Nikon F100 making strange noise, not winding film any more

Tomro · Jul 23, 2025

Last Saturday out of the blue I got the opportunity to get a Nikon F100. But first, I checked its functioning and loaded a film and fired a few shots (9 or so, the roll was still in, therefore). Thinking that it was ok, I took it home.
Yesterday I reached the end of the roll and therefore pressed the 2 buttons to start the rewind. After about 1 second the F100 made a strange noise, but the picture counter remained at 38 (expired Kodak film roll). First, I thought it might be the roll itself, so I took the film out in a changing bag, and to check again the functioning I first made sure that the rewind crank was ok (it seems ok) and inserted another roll (commercial role, not self spooled), but the camera is unable to load the film, and I always get an error (tried 3 different rolls) and it makes a strange noise: one can hear the motor but nothing happens with the film, so something must have been broken during this one film I shot.
Is this repairable? Im not sure I can give this one back, would be a shame. the camera is otherwise in great conditions, it seems (apart from the rubbery back)

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

Thanks for any help

retina_restoration · Jul 23, 2025

Tomro said:
Last Saturday out of the blue I got the opportunity to get a Nikon F100. But first, I checked its functioning and loaded a film and fired a few shots (9 or so, the roll was still in, therefore). Thinking that it was ok, I took it home.
Yesterday I reached the end of the roll and therefore pressed the 2 buttons to start the rewind. After about 1 second the F100 made a strange noise, but the picture counter remained at 38 (expired Kodak film roll). First, I thought it might be the roll itself, so I took the film out in a changing bag, and to check again the functioning I first made sure that the rewind crank was ok (it seems ok) and inserted another roll (commercial role, not self spooled), but the camera is unable to load the film, and I always get an error (tried 3 different rolls) and it makes a strange noise: one can hear the motor but nothing happens with the film, so something must have been broken during this one film I shot.
Is this repairable? Im not sure I can give this one back, would be a shame. the camera is otherwise in great conditions, it seems (apart from the rubbery back)

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

Thanks for any help

Return it, if you can.

F4U · Jul 23, 2025

Not familiar with this camera, but I AM familiar with nylon or plastic gears, which I'll bet a nickle are in there. As many cameras and other machinery I've worked on in my life, my own decision would be not to even bother opening it up to find out. Sad to say

Melvin J Bramley · Jul 23, 2025

Tomro said:
Last Saturday out of the blue I got the opportunity to get a Nikon F100. But first, I checked its functioning and loaded a film and fired a few shots (9 or so, the roll was still in, therefore). Thinking that it was ok, I took it home.
Yesterday I reached the end of the roll and therefore pressed the 2 buttons to start the rewind. After about 1 second the F100 made a strange noise, but the picture counter remained at 38 (expired Kodak film roll). First, I thought it might be the roll itself, so I took the film out in a changing bag, and to check again the functioning I first made sure that the rewind crank was ok (it seems ok) and inserted another roll (commercial role, not self spooled), but the camera is unable to load the film, and I always get an error (tried 3 different rolls) and it makes a strange noise: one can hear the motor but nothing happens with the film, so something must have been broken during this one film I shot.
Is this repairable? Im not sure I can give this one back, would be a shame. the camera is otherwise in great conditions, it seems (apart from the rubbery back)

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

Thanks for any help

The F100 has two well known issues/failures
The rewind fork is number one.
The second common issue is the camera back where the focus selector fails.

Tomro · Jul 24, 2025

thanks for all the replies.
I don't think it is the fork. It's a newer model where the fork problem should have been already fixed back then. According to a technician I talked to it should be an electronic component that failed. He does not think that it is repairable…

Sirius Glass · Jul 24, 2025

Return it if you can or sent to KEH.com for a repair.

F4U · Jul 25, 2025

Like I said, I don't know this model, but I do know camera construction and can envision such problems. I DO find surprises in unknown cameras and electronic gear, of course that showed I was off-base. But at this juncture I'd still say irreparable for all practical (monetary) purposes. I still smell a rat, and it smells like a nylon. It's white and has a crack in the center mounting hole. Or else has a broken retaining pin. Report back with the diagnosis if you decide to go the distance and pay people to fix it.

koraks · Jul 25, 2025

retina_restoration said:
Return it, if you can.

That's the most obvious way forward. If that's not possible, open it up and have a look - or find someone who is willing and capable of doing so. Alternatively, sell / donate it to someone who has a purpose for this given the supposed defect.

Speculation at the nature of the defect at this junction, especially without specific knowledge of this type of camera, seems way off base to me. At this point it could be anything.

RalphLambrecht · Jul 25, 2025

Tomro said:
Last Saturday out of the blue I got the opportunity to get a Nikon F100. But first, I checked its functioning and loaded a film and fired a few shots (9 or so, the roll was still in, therefore). Thinking that it was ok, I took it home.
Yesterday I reached the end of the roll and therefore pressed the 2 buttons to start the rewind. After about 1 second the F100 made a strange noise, but the picture counter remained at 38 (expired Kodak film roll). First, I thought it might be the roll itself, so I took the film out in a changing bag, and to check again the functioning I first made sure that the rewind crank was ok (it seems ok) and inserted another roll (commercial role, not self spooled), but the camera is unable to load the film, and I always get an error (tried 3 different rolls) and it makes a strange noise: one can hear the motor but nothing happens with the film, so something must have been broken during this one film I shot.
Is this repairable? Im not sure I can give this one back, would be a shame. the camera is otherwise in great conditions, it seems (apart from the rubbery back)

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

Thanks for any help

if You've got it for a good price, have it repaired, It's a relative new model and spare parts are still available.

Tomro · Jul 25, 2025

unfortunately , according to Nikon direct and a special technician they cannot repair this anymore. But if you got an address, I would really appreciate it.

koraks · Jul 25, 2025

I've not checked for your camera type + location, but perhaps this list helps:

Repair shops in and out of business

This is where we can maintain a list of camera repair shops. The idea behind this is that it's an ever-updated list of repair shops where anyone can post the name and public contact information of camera repair shops. Relevant information to post includes, for instance: * Name of the shop and...

www.photrio.com

It's obvious that Nikon will not service this camera anymore. IDK where the comment is based on that spare parts would still be available. Surely, someone, somewhere has parts for this, but official repair channels would have abandoned this type long, long ago. Boutique repair shops may still want to work on this, possibly using parts from donor cameras. Check the list above to see if there's something to your liking on it.

Keep in mind that it's likely that purchasing another second hand F100 may be cheaper than having this one repaired commercially.

Tomro · Jul 25, 2025

thanks, Koraks, that’s more or less also my reasoning
Nikon gave me the phone number of a private repair shop, specializing in Nikon, but the guy said that this kind of fault cannot be repaired anymore. No spare parts.

Nikon F100 making strange noise, not winding film any more

Tomro

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retina_restoration

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F4U

Melvin J Bramley

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Tomro

Sirius Glass

F4U

koraks

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RalphLambrecht

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Tomro

koraks

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Repair shops in and out of business

Tomro

Nikon F100 making strange noise, not winding film any more

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