Nikon F4 Repair Rec's?

[NortheastPhotographic]

I recently bought an F4 that is pretty clean externally. However, when you fire the shutter, neither the mirror or the shutter moves. The little red light on the left side of the camera starts blinking repeatedly until you do a power cycle. The seller gave me a refund and said to keep the camera so, I guess I'll try to repair it. KEH said they would take it, but I thought I'd ask about other options just in case someone can recommend a shop that will do a good job salvaging an otherwise very nice F4.

This one is w/o the vertical grip which is both more rare and my preference. l've wanted an AF camera that will use my small collection of AFD and Voigtlander lenses, and also matrix meter Ektachrome.

 

[cjbecker]

I used Camera service pro for a Nikon f5 with shutter issues. Great service. Would used again

 

[Christiaan Phleger]

APS in Illinois would be my suggestion since they used to be the the NPS Central depot back when the F4 was new and being worked on, they've done some nice work over the years on pro level Nikon

 

[symbolica]

I hope you can get it fixed. The feature list of the F4 is really an embarrassment of riches, and the haptic stuff like having an actual aperture ring and shutter speed dial instead of a soulless, endlessly scrolling thumbwheel really puts it in its own category as far as 35mm SLRs go. Matrix metering is pretty solid for slides too. If you do end up keeping it, it’s worth picking up a type J or type K screen for manual focusing.

Thanks to ya’ll who shared repair shop recommendations. I have one I’d like to get overhauled too.

 

[NortheastPhotographic]

Thanks, I'm sending it in this week. I agree, it's a great camera. I much prefer the old style of focus screen. And I wanted to be able to nail a roll of chrome without even thinking.

 

[Robert Ley]

I picked up an F4 this past spring and I really love it, but it is a heavy beast. On the one that you got are the LCD's in the finder in good shape? The ones on mine are usable but not perfect and I have been replacing all my MF Nikon lenses with AF Nikon lens as the older AF and AF-D lenses are pretty cheap with many folks going to mirrorless and getting the Z cameras (if you are a Nikon fan)

 

[Tim Stapp]

I recently bought an F4 that is pretty clean externally. However, when you fire the shutter, neither the mirror or the shutter moves. The little red light on the left side of the camera starts blinking repeatedly until you do a power cycle. The seller gave me a refund and said to keep the camera so, I guess I'll try to repair it. KEH said they would take it, but I thought I'd ask about other options just in case someone can recommend a shop that will do a good job salvaging an otherwise very nice F4.

This one is w/o the vertical grip which is both more rare and my preference. l've wanted an AF camera that will use my small collection of AFD and Voigtlander lenses, and also matrix meter Ektachrome.

My recently purchased F4s would do this until I put an empty film canister in the camera.

 

[NortheastPhotographic]

My recently purchased F4s would do this until I put an empty film canister in the camera.

I did a film test, no luck.

 

[benderscameracorner]

97% sure you need to set the ISO dial to something other than 'DX' in order to get an F4 to dry fire properly. That caught me out the first time I had to test one.

 

[chuckroast]

I recently bought an F4 that is pretty clean externally. However, when you fire the shutter, neither the mirror or the shutter moves. The little red light on the left side of the camera starts blinking repeatedly until you do a power cycle. The seller gave me a refund and said to keep the camera so, I guess I'll try to repair it. KEH said they would take it, but I thought I'd ask about other options just in case someone can recommend a shop that will do a good job salvaging an otherwise very nice F4.

This one is w/o the vertical grip which is both more rare and my preference. l've wanted an AF camera that will use my small collection of AFD and Voigtlander lenses, and also matrix meter Ektachrome.

ICT in Buena Vista, CA did a great job on my Apollo FtN. Check with them.

 

[Pieter12]

I recently bought an F4 that is pretty clean externally. However, when you fire the shutter, neither the mirror or the shutter moves. The little red light on the left side of the camera starts blinking repeatedly until you do a power cycle. The seller gave me a refund and said to keep the camera so, I guess I'll try to repair it. KEH said they would take it, but I thought I'd ask about other options just in case someone can recommend a shop that will do a good job salvaging an otherwise very nice F4.

This one is w/o the vertical grip which is both more rare and my preference. l've wanted an AF camera that will use my small collection of AFD and Voigtlander lenses, and also matrix meter Ektachrome.

A bit off-topic, the vertical grip is an add-on, easily removed and replaced with a smaller hand-grip cover. Nothing rare.

 

[benderscameracorner]

A bit off-topic, the vertical grip is an add-on, easily removed and replaced with a smaller hand-grip cover. Nothing rare.

I think in this instance "rare" means "wasn't the standard grip sold in the USA etc."
Granted 75% of the F4s I see for sale are the F4s, which is fine because they look the sexiest and vertical grip add a lot of functionality IMO.
That said, having the option to lose some bulk and a couple hundred grams would be nice... if the MB-20 grip wasn't roughly the same price as most entire F4s on eBay and the like!