F2 not powering meter

[MCB18]

Hi!

I recently bought an F2 body with the sole intention of swapping the “broken” one on my body… except my meter isn’t broken. My body just isn’t powering the meter.

Can I have some advice on what could be happening? And how would I trouble shoot this?

Thanks!

 

[reddesert]

Hi!

I recently bought an F2 body with the sole intention of swapping the “broken” one on my body… except my meter isn’t broken. My body just isn’t powering the meter.

Can I have some advice on what could be happening? And how would I trouble shoot this?

Thanks!

The first thing you should do is: batteries installed, wind lever pulled out to "on" position, take off the prism, measure voltage on the two metal contacts on either side of the focusing screen (any voltmeter will do). You should see 3 volts.

If you don't see any voltage, power is not getting to those contacts and thus to the prism. If so, the first place I would look is under the bottom plate, where pulling out the wind lever pushes two pieces of metal into contact (a leaf switch). On an F2 I had, those pieces were oxidized or a little dirty and didn't make good contact. Cleaning them lightly fixed it. You can also use the voltmeter to see where you are getting the 3 volts and where it stops going. It is possible for the battery contacts or wires under the holder to fail / be corroded, which I think is more of a PITA to fix.

 

[mshchem]

Yeah, I had an F2, same thing. Mine had no power to the 2 metal pins on the top of the body. Something inside wasn't conducting the juice. Not unexpected for a 50ish year old camera. I gave the body to a friend. Problem solved.

 

[MCB18]

The first thing you should do is: batteries installed, wind lever pulled out to "on" position, take off the prism, measure voltage on the two metal contacts on either side of the focusing screen (any voltmeter will do). You should see 3 volts.

batteries in, lever out, and I would swear I measured 3V across the contacts.