Nikon EM

A family friend gifted me this camera. Typically, I use the Pentax K1000, which I am super comfortable with and some other SLRs, mirrorless, etc...So I'm fairly knowledgable about photography, but hoping some truly enlightened ones on this board could help me.

So I'm using the EM for the first time with the Micro Nikkor 55mm f3.5 (have used this on my mirrorless). First couple exposures of the roll come out tack sharp, amazing exposures. Then about 4-5 photos into the roll the frames turn into MAJOR overexposure. You can barely make anything out and continues until the last few exposures of the roll. Thankfully, the last few exposure came out nicely. I know there's a million variable that come into play while diagnosing something like this. Could it have been a light leak? Or a friend of my suggested it may have something to do with the battery (pretty sure its the right battery) like maybe the voltage was off? I typically never use aperture priority which this camera is known for (sucks I can't just use the camera manually). But has anyone ever experienced anything like this before or does anyone have any recommendations for the camera. I saw on a Youtube video that if you take the battery out it just automatically goes to a shutter speed of 1000th of a second. I just have gear that I know so well and that is so reliable, I hate to waste valuable resources troubleshooting a camera like this, but I was just hoping someone on here had some insight!

Thanks in advance for any feedback! Have a good day!

Any chance that the automatic diaphragm is not closing down consistently?
Joel

PonySoldier1887 said:

Any chance that the automatic diaphragm is not closing down consistently?
Joel

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Hmmmm - the shutter speeds in the viewfinder seemed to be hitting either 1000th of a second to 250th of a second. Not sure about the automatic diaphragm. Let me research that.

PonySoldier1887 said:

Any chance that the automatic diaphragm is not closing down consistently?
Joel

Click to expand...

Ok, I see what you are saying now. Hmmmm - the camera was given to me with a 28mm lens nikkor and 50mm nikkor lens, but the micro Nikkor 55mm was just mine I had been using from before. It had always worked perfectly with my mirrorless, but I am wondering now if it was not suited for this particular Nikon EM. Maybe I'll try it with one of the lenses they had given to me. Wow, thanks. I mean I thought any old f mount lens would've worked, but maybe not? I'm just so much used to the fully manual thing that this aperture priority noise is throwing me off.

If you have been using the 55mm lens with a mirrorless, you probably have always been viewing and focusing at the shooting aperture.
With the EM, you would normally be using the lens differently - viewing at maximum aperture, sometimes checking by stopping down manually to check depth of field, but mostly letting the aperture stop down automatically just before the exposure.
That automatic stop down can work erratically if the lens needs a CLA - not uncommon if the lens hasn't been serviced in a long time.
Technically speaking, it is because the lubrication in the lens can get bunged up over time .
And that erratic performance can lead to over-exposure.

So first few exposures of the roll are like the mailbox picture and middle 30 exposures are like the unclear one just as a reference. Thanks everyone - I know this is dumb shit I’m asking but I’d really like to use this camera.

With the aperture ring set to minimum (f22), look through the lens at a background light source and gently but quickly actuate the aperture lever on the rear of the lens, multiple times (24 or 36 times perhaps). If the action of the iris has any sort of stutter you'll get an overexposure. Whatever is happening in the first shot looks like something worse than that though.

To expand on Bronson's test above,
you could try firing the camera at f22 in auto, looking at the front of the lens and seeing if there's a delay in the iris closing after the shutter opens.
It might be a good idea to check multiple lenses, that would help isolate the problem.
Good luck!

The problem frame looks like a light leak or maybe some weird shutter curtain problem, not overexposure due to a sticky aperture.

Show us a picture of the negatives so we can see whether there is light outside the frame. Is the pattern of extra light similar in all the bad frames?

The EM can be set to the M90 shutter speed to fire without a battery. If you really prefer manual metering other Nikons like the FE, FM, FG, Nikkormats are better choices though.

The EM needs AI, AI'd, AIS, AF or AFD mount lenses. If your 55 Micro is non-AI, it won't couple with the meter.

Also, you can check the meter coupling ring that surrounds the lens mount. They sometimes get sticky which can throw the metering way off. Repeated movement of the ring can free it up or it may need to be disassembled and cleaned.

