Nikon F4 stopped working

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

My Nikon F4 which was working perfectly till day before yesterday stopped working yesterday. With batteries in the battery grip, when I move the film advance mode selector from L to S (or other modes) and press the shutter button, nothing happens - both LEDs in the viewfinders are blank. Suspecting dead or weak batteries, I tried with new batteries and still nothing seems to be working. I cleaned the battery contacts and tried again without success. There's no corrosion in the battery contacts as far as I can see. I bought this camera used three years ago and since then it had been working fine till yesterday. Camera was handed well by me and it seems to have by previous owner as well. So I'm disappointed and surprised that it stopped working all of a sudden. Any insights on what might have gone wrong and what I could do in the current situation? Would replacing the battery grip help?

 

[awty]

Give it a wack.
Not uncommon to lose continuity in the connections on the battery terminals. Tracking it down is the hard part. Do you have DMM?

 

[gone]

I think this is a sign of the apocalypse when a Nikon F4 refuses to work.

 

[Horatio]

I think this is a sign of the apocalypse when a Nikon F4 refuses to work.

I'd agree if it was an F2.

OP, I hope you can revive it.

 

[George Mann]

I'd agree if it was an F2.

The needle in my F2's finder gets stuck, so we are close to the end!

 

[Sirius Glass]

Time to buy a Nikon F100 to continue your photography.

 

[Pioneer]

Good luck. Mine died 5 years ago and has never come back to life though I tried a number of solutions. I found that the price to have one of them serviced is as bad as fixing a Leica. At the time I owned a Nikon F6 so the pieces of mine are still in a box under the dresser.

I did sell things like the viewfinder, etc. If anyone is interested in the basket case remaining send me shipping costs and I will be glad to send it to you.

 

[mohmad khatab]

Brother, I have the same model.
And I had this problem before.
It turned out that it was because of the lens, the lens was short,
Remove the lens and do an experiment?
You can also remove the light meter that contains the viewfinder and try the camera.

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

Ok, I think the problem is solved, at least for now, and the camera is working again. While inspecting the springs in the battery grip, I found that one of them had less tension than the other. I exercised it a bit and loaded the batteries again. That brought the camera back to life. Thankfully it wasn't the case that a PCB got dead.

Thanks to everyone who pitched in suggestions.

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

Time to buy a Nikon F100 to continue your photography.

Have you used one? I keep hearing that the latch of the back door of F100 is rather fragile and breaks down.

 

[awty]

Yippee, usually something simple, I often have to muck around with battery terminals, same goes with the 90s. Apart from that they are built like a tank and would easily beat up a F2 or any other Nikon for that mater.

 

[beemermark]

Have you used one? I keep hearing that the latch of the back door of F100 is rather fragile and breaks down.

My first one lasted 20 years (bought new). That one was stolen and I bought a used a few years ago. If you put the rewind up to release the latch and the then close the back, no problem. I have a data back that went with the 1st F100 that I'm keeping just in case -. The F100 is an amazing camera, sort of a lighter F5. They are so cheap if you do break the door just buy another one.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Have you used one? I keep hearing that the latch of the back door of F100 is rather fragile and breaks down.

I have been using one for almost 10 years and never had a problem.

 

[Huss]

Have you used one? I keep hearing that the latch of the back door of F100 is rather fragile and breaks down.

All the broken ones for sale on ebay are a clue.

Glad you got the F4 fixed. I've had a couple of cameras where loss of tension in the battery chamber causes that. An easy fix as you found out.

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

All the broken ones for sale on ebay are a clue.

Glad you got the F4 fixed. I've had a couple of cameras where loss of tension in the battery chamber causes that. An easy fix as you found out.

It stopped working again. This time I used some aluminum foil as spacer between the battery and the contact. So far it's working fine, but let's see.

 

[Huss]

It stopped working again. This time I used some aluminum foil as spacer between the battery and the contact. So far it's working fine, but let's see.

Are you sure there is no corrosion? You are in India which can be very humid. If the camera was originally sourced in India/spent its life there, that is decades of humidity effecting the electronics.

 

[shutterfinger]

https://learncamerarepair.com/downloads/pdf/nikon-f4-repair-support.pdf
and
https://learncamerarepair.com/downloads/pdf/nikon-F4-repair-manual.pdf
The grip contacts on the body are spring loaded and corrosion/tarnish has built up on the contacts and may require the body be partially disassembled to clean them.

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

Are you sure there is no corrosion? You are in India which can be very humid. If the camera was originally sourced in India/spent its life there, that is decades of humidity effecting the electronics.

From the looks of it, contacts look good. I bought this camera in Stockholm three years ago from a Chinese guy who could hardly speak English. So no idea where it spent most of its lifetime, but definitely not in India. In the worst case, I'll replace the battery grip but worried that a grip bought on eBay is not guaranteed to be fully trouble free.

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

https://learncamerarepair.com/downloads/pdf/nikon-f4-repair-support.pdf
and
https://learncamerarepair.com/downloads/pdf/nikon-F4-repair-manual.pdf
The grip contacts on the body are spring loaded and corrosion/tarnish has built up on the contacts and may require the body be partially disassembled to clean them.

This appears to be very useful and I'll go through in detail soon. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Scott Micciche]

Deoxit5 on a q-tip and clean all of the springs and terminal ends.