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- Dec 19, 2015
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The F3 is a more modern camera, and so I figure that there are more techs who can work on it. It's the P model, though, so the waterproofing lube and gaskets may be a PITA and therefore expensive and time-consuming to fix up.
....but just keeps on working--the Nikkormat.
The Nikon F2 will always be the finest Nikon, and the one to have serviced. But since I haven't the money to have a camera serviced, I settled on the brand that doesn't need service, but just keeps on working--the Nikkormat. I got old holding possessions in line for the day when I could afford service.
Old mechanical camera speeds drift over time. Unless your shutter speeds are way out or sticking however, it's easier (and cheaper!) to adjust development times than have a service. Apart from shooting chromes you probably wouldn't notice any difference between perfect and actual times anyway. Generally speaking, shutter speeds will all be slightly slow with age, which is easy to compensate for - just reduce development fractionally until you're happy with exposures.
In my experience battery powered electronic shutters go out of sync less frequently than spring powered mechanical varieties. Even in new condition, magazine tests showed higher speeds to be optimistic on many cameras, especially once they got faster than 1/1000.
The F3 has a very center-weighted meter pattern, though, almost like a spot meter.
That is precisely what I like most about the F3. Its 80/20 centerweighted pattern. Back when I shot lots of film, I shot lots of chromes, and fed lots of them through my F3. Set to "A" with that metering pattern, I got to where I took for granted that my exposures would always come out. I was surprised at first, but then I just got to where I could depend on it.
Oh, and besides Sover Wong, does anyone have a tip for where to send these cameras for the work? KEH charges $275 flat rate for SLR service, which I think would be little steep for the F3 and FM. I can of course ship anywhere, but if there was something good in Central Texas that a user just so happened to know of, I'd love to hear about it!
What did you not like about it?
Is there a cheaper Nikon 'plastic fantastic' that has a notably well-damped mirror
This is great info that I am sorry that I somehow overlooked earlier. (Posting and reading threads from my phone a lot lately)Shutter speed tolerance is 20% for speeds 1/125 and slower, 30% for speeds 1/250 and faster. This translates to 1/3 stop either side of perfect. For 1 second its .8 to 1.2 seconds.
I work on leaf shutters regularly and this should apply to focal plane shutters as well. Hold the shutter so that you can see it and the second hand of a watch or clock at the same time. Release the shutter just as the second hand reaches a second mark, the shutter should close just as the second hand reaches the next second mark. The second hand width on most clocks/watches either side of the next second mark is in tolerance. Set the shutter to 1/2 second and repeat. Perfect is the center point between second marks with 1/2 the second hand width either side of center in tolerance. 1/2 second tolerance range is .4 to .6 second.
Read through this thread at Photo.net http://photo.net/large-format-photography-forum/0044cW
Mine are the last two posts on page 2 and the most up to date. The KYphoto link shows the tester they made for 35mm cameras. Inexpensive, easy to build, and accurate.
Tolerances http://www.flutotscamerarepair.com/Shutterspeed.htm
Exposure time and aperture are the same for all formats.
Nikon service manuals http://arcticwolfs.net/
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