Light Struck Film

leicarfcam · Aug 1, 2015

ColColt said:
The camera is as new. It's never been used. These problems shouldn't be there. As mentioned, it was owned by a collector not a shooter. The shutter curtain should be as new.

This is your problem. You take a new camera and set it on a shelf for years, you're going to have dried lube which affects proper operation..

The curtains are fine it's just the sticky shutter spring rollers and main shutter drum..

leicarfcam · Aug 2, 2015

jimjm said:
David - The curtains themselves don't look damaged to me, but something's definitely mechanically wrong with the second curtain.

It's called dry lube...and it is more likely the main shutter drum that is causing the roadblock.

jimjm said:
I've never seen this specific problem with an F2 before ...

I have...many times.. I have serviced cameras since the 70's and when the lube in the shutter spring rollers and/or main shutter drum dry out this is a common site..

ColColt · Aug 2, 2015

The curtains are fine it's just the sticky shutter spring rollers and main shutter drum..

I surely hope that's right. However, what doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling is I talked to the main man about this, Sover Wong, sent his the picture and he said it was not normal that they should overlap. He said he wasn't sure as to the cure or cause was as he hadn't seen one like that before. If he can't fix it I don't know who could.

ColColt · Aug 2, 2015

Well, things just went downhill. Sover had recommended exercise the shutter many times and see if that changes the overlapping till he could get it and look it over. I started doing that with the back open so I could watch things and I went from 2000 down to 1 sec and then back. That's when it started getting worse. As I got to 1/250th second and advanced the shutter slowly the gap got larger than before and the curtain on the right wanted to bunch up and if I had continued I know it would have wrinkled and been damaged beyond repair. I closed the back and just quit.

leicarfcam · Aug 2, 2015

Broken shutter tape..or it has come unglued from the spring roller..

It can be fixed and damaged curtains can be replaced...

If you got the camera from eBay recently I'd ask for a refund to cover repair costs or just return the camera..

One thing that has me confused is Sover says the lathe's are not supposed to overlap then how is it supposed to create a light tight seal?? The lathe's do in fact overlap usually 1.5-2mm. This overlap seals the 2 curtains after the shutter has been fired..

The first curtain fires and at a given time depending on shutter speed set the second curtain is then released to create a gap. The size of this gap is what determines shutter speed but once at rest both curtain lathe's are overlapped..

ColColt · Aug 2, 2015

This is how he put it...

"I have not seen this problem before, so I am not sure what to do as there's no adjustment for the overlapping of shutter curtains. The overlapping is only set to tight limits when a new or replacement shutter curtain is glued on its drum. In this F2, there's virtually no overlapping, so there's an open slit. I suspect a cowboy didn't check the overlapping when he replaced a shutter curtain on this F2. "

pentaxuser · Aug 2, 2015

ColColt said:
This is a pristine Nikon F2A from a collector so I doubt it's the camera. I've never had a Nikon do this.

Stating the obvious I know but based on all the subsequent posts and the Nikon expert's(Sover Wong?) comments then if this was how the collector described the camera you have got a case against the seller, made even stronger if he/she claimed to have used it recently.

If he/she is a genuine collector who buys and sells then a refund shouldn't be a problem

pentaxuser

ColColt · Aug 2, 2015

He's not a collector he got it from a collector. If I made the statement the seller was a collector then I was wrong. The seller got it from him, sent it to Nikon for CLA(I saw the repair list) and that's where I suspect they screwed the shutter up. He never used the camera after Nikon had it and that was a year and a half before he sold it to me. I doubt the collector ever used it either.

I looked at the shutter on my FTN Photomic and it looks just like the one jimjm showed in his photo. I suspect the one on my F2A should look similar.

Sirius Glass · Aug 2, 2015

ColColt said:
Well, things just went downhill. Sover had recommended exercise the shutter many times and see if that changes the overlapping till he could get it and look it over. I started doing that with the back open so I could watch things and I went from 2000 down to 1 sec and then back. That's when it started getting worse. As I got to 1/250th second and advanced the shutter slowly the gap got larger than before and the curtain on the right wanted to bunch up and if I had continued I know it would have wrinkled and been damaged beyond repair. I closed the back and just quit.

