Faulty Nikon F3 shutter , or is it me ?

[BrianShaw]

I’ve not experienced that on a F3 but did on a FE. In that case removal of bottom plate and a bit of grease on the rewind levers fixed the problem.... after dugout which were jammed.

 

[neilt3]

That’s not right. It’s wind mechanism is jammed. Check the “door closed” lever on the top rail of the door housing. That tells camera to reset the rewind button and put the wind lever back in action.

Figure that out first rather than fussing over shutter cocking and meter operation.

The door closed lever is fully in it's "out" position when the door is open .
pressing it with my finger nail requires firm pressure , but goes in freely but does not reset the rewind button , nor allows the film advance lever to move .

I think at this point the fault with the cameras is confirmed , and also confirms it's not uncommon .
As I bought the camera in good faith as in full working order , it can go back for a refund .

View attachment 234620 You could try charging the shutter via the motor drive connector to see if that will cock the shutter. It turns 1 revolution anti-clockwise to cock the shutter. You may have to hold down the shutter release to do this (at your own risk, of course!).

With the motordrive attached and the shutter button pressed down in either single or continuous ; nothing happens .

True, but Not worthy it if the wind mechanism is jammed. Unless your thinking that might unjam it. I’m no so sure if it would or not.

To be honest , as the camera is faulty , I think it's best not to mess and just send it back .

If I already owned a camera that went faulty , I would look into repairing it .
As it's been miss sold to me , they can have it back .

 

[Kino]

I also removed the base plate of my F3 prior to taking it into service, but was able to determine the jam appeared to be up inside the camera body, not in the base plate area, so I punted and took it in for service...

 

[Kino]

With the motordrive attached and the shutter button pressed down in either single or continuous ; nothing happens .



To be honest , as the camera is faulty , I think it's best not to mess and just send it back .

If I already owned a camera that went faulty , I would look into repairing it .
As it's been miss sold to me , they can have it back .

Yes, sounds like the thing to do...

 

[BrianShaw]

Yes, sounds like the thing to do...

Agree. But what a shame.

 

[neilt3]

You asked if the camera had to be cocked before the meter works; I said NO it doesn't have to be cocked before the meter works.

That's what I understood .
The listing for the camera said the metering worked fine .
In Auto it just reads 1/80 sec regardless of lighting , so if it doesn't matter if the shutters cocked or not , then this reading should change with the light .
Which means there is something else wrong with the camera than just the shutter / wind on mechanism etc .

Either way , the cameras is faulty , so will be going back .

Thank's to everyone for helping out with their replies .

 

[BrianShaw]

In auto mode it will always indicate 1/80 until frame 1. F3 design... perfectly normal.

First discussed in post 3.

 

[NB23]

What about the frames, did opening the door reset it?

 

[Kino]

In auto mode it will always indicate 1/80 until frame 1. F3 design... perfectly normal.

First discussed in post 3.

Mine does not do that...

 

[BrianShaw]

Don’t know how to explain yours. Mine does. Page 45 of manual describes this viewfinder indication of 80 when in “A” mode or speed set greater than 1/125.

 

[Kino]

Weird. Mine seems to ignore that rule!
Rogue camera...

 

[BrianShaw]

Weird. Mine seems to ignore that rule!
Rogue camera...

Your lucky... it’s not the best of the F3 features. Described as “quirk” most often.

From http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Nikon_F3

Meter quirk: Although Nikon no doubt considered it a feature, the meter of the F3 will not properly activate until the film counter has been wound forward to "1". It is intended as a defence against the user accidentally triggering a many-second exposure in auto-exposure mode while loading film - thus the meter remains off and the shutter fires at the mechanical speed of 1/80 until film is advanced to the first frame. This feature is not mentioned in the manual, but is the subject of much confusion and grief in the photography fora.

 

[Les Sarile]

I also agree that if you have the option to return then return while you can.

Just to follow up on an earlier point, did you try the Backup Mechanical Release Lever located in front of the camera and just below the mirror lockup lever? Using this, if the camera has been cocked, it will fire the shutter. This is not the same as pressing the shutter button on top of the camera in manual mode.

 

[Les Sarile]

Weird. Mine seems to ignore that rule!
Rogue camera...

When you open the film back, does the film counter reset to zero? If it doesn't reset to zero then that is why it doesn't act as it should.

 

[John Koehrer]

You say the sprocket rotates with the rewind button pushed in. Does it rotate and STOP when it's wound towards the wind side?

The RW button should pop out only when the sprocket is wound in the advance direction. Perfectly normal

 

[shutterfinger]

Well you have encountered a lot of chatter since last night (my time) with a few useful tips and an accurate conclusion you have a dog. Does it howl?
Download the factory service manual at http://arcticwolfs.net/ . Note there is a Version 1 and a Version 2. Use it to check out your 1st body while you're waiting for your refund for the 2nd body you recently got.

