Common problems with the Nikon FE

[Mikkornat]

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...

Thanks I'll try that.

 

[Mikkornat]

I did something like this and now the speed of 1, 2, and 4 seconds are very close. But 8 seconds is still about a second and a half too slow. How do I compensate for this when taking pictures?

 

[jtcliff]

Recently I found my FE with closed shutter curtain, mirror up and the advance lever stuck. It would move out for the meter but not further. After searching and trying all the repair suggestions I could find I tried this.
1. Remove lens,
2. Release mirror up,
3. Open back
4. Now CAREFULLY, with your fingers, ease the shutter curtain downwards (i.e. Opening it) pushing it right down until it disappears at the bottom. (I did this with very light finger pressure and it required no force.)
5. Now quickly remove your finger so that the shutter curtain springs back with the characteristic snap and ping sound.

To my astonishment everything started to work flawlessly at any shutter speed setting including M90 and B.

I am putting this suggestion out there to give others another option to try. Best of luck.

IF the curtain can be eased down as described you may be OK. BUT I DO NOT SUGGEST FORCING IT.

 

[TheRook]

A year ago, my FE suddenly locked up and ceased to function. So I had a basic CLA done on it, which fixed the problem. Apparently, lubrication of the internal gears took care of the lock up. As I plan to use this wonderful camera regularly for many years to come, I do not regret the CLA investment.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

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!

Yeah,mine locks up like that frequently but wiggling the transport winder at the bottom plate with a penny a little bit usually gets it freed up again.Also note,the shutter needs a battery to work and there is an emergency fire button at the bottom plate,which you can use to get it freed up.

 

[pentaxpete]

I have 'taken over' my Wife's Nikon FE which we got from a Widow Lady about 19 yeras ago with the 28mm, 50mm and 105mm lenses all for £90 and there has been no trouble except the foam seals went rotten and I replaced them with a 80 pence sheet of foam bought in a crafts shop . I DID take off the base=plate and lubricate teh various cogs and levers with a minute amount of oil picked up on a child's small paint brush and it all winds on smoothly.
Nikon FE by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

 

[saman13]

My issue with my FE is that it functions well at shutter speeds below 1/500, but above that, the shutter often does not open at all. It sounds like it does (mirror slap), but when pointing the lens straight into the light with the back open, I can see the shutter is never opening. Due to this, sometimes as many as half of my frames are blank when I develop my film. I took it to a service shop and the repairman told me there was no lubrication that could be done and just firing the shutter often would loosen it up. I tried that and sometimes it still doesn't open. Is it true that this is the only solution?

 

[TheRook]

My issue with my FE is that it functions well at shutter speeds below 1/500, but above that, the shutter often does not open at all. It sounds like it does (mirror slap), but when pointing the lens straight into the light with the back open, I can see the shutter is never opening. Due to this, sometimes as many as half of my frames are blank when I develop my film. I took it to a service shop and the repairman told me there was no lubrication that could be done and just firing the shutter often would loosen it up. I tried that and sometimes it still doesn't open. Is it true that this is the only solution?

Sounds like something a basic clean and lubricate repair job could fix. I sent my FE to Garry's Camera Repair (http://www.garryscamera.com/) for servicing when the mirror jammed in the raised position; they did an excellent job and the camera has been running smoothly ever since.

 

[BrianShaw]

My issue with my FE is that it functions well at shutter speeds below 1/500, but above that, the shutter often does not open at all. It sounds like it does (mirror slap), but when pointing the lens straight into the light with the back open, I can see the shutter is never opening. Due to this, sometimes as many as half of my frames are blank when I develop my film. I took it to a service shop and the repairman told me there was no lubrication that could be done and just firing the shutter often would loosen it up. I tried that and sometimes it still doesn't open. Is it true that this is the only solution?

If there are no electronic problems then his statement is probably not true.

It is likely that he couldn't just be honest enough with you to say what he really meant: (1) it will cost more than the value of the camera to have it overhauled, and (2) he either isn't interested in doing that work or doesn't know how. Or... (3) he thinks replace the of the shutter is a possibility and knows that vintage NOS parts are not easy to source, and using cannibalizes parts is something he doesn't want to warranty.

The first issue is a reality but that never stops me when it means I'll have a reliable and high-quality camera with which to work.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

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!

my FE has the same problem. the electroic shutter needs fresh batteries or you can always use the manual 'M90' mode

 

[pingan]

Many years before I‘d met the mirror held-up problem likewise with my brand new FM，the same mechanism as FE. I was mad enough to tear down all the former the next day. While I’ve finally found the suspect cause I could not have been able to assembly them and had damaged some small delicate parts. Therefore don't waste your time.

