Nikon FE mirror issue STRANGE....

I have about a dozen FE and FM cameras and a gaggle of Nikkor lenses - I have ONE combination that causes an issue...

One particular FE cannot be used with my Nikkor 28 3.5 - The camera works with every other lens I have and the lens works with every other camera I have. I discovered this by accident the other day as I usually use all these bodies for various emulsions or to quickly shoot with various focal lengths on the same emulsion. This was the first time that ONE FE met with the 28 3.5.

The problem is that the 28 3.5 has one of the very long black painted metal shrouds compared to other lenses and the mirror on this FE seems to contact that piece during shutter release. Everything returns to normal when I dismount the lens and fully release the shutter. I tested on every other FE and FM body - only this one has and issue and for the life of me I cannot see a difference.

Anyone every heard of this kind of thing before? Is the 28 3.5 and its deep protruding shroud/guard a common issue with mirror swing tolerance? Any ideas on how I might deal with this myself without paying money as FE bodies are dirt cheap for now (I am trying to corner the market though). The body in question has NO focus issues even at 1.4 with an 85mm so it doesn't seem to be any sort of mount or mirror alignment issue as far as I can tell with my eyes and typical images that I make.

This is not a big deal but I don't want to have to keep track of it down the road and it has my curiosity up.

RB

Maybe manufacturing tolerances?
I haven't run into this issue with Nikon but I know some Canon 5D's mirror/mirrorbox clearances will vary.

Canon EOS can except a wide variety of third party optics via adapters and I do mount zeiss (C/Y) and some Nikkors on a 5D without issue but some will report mirror clearance issues with one body but not another.

Like I said I haven't experienced it but it's widely documented in the canon digi world.
I should note I haven't heard of it with Canon body/canon lens combo though.

Check your serial numbers on your bodies. Is this your oldest (or newest)? If so perhaps there was a manufacturing change that affects you.

It may be that the mirror has slipped down a bit on the body that you are having problems with, compare it with your other FE bodies and you should be able to tell if this has happened. The glue that holds the mirror into place may have softened at one point. If this is the case, you may be able to soften the glue enough by gentle application of heat from a blow dryer to allow you to push the mirror back to its original position, and the glue will reset as it cools.

elcabezagrande said:

It may be that the mirror has slipped down a bit on the body that you are having problems with, compare it with your other FE bodies and you should be able to tell if this has happened. The glue that holds the mirror into place may have softened at one point. If this is the case, you may be able to soften the glue enough by gentle application of heat from a blow dryer to allow you to push the mirror back to its original position, and the glue will reset as it cools.

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A casual look yesterday did not seem to be off - I will examine and try to gauge it more carefully but this would seem like the most likely explanation. I am assuming you know how the mirror is actually attached...??

The mirror is glued into place with a type of contact cement adhesive. But excessive heat can soften this adhesive and allow the mirror to slip. I have had this happen on a couple of Contax bodies where all of a sudden, some wide-angle and fast primes would hang up when they did not do so before, and the blow-dryer trick worked on them. I just looked at the mirror assembly on my FM2n (I am assuming it is similar enough to the FE) to make sure that Nikon mirrors were not attached differently, but they are the same as pretty much every other SLR camera in this regard.

elcabezagrande said:

The mirror is glued into place with a type of contact cement adhesive. But excessive heat can soften this adhesive and allow the mirror to slip. I have had this happen on a couple of Contax bodies where all of a sudden, some wide-angle and fast primes would hang up when they did not do so before, and the blow-dryer trick worked on them. I just looked at the mirror assembly on my FM2n (I am assuming it is similar enough to the FE) to make sure that Nikon mirrors were not attached differently, but they are the same as pretty much every other SLR camera in this regard.

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Wish me luck - I am going to go for attempting this... Any final words of wisdom for someone as hamfisted as I am?

RB

Anyone every heard of this kind of thing before? Is the 28 3.5 and its deep protruding shroud/guard a common issue with mirror swing tolerance? Any ideas on how I might deal with this myself without paying money as FE bodies are dirt cheap for now (I am trying to corner the market though).

RB

Click to expand...

oh great more competition on ebay :laugh