Nikon F5 mirror issue...

vicvalis · Nov 10, 2023

Howdy, if this has been addressed, I didn't find it, so feel free to redirect me. I just got my Nikon F5. My first Nikon, and this week I got my first Nikon lens to go wit it. I charged my batteries and, without film in the camera, I slapped on the lens and tried the autofocus by lightly pressing the shutter release. Worked when I pointed it here, worked when I pointed it there, but then oops! Pressed the shutter release hard enough to trip the shutter. It was late at night, so the room was dark. Now the mirror is stuck in the up position. I have "lo" showing in the shutter speed position (f 3.5), the red blinking arrows pointing at each other in the viewfinder and a yellow downward-pointing triangle in the upper left hand side of the viewfinder (that one is a real stumper). I've switched between both autofocus and manual. Without the lens on the camera, it looks like the mirror wants to return to the down position, but it's not. Any ideas? I thought it was stuck in a long exposure, but I've turned it on and off, pulled out the batteries and put them back in. Mirror still doesn't want to drop down. I've got some time to return the camera if it doesn't work, but wanted to see if there was anything obvious I'm missing. Thanks for your suggestions!

mshchem · Nov 10, 2023

Check batteries.
Check to make sure mirror isn't locked up, intentionally
I have had good luck with the F5

mshchem · Nov 10, 2023

Nikon F5 - Instruction Manual Part X

mshchem · Nov 10, 2023

I would start by getting fresh, fresh AA alkaline batteries.

250swb · Nov 10, 2023

It sounds like your batteries died during a very long exposure.

Chan Tran · Nov 10, 2023

Do you have the MN-30 battery pack? Otherwise Nikon recommends against using rechargeable AA in the F5. You did say you charged the battery.

mshchem · Nov 10, 2023

The mn-30 packs are long gone. I have a couple that were rebuilt, even those won't hold a charge.

MartinCrabtree · Nov 10, 2023

Check the lock up lever. And put some good batteries in it. The F5 doesn't like low voltage. I use lithium and have good results. But when they go they simply check out w/little warning so carry spares. And enjoy your F5 I have had mine for years and the only issue I've ever had was cheap batteries.

Chan Tran · Nov 10, 2023

MartinCrabtree said:
Check the lock up lever. And put some good batteries in it. The F5 doesn't like low voltage. I use lithium and have good results. But when they go they simply check out w/little warning so carry spares. And enjoy your F5 I have had mine for years and the only issue I've ever had was cheap batteries.

That was why I asked about the MN-30. Unless the OP has the MN-30 otherwise the NiMH AA's have too low voltage for long battery life in the F5 that is the voltage will get low enough to trigger the F5 low batt warning while they still have plenty of power left. So if the OP put in 8 Alkaline or Lithium AA's would fix the problem. Depending on how the custome settings were set. Normally the F5 would close the shutter after 30 seconds regardless how dark it is but this time can be extended to 30 min. in custom settings.

vicvalis · Nov 10, 2023

Okay, I DID use rechargeable AA batteries, that were fully charged when I first tried the camera. I re-recharged them overnight and still no change. Battery indicator indicates a full charge. The mirror lock-up lever is in the down position, and there's a little play in it (I don't want to turn it to the lock up position since the mirror is all the way up). I manually changed the ISO to 250, and have tried to change the shutter speed, but the shutter speed indicator does not change from "lo." If I press the shutter release button all the way down, I hear a little "tick tick tick" which, when I have the lens off, looks like the mirror still trying to drop back down. The shutter really looks like it wants to drop but it's obstructed, though I see nothing obvious. Otherwise, still the same. With light coming though the viewfinder (I assume) the shutter speed indicator has changed from "lo" to "2.5'" but it doesn't stay. I've changed the exposure mode to manual and aperture priority and tried it, but no luck. This weekend I'll get new alkaline AA batteries and try those as well. It could be my rechargeabes will never produce enough charge. I'm including some pix... 1) the mirror locked up; 2) the top screen with batteries in but camera off, 3) the top screen with camera on sometimes displays less information, and 4) the top screen with camera on and all the info displayed. If picture 3 is how the top screen should look when I'm not touching the shutter release, great. If it should always look like picture 4, then maybe another issue. Besides the mirror lock-up, was there something else in the online manual Part X that I missed?

Thanks!

vicvalis · Nov 10, 2023

Oh, and just in case I keep turning it off before the exposure is complete, I've decided to leave it on for a while. I might be interrupting it whilee it's trying to complete a long exposure. Who knows? Maybe I've just been too impatient.

reddesert · Nov 10, 2023

Buy some fresh AA alkaline batteries from the store and put them in. The camera sounds like it doesn't have enough juice to finish the shutter cycle. Many rechargeable AAs do not have the same voltage as the regular AAs the camera was designed for. They can work in many devices, except when they don't.

Chan Tran · Nov 10, 2023

vicvalis said:
Okay, I DID use rechargeable AA batteries, that were fully charged when I first tried the camera. I re-recharged them overnight and still no change. Battery indicator indicates a full charge. The mirror lock-up lever is in the down position, and there's a little play in it (I don't want to turn it to the lock up position since the mirror is all the way up). I manually changed the ISO to 250, and have tried to change the shutter speed, but the shutter speed indicator does not change from "lo." If I press the shutter release button all the way down, I hear a little "tick tick tick" which, when I have the lens off, looks like the mirror still trying to drop back down. The shutter really looks like it wants to drop but it's obstructed, though I see nothing obvious. Otherwise, still the same. With light coming though the viewfinder (I assume) the shutter speed indicator has changed from "lo" to "2.5'" but it doesn't stay. I've changed the exposure mode to manual and aperture priority and tried it, but no luck. This weekend I'll get new alkaline AA batteries and try those as well. It could be my rechargeabes will never produce enough charge. I'm including some pix... 1) the mirror locked up; 2) the top screen with batteries in but camera off, 3) the top screen with camera on sometimes displays less information, and 4) the top screen with camera on and all the info displayed. If picture 3 is how the top screen should look when I'm not touching the shutter release, great. If it should always look like picture 4, then maybe another issue. Besides the mirror lock-up, was there something else in the online manual Part X that I missed?

Thanks!

thank you. Now I must say something else is wrong and not the batteries. As long as the battery indicator indicates OK the camera should function normally. I did use AA rechargeable on my F5 and found that I have to recharge them very often but they would work for a short time. Also they wouldn't cause the damage either.

vicvalis · Nov 10, 2023

I could see the meter indicating the batteries are fully charged, but still not having enough juice to complete the cycle. I will try the fresh batteries this weekend. I left the camera on for an hour and it didn't complete the exposure, so that idea was a bust. I'd have thought upon removing and replacing the batteries it would have reset the cycle, but what do I know? That's what we have the folks with experience for! Any other ideas are still appreciated!

Thanks

Christiaan Phleger · Nov 10, 2023

What do you have to lose at this point by trying the mirror lock up lever? As well I would activate the lens stop down button, both of these individually and with a shutter activation, and I would try these sequences with a actual roll of film, going through the loading, shooting and rewind processes. Lets hope you have a 'development reel test roll" and not have to waste a 12.00 roll of Tri-x.

As I see it, anything except a full on ERR message means it should or could function.

But, it could be bricked.

I picked up a cheap F5 recently to help rebuild/replace the couple of F5's that were lost (incinerated) in the Lahaina Fire. The price was very low with listed non-functional AF, which seems to have been from when an older screwdriver AF lens was rotated to the point of what feels like gear breakage in the body. AF-S lenses don't AF, so the mechanical failure has triggered a 'no signal' to a lens. The AF indicator for all points is accurate, but only indicates when using an manual focus or Ais-P lens (with chip in lens). Other than the non-functional AF, the shutter blasts away correctly and negatives are excellent, accurate shutter and meter. So, essentially I have a fast MF camera, which is fine for the manual focusing long lens shooting I often do. The screen is darker than the F4 and F3 though.

I wanted to shift to using more AF lenses, so I ended up finding another F5 body, and that AF (and shutter and meter) are perfect, so you may want to just find another. I've considered having the Non-AF body repaired, but I think for the same cost I found another, mint in box, with manual.

vicvalis · Nov 10, 2023

No sacrificial 35mm rolls (unless there's one at the back of my refrigerator). I've been using large format and recently getting back into medium, but it's been years since I've had any 35mm around. Batteries are simplest to test, so I'll start there. The camera might have been waiting to die when it was sold to me, but I don't want to do any more damage to it if I send it back. Fortunately, I have no time pressure and I have 30 days before it needs to be returned. But I'll admit I HAVE been tempted to flip the mirror lock-up lever up and then down again just to see what happens.

