New to me FE2 and some questions

[Joel_L]

Hi,

I just picked up an FE2 to add to my collection of film cameras. It is in exceptional cosmetic condition and seems to be working fine. I do have a couple of questions though,

1) Self timer - is it supposed to lock until you press the shutter button to start it going, or does it just start counting down when you let go? Mine just starts to count down. The mirror does lock up when you press the shutter button and does fire the shutter at the end. It also cancels properly if you push the lever back. ( exposure lock also works ).

2) Meter - the meter seems to mostly work as it should ( I shot a roll and all was fine ). What I notice is the black needle lags. I read some threads on the aperture resolver being dirty and such but the behavior I see is slightly different. Lets say a have a consistent light source I'm pointed at and with all things set, the needle is at 500, I pan away from the light and the needle drops, I pan back to the same light source ( has not changed ), but the needle stops about 1/2 stop short of 500. Jiggle the camera a bit and it makes it the rest of the way. the needle doesn't seem to be dragging on anything, its movements are smooth and not jumpy. I did remove the focusing screen to take a look and it does not look bent or out of shape in any way.

Thanks

Joel

 

[Arvee]

1) Self timer should stay put until you depress the shutter button,

2) Meter should immediately return to original value when returning to the light source. Sounds like you may have a sticky needle pivot in the D' Arsonval movement, this may clear itself over time. Meter movements are extremely fragile and if you mess with it you may kill it permanently. Soft batteries (or dirty battery contacts) could also be responsible for sluggish meter movement. With non-use battery contacts oxidize and make poor contact. Use pencil eraser to clean contacts.

3) I would guess the camera hasn't been used in quite a while and the non-use is responsible for both issues. Just give the camera a good workout and give the self timer some exercise every day and these issues may disappear.

 

[Joel_L]

Thanks, I will just use it for a while.

Joel

 

[Mick Fagan]

The match needle system in my FE2 can and does sometimes work like you mention, fact of life with these as they get older. That said, I would put a new set of batteries in. New batteries in my FE2 makes it young again and is my solution for whenever it starts to act up.

Sometimes the mirror seems to stay up a fraction longer, new batteries, works perfectly again.

It might not be the batteries, but my experience and a few others who had them new in the eighties as I did, did seem to find new batteries cured a multitude of ailments.

Mick.

 

[Pumalite]

+1
Batteries.

 

[Joel_L]

Hi,

Tried new batteries, no change in behavior. I shot a roll of slide film and things looked good using the auto mode ( tells me just the needle is lagging ). Now that I understand the needle lags a bit, even manual mode should not be an issue.

Thanks

Joel

 

[Joel_L]

Hi,

So after a bit of playing with the camera, the lag in the needle never improved. I ended up taking the meter out and adjusting the movement. Now the needle response is crisp and accurate. Wasn't too bad to do. Definitely easier to work on than the OM-1s I've played with. Still have the self timer issue, but everything else works like a charm.

Joel