Nikon FG - Shutter release button issue

Hello! I recently purchased a Nikon FG camera - my first 35mm camera, but after a couple of photos I’m having an issue.

I used the camera as soon as I got it a couple of weeks ago (with fresh batteries that I put in) and it was working as expected. It’s been a couple of weeks and I finally got the opportunity to go out an take some more photos - the camera was on the B setting in order to retain battery life.
When I was ready to start taking photos I took off the lens cap, focused on a subject and pressed the shutter release button. Then the shutter released, and I presumed that it was working as normal. However, when I went to take another photo there was no sound, the shutter did not release and each time I press the button nothing happens (shutter wise).

I’m able to light up the LEDs in the viewfinder by pushing the button half way down, so I presume it still works or there is an issue with the shutter itself.

I’m a real novice with this as it’s my first camera, I couldn’t find anything online pertaining to this issue and the manual didn’t seem to offer anything extra, any help or info would be much appreciated, thank you!

Pardon me for asking after you took the photograph, did you wind on to the next frame? The FG has no powered drive and must be manually wound on, you never mentioned the winding on part of the sequence. If there is life in the battery then all is OK with the electric side. There is no need to set the shutter on 'B' to preserve battery power so long as the wind on lever is fully home then the battery is out of circuit. I also think there may be an auto cut off which shuts everything down after a period of time of non use.

Does it act differently set on M90 or B, compared to the other times? With those two the shutter is purely mechanical, for the other times the shutter is electromagnetically controlled.

FotoD said:

Does it act differently set on M90 or B, compared to the other times? With those two the shutter is purely mechanical, for the other times the shutter is electromagnetically controlled.

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I think in the manual the note about B or 90 is to say 'don't expect to see the meter working', not necessarily saying 'this is how you switch the meter off, (but you can if you want)'.

Two things: sometimes the mirror foam gets sticky and will keep the mirror up. Is the mirror up? If it is, could be that, and also could be that the batteries are strong enough to light the meter lights but not strong enough to fire the shutter. If you don't have a way to test the voltage of your batteries, just buy a fresh set, they're cheap, and see if the problem persists.

Generally a sign of dead batteries in the FG, and some other cameras like other electrically controlled Nikons and Olympus, is that the shutter fires but the mirror stays up and the cycle does not complete, so you can't fire it again. Thus, if you see the mirror stuck up, it doesn't always mean sticky foam (dead batteries are much more common IME).

On cameras with a mechanical speed like the FG, you can complete the cycle by turning the shutter speed to M90 or B, and the mirror will come down and you can wind on.

As others said, setting the shutter to B doesn't necessarily preserve the battery, but pressing the wind lever against the body should turn the meter off and stop any battery drain. If your batteries die anyway, it's possible that the camera is draining the batteries in the off position (I don't know if this is likely for the FG) and you might need to remove the batteries between uses.

Make sure your film is advanced all the way. The FG was my first 35mm camera, purchased in the early 1980s. I still have it and use it. The B and M90 will shut off the meter, I use either when carrying in the camera bag. When storing the camera for any length of time remove the batteries.

momus said:

Two things: sometimes the mirror foam gets sticky and will keep the mirror up. Is the mirror up? If it is, could be that, and also could be that the batteries are strong enough to light the meter lights but not strong enough to fire the shutter. If you don't have a way to test the voltage of your batteries, just buy a fresh set, they're cheap, and see if the problem persists.

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Mirror up state will not affect the shutter operation. If the light comes on then the shutter should fire, only when the lights don't come on is there a problem. The original poster said he had just fitted new batteries so the possibility of a battery fail is virtually Nil

It’s broken.

I'd check the battery first. If the batt. is marginal the cell may not have enough oomph for the camera to work.