Ouch!

bsdunek · Aug 2, 2015

ColColt said:
Bub031 by David Fincher, on Flickr

I think you have some very good answers here - I just wanted to say - I like the Corgi - my favorite dog! We have two.

ColColt · Aug 2, 2015

One Corgi is all I can handle. Most are pretty active. Bubba is true to his name Handsome fellow and very photogenic.

_DEF3557aa by David Fincher, on Flickr

Xmas · Aug 2, 2015

Xmas said:
The F2 cameras don't need any back foam but you can replace any you removed with mouse mat and double sided pressure sensitive tape or a package from Jon Goodmann Google.

They need foam in mirror box!

If you have a gap between curtains the shutter tapes have stretched they should over lap about 2mm at mid frame. I not fire the shutter again myself until after a rebuild.

An F2 will work after it hits ferro concrete or falls down a flight of stairs don't recommend but they really do, never tried sitting on a shelf for forty years...

If there is anything suspect with a shutter firing it might help but may also damage it.

Sover says fitting a replacement shutter is not cost effective... On his site.

Like the dog.

My F2s are beaten up shooters it does not show on the prints...

ColColt · Aug 5, 2015

I tried getting in touch with the seller and sent a message as to what was wrong with this camera but have heard noting as yet. His explanation as to what was done to the camera indicated the shutter had been adjusted, etc. by Nikon. Well, Nikon apparently screwed up the shutter and he did nothing to check it out when it got back. This is how the add partially read...

"Gorgeous camera in great condition.

Cleaned, lubed, shutter adjusted, new foam seals by Authorized Photo Service (Nikon) a year ago March. DP-11 FA metered finder is in Mint condition, circuit board checked by Nikon for accuracy, cleaned. Stored in cabinet in smoke-free shop with no use since that time (shutter not cocked). Camera and light meter have been checked and are in mechanically new condition. See invoice for this work in pictures of the camera."

If Sover can't fix it I guess I've got a nice chrome and black paper weight.

ColColt · Sep 18, 2015

I finally got the seller to respond to this problem and he wasn't any help at all. In fact, very adamant about me not getting back with him within his two week period for returns. The camera looked pristine inside and outso, I felt no urgency about checking it out and by the time I had ordered film, received it and shot the 36 exposures sent it off and waited for the return it was long past the 14 day return time so, he basically ignored my email and said in so many words it wasn't his problem now.

Just an update on this problem. I just got an email from Sover about what's wrong with the shutter. He opened everything up and found the battery chamber had been cracked. He said the shutter curtain pulling tape was trapped, probably caused by the broken battery chamber.

F2 7831745_3 by David Fincher, on Flickr

There were other things wrong like the higher(250 and above)shutter speeds were way off. Also a lot of the foam was rotten, body and meter with some causing a ping sound every time the mirror returns causing shutter bounce at all speeds. And this camera was supposedly gone over by Nikon!!

I gave Sover carte blanche to do whatever was necessary to bring it back where it should be. So, just because a camera looks good on the outside even the inside doesn't mean all is well. Just because it's been repaired by Nikon doesn't mean all things are as they should be as evidenced by this botched repair they did. If it wasn't for Sover this camera would have ended up a paper weight. He's fixed the shutter and battery chamber so far and still working on it to replace the bad foam.

My goal in life is to be the person my dog already thinks I am.

Children are for people who can't have dogs. ~Author Unknown[p]Visit [link:images.nikonians.org/galleries/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=189433|my Nikonians gallery].[/p]

StephenT · Sep 18, 2015

I would recommend replacing - well, actually, adding - wool yarn (I use 3 strand tightly woven, available from any craft store) in the upper and lower channels where the door meets the body. I would replace the mirror bumper with self-adhesive felt, as well as any felt that what originally installed on the door or in the light box.

That's what I have done to my F2's before ever running film in them, just to be on the safe side, and because I like working on them as well. It's great to give new life to old things!

Light Struck Film

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