After having seen so many suggestions online，no one hits the right target. To my point of view the main cause which stops the reflection mirror back should be THE SEALINGS‘ DEGRADATION AND SPREAD to where they shall not exist，a 0.1mm too manysomewhere will be bad enough to hold the mirror up forever.

Things will be worse and worse as years go by. To my understanding changes of all sealings will do little help，for there are
some minor corners with sealings not accessible. To change all sealings to recover FE original state is money exausting no？Just drop it in you trash cane！

 

[cooltouch]

I have one FE that is totally worn out -- thrashed, beyond hope. It was part of a collection of cameras I bought, so I wasn't all that upset. I actually bought the collection for a couple other cameras. I already had a working FE. But I also have an FE2 that is locked up. But it hasn't always been that way. When I got it, it was locked up. Then, for whatever reason, it woke up and began working correctly. But most recently, I loaded it up with fresh batteries, and it's locked up again.

In this case "locked up" means the mirror's down, the film winder crank has been wound, and the shutter speed has been set to either M250 or B. Either way, I can't get it to release. I've even pushed in the film rewind button on the bottom of the camera and I still can't get the wind lever to move. I'm wondering if I just let it sit there for a while if it might wake up. But I'm thinking that, since M250 and B and even the rewind button don't work, that it's a mechanical issue and not an electronic one. Sound plausible?

 

[Russ - SVP]

I have one FE that is totally worn out -- thrashed, beyond hope. It was part of a collection of cameras I bought, so I wasn't all that upset. I actually bought the collection for a couple other cameras. I already had a working FE. But I also have an FE2 that is locked up. But it hasn't always been that way. When I got it, it was locked up. Then, for whatever reason, it woke up and began working correctly. But most recently, I loaded it up with fresh batteries, and it's locked up again.

In this case "locked up" means the mirror's down, the film winder crank has been wound, and the shutter speed has been set to either M250 or B. Either way, I can't get it to release. I've even pushed in the film rewind button on the bottom of the camera and I still can't get the wind lever to move. I'm wondering if I just let it sit there for a while if it might wake up. But I'm thinking that, since M250 and B and even the rewind button don't work, that it's a mechanical issue and not an electronic one. Sound plausible?

I don’t have an answer for you. My FE’s and FE-2’s have been very reliable.

 

[Nova1B]

I know I’m probably trying to raise the dead here but this is an interesting thread about a great camera..

Just lately I got hold of an FE (original), which I paid very little for since I knew it had issues.

The wind on gets stuck sometimes - this seems completely workable (and common) and may be getting better as I use it; otherwise I might try a little lubricant under the bottom plate.

With a battery in, the meter needle seems accurate and the manual speeds sound about right (although it’s tricky telling the fast speeds apart) - that’s all the good news.

The bad news is two-fold - firstly, with batteries in the metering is *always* active and pays no attention to whether the winder is in the out position or not - there’s no way to turn it off without removing the batteries again.

Secondly, although the needle indicates appropriate speeds in AUTO mode, it always seems to fire in 1/90 or at least the same, fast speed.

And here’s the other odd thing which I don’t know is a problem or not - with batteries out, the shutter still fires in any position at 1/90 - aside from B which works as you’d expect. It doesn’t lock up, just fires at the same M90 default regardless of whether it’s set at any of the other speeds or AUTO. In fact AUTO seems to fire at that same speed whether it has batteries or not.

Answers on a postcard?

 

[Nova1B]

Ok, an update on my last post - after some more testing I’m quite happy that the shutter is accurate at all speeds, with batteries inserted. The meter also seems accurate, so I could shoot this camera fully manual today.

The problems boil down to two things:

1. The meter is *always* running, with batteries inserted. Is this a problem with the meter switch or is there a short somewhere - which is more common?

2. AUTO mode on the dial only fires at 1/90th (or thereabouts). The meter works and shows an appropriate speed, but the shutter behaves as if there’s no power and fires at default M90.

On that last point, an observation - I think there are two versions of the FE. The camera I have will happily fire at all speeds on the dial *without batteries*, but only at 1/90 regardless of the speed set (inserting batteries restores the marked speeds). Others here say the FE will lock up without batteries and only fire at the M90 or B setting. Which is right? I think both!

When I went looking for a manual for the FE I found two different versions on manualslib and Butkus respectively - take a look at the differences on this page: