Nikon F5 locks mirror after exposure

Hello
Sometime ago I aquired a Nikon F5, which suddenly is showing some odd behaviour. When I load film, it advances as usual to frame 1. But when I push the trigger to take one frame, it takes the frame and keeps up the mirror. At the same time ERR message shows in display and the red LED over 2 filmtransport is flashing. Pushing the trigger again, does nothing. But when I momentarily push the main switch to the light position and after that push the trigger again, the mirror comes back down and the film advances to the next frame. This continues throughout the film. Sometimes resetting the camera with the light switch doesn't work. ERR message keeps staying in display and the camera is very unresponsive. The only way I can have things going again, is to release the backdoor and close it again. Pushing the trigger after that of course again gives a film start advance sequence and a 1 at the counter. Any ideas to put the camera into normal function mode are greatly appreciated.

Greetings
Helmuth

If the camera can't read the ISO speed/DX code on the film cassette properly the shutter will lock and ERR flashes, setting the ISO manually fixes that issue.

BTW welcome to APUG

Thanks for your answer and the welcome. DX code is read correctly and continues to show correctly, also when the shutter is locked. However, I tried to put in ISO speed manually, unfortunately no difference in behaviour.

Greetings
Helmuth

The other possibilities shown in the manual are a film load error, which doesn't seem likely given that you film advances, or a shutter that has issues.

Sound like its time for a trip to the repair shop.

The F5 has a self-checking shutter. When it picks up shutter issues, the camera starts giving you the lockup and error message. Mine also does it occasionally, for one or two frames per roll on and off. It is at the point where I want to get it fixed, but I am not sure the cost at this point is justified yet. It is likely to be a shutter replacement, which is quick and easy and expensive (relative to the value of the camera). My D200 had a shutter replaced, and it was about $200, but the camera at that point was worth quite a bit more and I was depending on it for income, so I went for it.

Try the camera without film. If it works OK then the problem is solely in the film loading. I found the autoloading feature of the F5 makes it harder for me to load film than the manual loading of say the F3. But try the camera without film. It should work fine if there is not a problem.

Check that the lever over the number 2 film transport is in the down position.

dorff said:

The F5 has a self-checking shutter. When it picks up shutter issues, the camera starts giving you the lockup and error message. Mine also does it occasionally, for one or two frames per roll on and off. It is at the point where I want to get it fixed, but I am not sure the cost at this point is justified yet. It is likely to be a shutter replacement, which is quick and easy and expensive (relative to the value of the camera). My D200 had a shutter replaced, and it was about $200, but the camera at that point was worth quite a bit more and I was depending on it for income, so I went for it.

Click to expand...

An F5 with a new shutter would be good for another 150-200K exposures - even if it cost a few hundred dollars it would almost be like having a new F5.

Worst case scenario... the electronics in your post-repair F5 die, you still have a good shutter to transplant into another F5 if necessary.

There is no difference wheter the camera is loaded or not loaded with film. Still, when I push the trigger, the shutter activates and the mirror stays up. Moving the main switch to light position brings down the mirror and the shutter is cocked for next shot. So the fault is not connected with the film transport mechanism. It seems to be an issue with a faulty shutter. The camera would not see much use anyway by me, so a camera with new shutter would be overkill in my situation. Thanks for your input anyway.

Greetings Helmuth

There is no mention of what lens you are using. If you remove the lens and fire a frame does the same thing happen?
(I had an issue with a third party lens bending a pin during removal from my F3, resulting in mirror lock up during shots.)