Nikon F3 mirror hanging up

stradibarrius · Mar 21, 2009

I recently picked up a used F3HP and on the second roll of film the shutter only closed halfway when I took a shot. Then I realized that the mirror was not dropping back down after the shot. I can drop the mirror down with my finger but when I take the next shot the mirro hangs up again.
has this ever happened to you? Got any idea what might be the problem?

glockman99 · Mar 21, 2009

Is the mirror-lock lever in the correct position? If it is, maybe you'll want to take a look at the "mirror bumper foam" to make sure that it hasn't turned "gummy". Also, I take it that you have fresh batteries in the camera?

stradibarrius · Mar 21, 2009

First thing I did was check the MLU lever, second was to put new batteries in it to be on the safe side.
everything inside looks to be in very good condition.

nickandre · Mar 22, 2009

My pentax KX began hanging the mirror and it turned out the entire mirror mechanism was shot.

Curt · Mar 22, 2009

My Mamiya 645 did that and it was the sheets of rubber that became uncemented and held the mirror up. I have an F3hp from the late '80's and it has not had a problem but I would check the rubber dampening material and make sure it is seated or sealed in place. The space in there is really small and there is no room for any interference.

Mick Fagan · Mar 22, 2009

Perhaps running the shutter using the mechanical trip lever, would be a better test of the shutter and mirror mechanisms?

It may be that the shutter is falling apart, known to happen, especially if the camera has done literally hundreds of thousands of firings.

If not the mechanical release mechanism, meaning it works perfectly, it could be an electrical fault, which would be interesting to find and/or repair.

Mick.

John Koehrer · Mar 22, 2009

It could be accessible from the bottom of the camera. Usually the cocking mechanism for the mirror is there. Wiggle some levers around & you may just cure it. It's alway a surprise when you pull the bottom cover off & a screw just falls out. Then you have to figure out where it came from.
Likely problems are a loose screw that has wandered into the linkage on either the top or bottom of the camera possibly into the mirror mechanism, A loose or disengaged spring top, bottom or mirror mechanism.
The good thing is it is most likely not broken parts.

stradibarrius · Mar 22, 2009

I bought the camera from Cameta Camera and they have a 6 month no charge repair policy so I will just return it to them and let them repair it. Before I contacted them on Monday morning I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't some, user error!!!

Nikon F3 mirror hanging up

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