FM2 Titanium shutter question

Debs · Sep 3, 2010

I've purchased a Nikon FM2 recently on eBay. The ad stated that it had a titanium shutter - looking at the back of the camera the shutter its plain, catching a glimpse of the shutter from the front of camera I can see a pattern. Could you help me determine if this shutter is aluminum or titanium?

mablo · Sep 3, 2010

Looking from the backside of the camera. Smooth and plain shutter is aluminium, shutter with clear honeycomb pattern is titanium.

ishutteratthethought · Sep 3, 2010

I had my FM2 shutter replaced one time when I stuck my thumb through the titanium one trying to load one handed (note to self: do not try that again)
As mablo says, the titanium shutter is honeycombed and the aluminum shutter is plain which they replaced mine with, still works great though.
Steve

John_Nikon_F · Sep 3, 2010

I think I may've seen the camera you bought... Yes, it's an aluminum shutter. Doesn't really change things much, performance-wise. It's essentially the Nikon N8008 shutter mechanism with the mechanical timing stuff used with the older titanium shutter. As long as the meter functions properly and there are no light leaks, I'd go ahead and use it.

-J

Les Sarile · Sep 3, 2010

Scroll down midway in the link http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonfmseries/fm2/index.htm it suggests, "some concluded the Titanium shutter may have been exhibiting unstable performance under extreme changes of temperature and thus call for a change seven years later."

My FM2n has the aluminum shutter while my FE2 and FA have the titanium. Can't say I can hear any difference between them when they fire.

Monophoto · Sep 4, 2010

ishutteratthethought said:
I had my FM2 shutter replaced one time when I stuck my thumb through the titanium one trying to load one handed

I did that too - and the camera was only about a month old at the time. The initial repair simply smoothed out the blades, but the mechanism failed several years later and had to be replaced. But the camera is still going strong - and it's almost 30 years old.

Vilk · Sep 4, 2010

you're lucky. the aluminum shutter in the FM2N is more reliable. my anecdotal evidence would not be large enough to convert to valid stats, of course, but still--two titanium ones died on me back in the 90s; all the aluminum ones are still good. i've got a lot of support for this observation ever since

John_Nikon_F · Sep 4, 2010

Reliability-wise, it's been a wash for me. I've had one alu shutter that was warped on a junker FM2n that I got to resurrect another one. Still fired, but definite light leak. And, I've had one titanium shutter on a junker early FM2 where one of the curtain blades was off its track. Still fired just fine as well. So far, I've owned 19 of these bodies over the past 19 years - 18 of them starting in 2005 and continuing on, thanks to the market falling out on film gear at that time.

I have noticed, on a shutter tester, that the titanium shutter was slightly more accurate. Not enough to make much of a difference in exposure, though. So, whichever shutter you have will likely be reliable.

-J

FM2 Titanium shutter question

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