · Apr 13, 2009

nyoung said:
Most likely something is broken/bent in the gear/drive train from the film advance lever to the shutter cocking and film transport mechanism.

When these cameras were new (1980s), Nikon warned against running them on the MD 12 motor drives at shutter speeds less than 1/60 for fear of damage to the drive mechanism.

Interesting. The guy from whom I bought that particular body was also selling an MD-12...and by the looks of the drive coupling on the bottom of the camera this one saw a lot of use with the motor drive.

Thanks for the info.

Dave in Kansas · Apr 13, 2009

When these cameras were new (1980s), Nikon warned against running them on the MD 12 motor drives at shutter speeds less than 1/60 for fear of damage to the drive mechanism.

This is good info to know and shows the value of this forum. I recently purchased an FE and thought a MD 12 drive would be nice to have to go with it, but after reading this post I'll reconsider using it on a regular basis.

nyoung · Apr 13, 2009

Dave in Kansas said:
I'll reconsider using it on a regular basis.

Just to amplify a bit.

The warning was specifically against running the MD12 in continous mode at the slower shutter speeds.

In the single frame mode, they should be okay at those speeds.

In my case, I was using the FM/FE series for my work on a 6-day-a-week newspaper and generally my motors were always set to C and eventually I killed some bodies.

The FEs in aperture priority mode would sometimes choose shutter speeds below 1/60 without the photographer being aware of it leading to the damage potential.

Dave in Kansas · Apr 13, 2009

Thanks. It's still good to know and I'll take note. I want my FE to last a long time.

Pumal · Apr 13, 2009

I've had the FE with the MD-12 for many, many years. Never failed. IMHO is one of the best Nikons ever built. I still prefer my Nikon F

manoj sharma · Oct 2, 2014

nikon fe 10 shutter problem

BradS said:
Interesting. The guy from whom I bought that particular body was also selling an MD-12...and by the looks of the drive coupling on the bottom of the camera this one saw a lot of use with the motor drive.

Thanks for the info.

hi i also bought nikon fe10 and it also has some shutter problem it sometimes work properly and sometimes don't. when i press shutter button it only gives clang type of sound but you can feel that something is stuck and shutter don't work. i took it to repair shop and after removing the lens technician just pushed or touch the shutter or whatever that mirror type of thing is called and it started working fine i checked it my self with lens on and it was working fine but when i again loaded the film on it and after taking some photograph it stuck so i my self removed the lens to see what is wrong with shutter there was again mirror type of think which was not moving so i moved it with my finger and it again started working fine. the problem is that i don't want to follow this practice again and again when this problem strike back since i feel it will ruin the film roll and my camera too. please find attached photograph where i have marked the shutter type thinks which doesn't move when this malfunction strikes i have also attached photograph of back panel of the camera which doesn't moves which i think should be the case to expose the film to light (please note that this is not the actual photo of my camera just took it from goggle and marked it for reference so modal in this picture may very from my fe10.
thanks in advance.

RalphLambrecht · Oct 2, 2014

mine has the same problem if stored too long

Ricardo Miranda · Oct 2, 2014

The FE10 isn't a Nikon made camera. It is made by Cosina and hasn't anything in common with the FE.
Well, only the mount is common.

camtec · Oct 5, 2014

In my shop, I've seen very few mechanical problems with the FE other than light seals. I have seen damaged F.R.Es. These are part of the electrical system and are made of a ceramic material that is subject to breakage if the camera is abused. BTW, as mentioned when the batteries die the camera locks up. I have had customers put fresh batteries in to no avail and leave them in. The proper sequence is to unlock camera by turning shutter speed dial to flash synch speed or bulb THEN put batteries in. As long as the mirror is up the camera is sucking electricity from the batteries. The camera will NOT unlock by simply inserting batteries.

Mikkornat · Oct 23, 2015

My FE's shutter is slow above 1 second. It's close to 2 seconds too slow.

Xmas · Oct 23, 2015

An 09 14 15 thread...

Most hang ups will be

Mechanical logic from grease turned to wax
Electromagnets stalling from grease turned to wax
Battery contacts or wiring corrosion

If you have a local repair person he should fix the fix the first two easily but a replacement may be cheaper you should try cleaning the contacts and putting the batteries in the correct way round first.

Xmas · Oct 23, 2015

Mikkornat said:
My FE's shutter is slow above 1 second. It's close to 2 seconds too slow.

Leave it in warm airing cupboard overnight, in morning fire it one hundred times at each speed.
But a CLA is a safer option or an eBay special...

benjiboy · Oct 23, 2015

Xmas said:
An 09 14 15 thread...

Most hang ups will be

Mechanical logic from grease turned to wax
Electromagnets stalling from grease turned to wax
Battery contacts or wiring corrosion

If you have a local repair person he should fix the fix the first two easily but a replacement may be cheaper you should try cleaning the contacts and putting the batteries in the correct way round first.

I agree "replacement may be cheaper", but I.M.O. if you need a reliable camera that won't let you down you need to have it serviced, replacing it with another thirty year old one that most probably hasn't been serviced either that will probably soon have other faults is just "kicking the can down the road", and in the long run makes no sense.

BrianShaw · Oct 23, 2015

benjiboy said:
I agree "replacement may be cheaper", but I.M.O. if you need a reliable camera that won't let you down you need to have it serviced, replacing it with another thirty year old one that most probably hasn't been serviced either that will probably soon have other faults is just "kicking the can down the road", and in the long run makes no sense.

... even in the short run it is risky and often makes no sense!

benjiboy · Oct 23, 2015

BrianShaw said:
... even in the short run it is risky and often makes no sense!

"Risky and makes no sense" in what respect ?"

BrianShaw · Oct 23, 2015

"Risky" in the respect of not being a guaranteed likelihood of getting a replacement camera off of ebay that is any better than the one in hand, and "makes no sense" in the respect of potential waste of time and money and effort. I fully subscribe to your notion that having old cameras overhauled generally is better than just replacing with another old camera.

Common problems with the Nikon FE

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