James Thorsen said:

So first few exposures of the roll are like the mailbox picture and middle 30 exposures are like the unclear one just as a reference. Thanks everyone - I know this is dumb shit I’m asking but I’d really like to use this camera.

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That first picture doesn't look like an overexposure problem -- it looks like fogged film or a light leak. Look at the negatives -- does the fogging (which should show up as a dark patch) only exist in the frame, with clear sprockets and visible edge writing, or does the fogging extend outside the frame to the sprockets? If the latter, the film was exposed to light -- it could be a light leak but it may also be that something went wrong in the lab. (If the former, it could be a shutter curtain problem, but it doesn't look like that.)

I'd try another roll of (cheap) film and see what happens.

My initial thought -- which I don't think is your issue, but good to know -- is that despite what the Nikonisti tell you, not all Nikon lenses are compatible with all cameras. (A shock to us Pentaxians, where all K-mount lenses really are compatible with all K-mount lenses.) They may fit, but they don't all work. Older pre-AI lenses are an example -- I put an old Nikon 28mm on an FE and didn't realize that the camera could not stop the lens down -- so all those pics were shot wide open and therefore overexposed. Something to watch out for with the EM.

Nifty little camera, the EM is, and I've thought of getting one myself -- but I've found much more happiness with my Pentax cameras than my Nikons. In your shoes, I'd expand my collection in the Pentax/Ricoh/Sears direction.

Aaron

Autonerd said:

My initial thought -- which I don't think is your issue, but good to know -- is that despite what the Nikonisti tell you, not all Nikon lenses are compatible with all cameras. (A shock to us Pentaxians, where all K-mount lenses really are compatible with all K-mount lenses.) They may fit, but they don't all work. Older pre-AI lenses are an example -- I put an old Nikon 28mm on an FE and didn't realize that the camera could not stop the lens down -- so all those pics were shot wide open and therefore overexposed. Something to watch out for with the EM.

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i don't want to get into a brand vs brand debate, but this isn't right. Virtually all Nikon SLRs, even recent digital consumer-level SLRs, have a mechanical lever that stops down the lens aperture. The FE with an old non-AI lens should stop down the lens fine. The problem with that combo is that the meter isn't coupled (so you need to use stop-down metering). The OP's EM should stop down a non-AI lens, but the lens could jam the aperture sensing tab on the body, causing exposure errors. These issues are covered in the manuals.

I don't think anyone should say that all Nikon lenses are perfectly compatible. It's a well-known alphabet soup especially once you cross to AF. The clearest tables of it are here: https://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm

If that leak does not extend outside the frame in the negative, then it is most likely light leaking through the viewfinder. Else, it is the light seals from the back door. Can you post a shot of the negative, the part of the strip with that frame?

reddesert said:

i don't want to get into a brand vs brand debate, but this isn't right. Virtually all Nikon SLRs, even recent digital consumer-level SLRs, have a mechanical lever that stops down the lens aperture. The FE with an old non-AI lens should stop down the lens fine. The problem with that combo is that the meter isn't coupled (so you need to use stop-down metering). The OP's EM should stop down a non-AI lens, but the lens could jam the aperture sensing tab on the body, causing exposure errors. These issues are covered in the manuals.

I don't think anyone should say that all Nikon lenses are perfectly compatible. It's a well-known alphabet soup especially once you cross to AF. The clearest tables of it are here: https://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm

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I do not think the problem is overexposure. It looked like light leak somewhere. However using a Pre AI lens can cause the EM to exposure wrongly. The shutter speed on the EM can not be seict manually so you always have to rely on the meter. The meter coupling either not touch the lens at all in which case the camera would think that you always shoot at mininum aperture. It may touch the coupling and moves it but in an erratic way. This is bad as it can damages the coupling.

reddesert said:

The problem with that combo is that the meter isn't coupled (so you need to use stop-down metering). The OP's EM should stop down a non-AI lens, but the lens could jam the aperture sensing tab on the body, causing exposure errors.

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Apologies, you are correct, and I misspoke (er, mistyped). I had the camera in Auto mode so was not getting proper metering.

Aaron