Does anyone still use their Nikon F2 regularly?

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Richard:



From Solver Wong website.

Thanks. Mine are 43xxxx and 48xxxx. I'll test them out more and maybe decide to send them off to Sover after all.

 

[Chris Livsey]

Was really lucky and picked up a late F2 body in black was £69 no prism ! Sover to the rescue with a DE1 a few years back never sent it in as it was and is working fine. Now have just picked up an F2AS, film though shows no issues but to protect the investment both are with Sover. A gentleman to deal with even e-mailed to say they had arrived safely two weeks to wait approx. I suspect money well spent.

 

[Paul Goutiere]

Sover sent my F2 back to me on May 9, which means I should be getting it back this week, depending on the vagaries of both our postal services.

Kinda excited....

 

[Xmas]

Thanks. Mine are 43xxxx and 48xxxx. I'll test them out more and maybe decide to send them off to Sover after all.

Mine is 33xxx but only the battery test is a problem, the button only works intermittently.

 

[John Earley]

I've had a slightly worn chrome F2 with DP-1 for a good while and recently picked up an chrome F2 with plain prism. If I understood the woman I bought it from, it was used by her late husband to take a few pictures every Christmas and may have only had 6 rolls thru it since new. The seals were bad but I replaced them and tested the shutter speeds which seemed ok. It has a roll of Delta400 in it right now.

 

[Tom1956]

Quote:
Only DP-1s from 1975 with serial numbers 60xxxx and above have factory installed wire cladded ring resistors, similar to the ones in the DP-11s. The earlier carbon ring resistors wear out much quicker than the wirewound ones. At their end-of-life, the DP-1 meters tend to be jumpy or stuck at each end. The carbon ring resistors can be cleaned, and brought back to life again, but they will eventually wear out and become jumpy again. The wire cladded ring resistors, however, can last a life time. Some DP-1s had their carbon ring resistors replaced with the wire cladded ring resistors, and they will last a life time too.
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Since the camera came out in '71, I would be VERY interested in what years constitute "early". Thank you.

 

[Xmas]

The meter should have a name plate and serial number visible if you remove it from camera?

 

[John_Nikon_F]

1971-74 is "early". 1975-80 would be considered "late", with cameras like my 796xxxx body being very late.

-J

 

[Xmas]

Hi John

Should the serial numbers of the body and meter match?

Noel

 

[Chris Livsey]

Mine don't but who knows who swopped heads about, I don't think so as they are a factor of 10 apart.
Body 7928***
DP-3 867***

 

[John_Nikon_F]

Chris,

Well, they'll never really match, per se, since the DP series finders have a six digit serial, but they usually are preferred to be a matched set, if you're looking for a collector's item. User grade item, eh, use whatever you want. I'm in the latter category. One of my F2AS bodies started out as an F2A, but got upgraded when I sourced a second DP-12.

Very early DP-1's have the Nikon F rubberized cloth "leatherette" coverings and a slightly different eyepiece assembly. All of the earlier DP-1's also have a normal oblong window for the meter needle and no dot underneath the shutter speed dial stack. Later DP-1's have a slotted oblong window and will either have a green dot or a red dot under the shutter speed dial stack. Red dot is the fully cladded ring resistor version, green dot is partially cladded. DP-11's are also this way. With both the DP-1 and the DP-11, Nikon made both the green dot and red dot versions concurrently. Wasn't until sometime in either late 1977 or 1978 that everything seemed to become red dot only. Had a body, #7747135 that had a green dot DP-11 when I bought it, and my current #7745651 body had a red dot DP-11 when I purchased it. Now, it has the aforementioned DP-12 attached to it, which happens to be the original finder from my #7960079 body. When it returns from Sover, it will get the finder that currently is mounted to the late body, since I plan to mate the late body with its original DP-12 after said finder has been overhauled.

-J

 

[Xmas]

Hi John

Thanks both mine are 'good' users with significant impact damage. I was interested in Nikons serial number process

The DP-1 is 33xxx

- may need the resistor track cleaned
- has a white dot for shutter speed datum
- oblong meter window with cut out for datum

The DE-1

- Chipped prism (see impact damage above)

Both the DP-1 and DE-1 have same covering material as bodies.

Noel

 

[John_Nikon_F]

Noel,

Has Sover worked on it yet? If not, consider sending it to him and let him work on it. It'll be better than new, even though it doesn't look the part.

BTW: the red and green dots are on the underside of the coupler that connects to the body's shutter speed dial. The dot on the side of the shutter speed dial stack is white on all of them.

-J

 

[Chris Livsey]

Chris,

Well, they'll never really match, per se, since the DP series finders have a six digit serial, but they usually are preferred to be a matched set, if you're looking for a collector's item. User grade item, eh, use whatever you want. I'm in the latter category. One of my F2AS bodies started out as an F2A, but got upgraded when I sourced a second DP-12.

