The Nikon F4e

Just saw a used Nikon F4e and am contemplating getting it. It's a bit used (a few marks on the edges of the viewfinder dome and some marks on the ISO selector. Otherwise it sounds really clean.

Curious if you folks think this is a good tough reliable camera that should last me a few wedding seasons?

I have a Nikon F4 and love it. But just not sure what kind of life expectancy from it.

The F4e is probably the rarest regular model, and despite being huge, it has the advantage of having the fastest battery loading- they are all in one easy to remove tray. Many F4 users (maybe just the collectors?) are really paranoid about serial numbers- they want a high number because later cameras are considered unreliable (see here). I think there isn't any reason to worry about reliability unless it's really old, say first 100k- watch for missing printing on the shutter speed dial; I have one from like 90-91, and it has always been fine. Still, certainly don't expect great things if the pressure plate looks like a two lane highway; any repair person competent in nikons should be able to assess how chewed up the drive gears are inside the top cap; they're tough though.

I have two of those and I'm very pleased with them. Slightly bigger than my F4s but not that much.
Go for it.

Jonathan,

You should be fine with it. Just compare it with your current body and see if the meter works normally, and that it sounds normal (maybe reattach the MB-21 for comparison purposes).

Electrical issues can occur with the late bodies as well. I had a 2506xxx serial body that was intermittent in function. Sometimes would just lock up and start angrily growling without doing anything. My earliest body was fine, except that the mode dial was a little tempermental. Sometimes would engage A or P mode while the dial was set to M. Both cameras were well-used. I had a third body that also had electrical issues. A 2434xxx body. Wouldn't fire a flash attached to the hot shoe, even if a different prism was used. The original prism was fried and didn't show the proper indications in the LCD.

What you could do is see if the seller would trade the MB-23 for your MB-21 and some cash. Then, you can have the MB-20 and the MB-23 for your current F4.

-J

Thanks for the heads up. Unfortunately, it's a store model so can't trade parts in for it... At least this store. But may sell the MB21 grip to help maybe fund it we shall see if its still there if I decide on it!

I think at first it sounded a little slow. I put my battery pack from my current f4 on it and it came back to life.

Sounds like maybe the batteries in the MB-23 were weak...

-J