MartinCrabtree · Nov 10, 2023

Batteries. New batteries. The "lo" isn't referring to light. It's voltage.

EDIT: Nope the "lo" does indeed refer to exposure according to my manual page 150.

Is the LED blinking?

mshchem · Nov 10, 2023

I put fresh NiCd Eneloop batteries in one of my F5 bodies it works fine.

Flip mirror lock up switch to normal
Turn camera on
Switch mode to manual (M)
Make sure that you have the eyepiece curtain open
See if camera will fire.

You may have a bigger problem, the photo you show has shutter partially open, this is way not normal. I would be tempted to stick my finger in the front and extraordinarily delicately give the mirror a nudge down (worked with an old Hasselblad )
I've never seen a shutter stuck before but it should be fully opened or fully closed.

Before you get to carried away you need to be sure you have good batteries.

mshchem · Nov 10, 2023

vicvalis said:
No sacrificial 35mm rolls (unless there's one at the back of my refrigerator). I've been using large format and recently getting back into medium, but it's been years since I've had any 35mm around. Batteries are simplest to test, so I'll start there. The camera might have been waiting to die when it was sold to me, but I don't want to do any more damage to it if I send it back. Fortunately, I have no time pressure and I have 30 days before it needs to be returned. But I'll admit I HAVE been tempted to flip the mirror lock-up lever up and then down again just to see what happens.

Mirror lock up is mechanical, doesn't need batteries, flip the lever and see what happens

Chan Tran · Nov 10, 2023

Lo indicates light is too low that there is no shutter speed that will result in correct exposure. But that's natural as the meter in the viewfinder receives no light due to the mirror is up.
The mirror lockup level is mechanical but I believe in this case the shutter is also open isn't that right?
Although I questioned the OP on the use of NiMh AA's but I am sure in this case the batteries is not the problem.
I take it that there is no film in the camera. No film isn't the problem but if there is film the OP should remove it.

mshchem · Nov 10, 2023

Chan Tran said:
Lo indicates light is too low that there is no shutter speed that will result in correct exposure. But that's natural as the meter in the viewfinder receives no light due to the mirror is up.
The mirror lockup level is mechanical but I believe in this case the shutter is also open isn't that right?
Although I questioned the OP on the use of NiMh AA's but I am sure in this case the batteries is not the problem.
I take it that there is no film in the camera. No film isn't the problem but if there is film the OP should remove it.

Shining light into the viewfinder should be enough to get the camera to complete exposure, I think??
When in P program mode shutter will stay open until the meter sees enough light. I think?
If the camera started the exposure thinking the f stop was f22, and film speed was low, it might be a while before shutter would close.

vicvalis · Nov 10, 2023

I think the lens was open all the way, so even in the low light of my apartment it shouldn't have initially been too long an exposure. I don't have the camera with me, but the shutter curtain was closed while the mirror was up. I can see the readings inside the viewer, so I don't think I closed the viewer curtain by mistake. I did change the exposure mode hoping that in aperture priority, with the lens open all the way, it would complete the exposure. That didn't work. When the mirror tries to drop but doesn't, it sounds like it's making an effort: jerks just a fraction, but stops. So I don't think I have any old foam gunking it up. I'll try shining some light through the viewer because, yes, with the mirror up, the only light would be coming through the viewer or sneaking past the mirror when the lens is off. Worst case, if I end up returning it, at least I'll have learned more in a short time from the trouble-shooting then using a manual.

Jeff

mshchem · Nov 10, 2023

Send it back and buy a nice one.

Pieter12 · Nov 10, 2023

Take it to a qualified technician. I vaguely remember my tech once mentioning something about F5 mirror boxes but didn’t pay much attention since I don’t have one.

Chan Tran · Nov 10, 2023

mshchem said:
Shining light into the viewfinder should be enough to get the camera to complete exposure, I think??
When in P program mode shutter will stay open until the meter sees enough light. I think?
If the camera started the exposure thinking the f stop was f22, and film speed was low, it might be a while before shutter would close.

No. It hangs because of something is wrong not because it on an infinite exposure. By default it would not expose for more than 30 sec. It could be set for 30 min maximum.
I would want to know if the shutter is open? May be it doesn't.

Nikon F5 mirror issue...

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