Nikon FE2: How to avoid the honeycomb shutter?

Word on the street is, the honeycomb shutter had issues so NIkon made the switch to aluminium. I would like to avoid getting an FE2 with this shutter and settle for the aluminum. Is there a way to tell which is wich just boy looking at it or maybe a serial number range can be helpful? Thanks

Is this a trick question?
Yes, you can tell by looking at it.
The titanium honeycomb shutter has, by definition, a honeycomb pattern impressed upon it;
the later aluminium foil shutter doesn't. It has no pattern, and is smooth.

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photograph...ikonfeseries/fefmshared/honeycomb/improve.htm

If the 'issue' you refer to is 'failure' then the easy test is to see if the shutter works...if so then it is not one of the ones with 'issues.'

From MIR site, seems like main cause of failure is Pilot Error.

Unless you are wishing to use the 1/4000 shutter speed, I doubt you will be dissapointed with any FE2 body.

I have one of the earliest FE2 units, purchased just after that camera was released. I have put approximately 1,000 rolls through it and while it doesn't look like new these days, it still works well. 1,000 rolls at a minimum 40 shutter firings per roll, is approximately 40,000 shutter fireings. If my memory is correct, the FE2 shutter is supposed to be good for 100,000 fireings.

This is the first I have heard of the Titanium honeycomb shutter having issues, I will admit though, that I have never sought to find this out.

With regard to the 1/4000 shutter speed, well it may get there on a good warm day when the dry lubricant is working well, but in really cold weather, I'm not too sure.

When I first received my camera I was quite excited with the possibility of freezing all sorts of action at 1/4000 of a second. I sort of noticed that maybe the shutter wasn't quite reaching the stated top speed. Some tests later I concluded that it was perhaps 1/2 a stop to a 1/3 of a stop slow whch seemed to be dependent upon the ambient temperature. Below about 10C it didn't seem able to get maximum speed, in summer with 35C-40C it certainly attained full speed. I tested with film by photographing a step wedge stuck to a glass window. One other FE2 owner concurred with me, so I was reasonably sure there was nothing out of the ordinary with my body.

Top shutter speed notwithstanding, I would think I have not used any camera in the last 30 years where I used a shutter speed faster than 1/1000. In the main I mostly use 1/125, 1/250, 1/500 with very rarely 1/1000. I took some portrait shots yesterday evening as the sun was setting on a wonderful spring day, 1/4 at f22 with a view camera.

Mick.

I was working at a photo store in Minneapolis handling the repair shipping when the FM2 and FE2 came out. We had three shutter failures within the first 6 months or so. All were used by professionals. One wedding photographer brought in her camera with the film still in it and I was the one who rewound the film and checked the camera. All the shutters had apparently hung on one side and bent like wrecked window blinds. Nikon refused warranty repair on all three cameras. They gave three sequential excuses for the wedding photographer's camera failure. Thumb through the shutter (which I refuted by stating that I removed the film, which had no damage), coke in the shutter track (total fabrication), and I forget the third, which was also a blatant fabrication. The store owner refused to restock FM2 or FE2 bodies when the Nikon rep came in. The rep ended up personally warrantying all of the new shutters going forward after yelling at Nikon service on the phone for 20 minutes for refusing warranty repairs and making no headway.

The head tech at the Nikon approved warranty service center in Minneapolis told me later that he'd never seen one of the 1/4000 shutters test any faster than 1/2750 second.

The reason i want the FE2 is price/value but also the fact that i can shoot above 1/1000, something i really didnt like about my M6 when shooting in sunny weather, withought having to go to F16 and whatnot. I will defenitely use it in the 1/1000 and above speed range. My F100 is good for that as well but its not as fun to me right now, hahah

I use ISO 100 film so in real sunny days it's only f/11 and 1/125. There is no need for anything faster than 1/1000 which I rarely used.

My two FE-2 cameras have never failed me. My camera repair buddy says that the only shutter issue he has ever seen with the FE-2, is when the operator has stuck their finger through them.

I owned an FM2 when I was a student at OCA in the 1980s, and it had the honeycomb shutter. One day the shutter failed at 1/60th of a second, the blades spontaneously mashing up like a failed Venetian blind. It was about two years old, IIRC. Nikon said “tough luck, buy a new one”, and so I did - reluctantly. The new one has the plain blades and it still works today, even after 35 years.

paulbarden said:

I owned an FM2 when I was a student at OCA in the 1980s, and it had the honeycomb shutter. One day the shutter failed at 1/60th of a second, the blades spontaneously mashing up like a failed Venetian blind. It was about two years old, IIRC. Nikon said “tough luck, buy a new one”, and so I did - reluctantly. The new one has the plain blades and it still works today, even after 35 years.

Click to expand...

+2

throughout the 90s i used eight F-something-or-other small body nikons, four with titanium, four with aluminum shutter blades--two of the titanium ones failed on the job exactly as described here; the aluminum ones went on for a decade and a half, until i moved on to heavier bodies

i don't think i've ever heard of a factory non-honeycomb FE2, though i seem to recall one with a custom blade job... but the OP has probably long figured this out

Vilk said:

+2

throughout the 90s i used eight F-something-or-other small body nikons, four with titanium, four with aluminum shutter blades--two of the titanium ones failed on the job exactly as described here; the aluminum ones went on for a decade and a half, until i moved on to heavier bodies

i don't think i've ever heard of a factory non-honeycomb FE2, though i seem to recall one with a custom blade job... but the OP has probably long figured this out

Click to expand...

My FM2 with the honeycomb still works great. I actually wanted the honeycomb kind. It just looks cool.

On eBay the titanium shutter is touted as a premium selling feature for these cameras.