Can anyone recommend a good camera repair shop that will work on a Nikkormat EL? My googling indicates that many shops don’t like working on them due to concerns about the electronics.
For what it’s worth, the problem seems to be mechanical, not electronic. The meter coupling ring isn’t indexing lenses properly. When I mount a lens, say my 100-300mm f/5.6 zoom, and do the “Nikon shuffle” of twisting to minimum aperture, then back to maximum, the camera isn’t registering the correct maximum aperture. The little red tab on the side of the lens mount lines up with the wrong value; the camera thinks my f/5.6 lens is really somewhere between f/2.8 and f/5.6 (it varies each time). This screws with the metering; tests show that it’s giving me about one stop of overexposure on average. I like using the auto-exposure function, and I’m partial to slide film, so that’s a problem.
If I had to guess, I’d say that a gear/lever/tab inside the aperture coupling ring has worn out. I know it’d be cheaper to get another body on eBay, but this camera is special: it’s my first one, the one that got me into photography, and I’ve had it since middle school. So I’m rather attached to it.
For what it’s worth, the problem seems to be mechanical, not electronic. The meter coupling ring isn’t indexing lenses properly. When I mount a lens, say my 100-300mm f/5.6 zoom, and do the “Nikon shuffle” of twisting to minimum aperture, then back to maximum, the camera isn’t registering the correct maximum aperture. The little red tab on the side of the lens mount lines up with the wrong value; the camera thinks my f/5.6 lens is really somewhere between f/2.8 and f/5.6 (it varies each time). This screws with the metering; tests show that it’s giving me about one stop of overexposure on average. I like using the auto-exposure function, and I’m partial to slide film, so that’s a problem.
If I had to guess, I’d say that a gear/lever/tab inside the aperture coupling ring has worn out. I know it’d be cheaper to get another body on eBay, but this camera is special: it’s my first one, the one that got me into photography, and I’ve had it since middle school. So I’m rather attached to it.