Does the back fully engage the counter lever when closed? Have you pushed it in with a screwdriver or similar until it reaches the stop/mechanical end of travel?

 

[Huss]

There’s no voodoo that you do here. If you cannot wind the advance lever and you cannot activate the mechanical release it is kaput.
The OP wisely is sending it back.

 

[neilt3]

In auto mode it will always indicate 1/80 until frame 1. F3 design... perfectly normal.

First discussed in post 3.

Understood .
So not faulty , just working as intended .

What about the frames, did opening the door reset it?

Camera was already reset to zero when I got it .
Not being able to wind the shutter on and fire it prevents the counter getting changed to anything else .

I also agree that if you have the option to return then return while you can.

Just to follow up on an earlier point, did you try the Backup Mechanical Release Lever located in front of the camera and just below the mirror lockup lever? Using this, if the camera has been cocked, it will fire the shutter. This is not the same as pressing the shutter button on top of the camera in manual mode.

Trying to fire the shutter with the mechanical release lever was the next thing I tried after switching it on , pressing the shutter release button and changing the batteries .
Nothing doing .
As pointed out in an earlier post , it would appear the wind on mechanism has jammed before being wound on .
So the shutter not being cocked means that function won't work .

When you open the film back, does the film counter reset to zero? If it doesn't reset to zero then that is why it doesn't act as it should.

Camera was already reset to zero when I got it .
Not being able to wind the shutter on and fire it prevents the counter getting changed to anything else .

You say the sprocket rotates with the rewind button pushed in. Does it rotate and STOP when it's wound towards the wind side?

The RW button should pop out only when the sprocket is wound in the advance direction. Perfectly normal

With the rewind button pressed in , the sprockets rotate freely in either direction .
The RW button does not pop out when the sprocket roller is turned in the winding direction .
The film advance lever does not move , so isn't moving anything inside the camera .

Well you have encountered a lot of chatter since last night (my time) with a few useful tips and an accurate conclusion you have a dog. Does it howl?
Download the factory service manual at http://arcticwolfs.net/ . Note there is a Version 1 and a Version 2. Use it to check out your 1st body while you're waiting for your refund for the 2nd body you recently got.

Does the back fully engage the counter lever when closed? Have you pushed it in with a screwdriver or similar until it reaches the stop/mechanical end of travel?

No dogs howling , just me whimpering !
I don't have the 1st body , as as soon as I got it and found it to be faulty , I sent it back for a refund .
This ones going back as well .

With the lever pressed in fully . with the back or a screwdriver , makes no difference .

Thanks for the link for the service manual . Hopefully I'll get third time lucky and my next one will work !

 

[neilt3]

There’s no voodoo that you do here. If you cannot wind the advance lever and you cannot activate the mechanical release it is kaput.
The OP wisely is sending it back.

Indeed .
Hopefully third time lucky .

 

[neilt3]

Third time lucky !!!
I've just bought another F3 off eBay .
This one's an F3 HP , it was listed as working with faults .
My expectations were limited .
The catch that holds the door shut was listed as broken , been sat for ten years , only used on manual and the owner didn't understand or use the light meter or auto exposure setting etc .

Was I silly for taking a chance on it ?
Maybe .... But the other ones I bought were sold as in full working order and were faulty , at least this fella stated the faults so I was a bit more comfortable .
It clearly put other bidders off , so I got it at a fair price .

It arrived this morning .
No batteries in it .

I wound it on and fired the shutter on the mechanical release .
Success ! The shutter fired ! And more than once .
I put some new , but very old unopened batteries in it . Nothing .

Took some out of an FG 20 I had next to me .
Shutter works just fine at all speeds and in "A" mode !
Meter etc works just fine too along with all other functions .

At last ! One that works .

The door was discribed as broke and was held shut with tape . I've bought a spare back for a good price and it'll be with me in a day or two .
The catch has actually been removed , so when the new one arrives I could probably use it's it's as a template to repair the original one , which is a data back .
Not using data backs , I'll be using the replacement back anyway .

So one last question on power supply .
The battery that came out of the FG 20 was the one that was in it when I got it earlier in the year , anyone's guess at how much life is still in them .
It works both cameras just fine .

The batteries I tried first in the F3 are old , but unused batteries , well past their use by date (2012 , just happened to be at the front of the draw ) and didn't do anything .
No big surprise .
But I then put them in the FG 20 just to see what happens .
They work it fine .

So Is the F3 much more dependent on having good , strong batteries than other cameras ?
Or is it a case that the FG 20 is much less dependant ?