(Snip lots of useful/interesting stuff C )

-J

John
Thanks for that info. Of course people prefer them matched- we all know they then take better pictures

Both mine have nice brassing so are not "collectible" nice if someone else spends the film money running them in!!

 

[Xmas]

Noel,

Has Sover worked on it yet? If not, consider sending it to him and let him work on it. It'll be better than new, even though it doesn't look the part.

BTW: the red and green dots are on the underside of the coupler that connects to the body's shutter speed dial. The dot on the side of the shutter speed dial stack is white on all of them.

-J

Hi John

Thanks

No Sover has not seen either to my knowledge. One was 70GBP so cheaper to get another than to have serviced.

But did look at his site may have bad battery connection as well in one body.

Forgot

- I needed to patch holes in curtin with fabric paint... my concept of good user is it still works ok.
- a lens needed re lubed.
- three lenses need a drill & tap for rabbits ears

donno why Nikon omitted 'ears' from late nikkors

The 'real' dot is green.

Noel

 

[agphotography]

I managed to acquire a bargain grade F2 body with a DE-1 prism (all in black) for what I consider to be a good price. Now my plain-prism F has a friend

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I stillhaven't worn out my first Nikon FMyet; yetroughly 250,000 exposures and still tikk'n,but I'm working on it.The trouble is,I fell in love with MF.

 

[Tom1956]

Does anybody know how to get hold of one of these wire-wound parts so I can install it myself?

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Does anybody know how to get hold of one of these wire-wound parts so I can install it myself?

You mean one of these?

http://soverf2repair.webs.com/Cds.htm

Maybe Sover will sell you one.

 

[Tom1956]

You mean one of these?

http://soverf2repair.webs.com/Cds.htm

Maybe Sover will sell you one.

Thanks, Richard. But I was asking about the resistor, not the CdS cell, but I'm just as tickled to know I can get new cells. Thanks for the link.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Thanks, Richard. But I was asking about the resistor, not the CdS cell, but I'm just as tickled to know I can get new cells. Thanks for the link.

Oops. Well, sorry, and you're welcome!

 

[marcmarc]

I have two F2 bodies and neither of them are working even after various attempts at repairs. I've since upgraded to the F3 and am having much better luck with these two bodies. I prefer the F2; they just feel better in my hands, but no use using a camera that at any given time may or may not work. I haven't decided what to do with my two bodies, I'll probably sell 'em to KEH as beaters next time they are at the Pasadena Bargain Camera Show. If I can get at least most of what I put out for repairs, then I'll be happy.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

I have two F2 bodies and neither of them are working even after various attempts at repairs. I've since upgraded to the F3 and am having much better luck with these two bodies. I prefer the F2; they just feel better in my hands, but no use using a camera that at any given time may or may not work. I haven't decided what to do with my two bodies, I'll probably sell 'em to KEH as beaters next time they are at the Pasadena Bargain Camera Show. If I can get at least most of what I put out for repairs, then I'll be happy.

Who tried to repair them?

 

[marcmarc]

Richard, I sent one to Sover Wong right after I purchased it for an overhaul. I don't know if it needed one or not, but I figured if I sent it in regardless, it would serve me well for years to come. Well, after I got it back I started getting the tell tale signs of shutter bounce. I didn't want to go through the expense of shipping the camera back to Sover (I'm also in CA) so I dropped it off at a Nikon Authorized repair place in Woodland Hills. They "fixed" the camera and gave me a six month warranty. About 4-5 months in the problem came back so I dropped it off once again. They kept the camera for about five months because they said they couldn't find parts. So I picked up the camera and contacted Sover. Sover was wonderful in that he offered to repair it even though it was long out of his warranty and he even paid for the return shipping. However, when I got the camera back I photographed an immigration march and out of about 30 36 exposure rolls, only a handful of frames came out. Most were horribly under exposed or unexposed. I didn't want to bother with it anymore so I picked up another body and that too has a shutter bounce
(or shutter break) issue that I took to another new repair shop where I got the run around. There is a great repair place in Culver City that have done some CLA on my F3 bodies (as well as yet another shutter bounce repair, I seem to have really bad luck with this issue in these older cameras). They do repairs in house and they told me they could work on my F2's and I was tempted to give them a try, but with my F3's doing good, I don't see the point although like I mentioned above, I like the way the F2 feels over the F3. Besides, as we all know parts are getting more scarce and I suppose at some point with a limited number of bodies out there and some being used for parts they may just not be able to be serviced anymore.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Thanks for all the detail. I see your perspective. I'm lucky in having two F2 bodies that work well and obtained at very reasonable prices. But I'd be using my F3 and giving up on my F2 if I experienced what you did! Bummer. Sounds like
it needs a full blown shutter replacement.