Unlucky Month for Cameras

ColColt · Aug 6, 2015

I seem to be having a stroke of bad luck here lately. Just this past month I bought an absolutely pristine Nikon F2A that looked like it left the factory yesterday only to discover the shutter is messed up and can't send it to Sover till September since he's on vacation.

I had two FTN Photomics that needed work on the meters in that one just needed calibrating to work with the 625A batteries recommended by Robert Decker who was also highly recommended to me. The other meter was just dead. I sent both to him and after two and a half weeks both were returned "repaired and calibrated". When I got them the other day I found the one that needed calibration was still reading one stop underexposed and the dead meter was still dead despite trying two different sets of batteries. I was not a happy camper. Of course, he said both were working when they left but they're sure not working now. How is it both were working then and not when I got them? Seems a mite suspicious to me and makes little sense.

So, I go though another two and a half weeks as it takes a week to get there and a week to get back and chance them working this time or chalk it up. Both should have been working when I got them.

Pioneer · Aug 6, 2015

What??

A Nikon that doesn't work?

I am devastated! I have been led to believe from this forum and others that Nikons never break.

I may never get over this shock.

Where is my Guinness?

Xmas · Aug 6, 2015

ColColt said:
I seem to be having a stroke of bad luck here lately. Just this past month I bought an absolutely pristine Nikon F2A that looked like it left the factory yesterday only to discover the shutter is messed up and can't send it to Sover till September since he's on vacation.

I had two FTN Photomics that needed work on the meters in that one just needed calibrating to work with the 625A batteries recommended by Robert Decker who was also highly recommended to me. The other meter was just dead. I sent both to him and after two and a half weeks both were returned "repaired and calibrated". When I got them the other day I found the one that needed calibration was still reading one stop underexposed and the dead meter was still dead despite trying two different sets of batteries. I was not a happy camper. Of course, he said both were working when they left but they're sure not working now. How is it both were working then and not when I got them? Seems a mite suspicious to me and makes little sense.

So, I go though another two and a half weeks as it takes a week to get there and a week to get back and chance them working this time or chalk it up. Both should have been working when I got them.

Please try to swap meters between bodies, and check battery contacts are clean.

Xmas · Aug 6, 2015

Pioneer said:
What??

A Nikon that doesn't work?

I am devastated! I have been led to believe from this forum and others that Nikons never break.

I may never get over this shock.

Where is my Guinness?

I've told Rudulph you have venison in your deep freeze, he will delete you from his yearly round.

ColColt · Aug 6, 2015

What good will swapping meters do? That makes no sense. The F2A camera was serviced by Nikon and they're the ones that screwed up the shutter. Unfortunately, the guy I bought the F2A from never checked the camera out when it got back to him and the warranty ran out six months ago.

As for the FTN's, I'm inclined to wonder if they were serviced at all.

jimjm · Aug 6, 2015

If you don't want to wait for Sover, you can also try Stephen Gandy at Cameraquest in Los Angeles - https://cameraquest.com/repairs.htm . His techs work on F and F2 bodies and he is the host of the Rangefinder Forum web site. I would email him a photo of the shutter and ask what the turnaround and cost might be. He works on Photomic meters too (at least F2 meters, not sure about FTn meters), if you don't want to send them back to Robert Decker. With the prices of F meters these days, might be cheaper to buy a working/serviced one instead.

ColColt · Aug 6, 2015

I'm not in a great hurry for the F2A to have the shutter fixed, just disappointed. I've had no less than 9 Nikons over the years and never saw this before. the meter is spot on as is everything else but the shutter curtains.

The FTN meters are a different story. Few people work on them anymore and I'm a bit hesitant to send it back. The reason I was given that the one meter was dead was because there was a problem getting power from the batteries to the main circuit and I was told the wire from the battery compartment was replaced along with some unstable resistors. That being the case, the meter should have worked. It was as dead as the day I sent it.

Xmas · Aug 6, 2015

ColColt said:
What good will swapping meters do? That makes no sense. The F2A camera was serviced by Nikon and they're the ones that screwed up the shutter. Unfortunately, the guy I bought the F2A from never checked the camera out when it got back to him and the warranty ran out six months ago.

As for the FTN's, I'm inclined to wonder if they were serviced at all.

Sorry I misread I thought you had three F2s.

ColColt · Aug 6, 2015

No sir-one F2A and two FTN's. I have another black FTN Photomic that's perfect. Me and these cameras go way back and just like them. That's why I wanted the other two fixed.

RalphLambrecht · Aug 6, 2015

Pioneer said:
What??

A Nikon that doesn't work?

I am devastated! I have been led to believe from this forum and others that Nikons never break.

I may never get over this shock.

Where is my Guinness?

You've been toldright;Nikons always workIf a Nikon meter fails ,i's due to fluctuations in the sun's nuclear fusionability. Just wait a Billion years and it will ave stabilized itself.

leicarfcam · Aug 6, 2015

Most times when a Nikon F2 DP-1 or DP-11 meter fail it is the galvanometer that has gone bad. Seldom will it be a metering cell.. This is also true of other Nikon meters that use galvanometers instead of LED's..

I recently replaced one in a DP-11 and brought it back to life..

lxdude · Aug 7, 2015

RalphLambrecht said:
You've been toldright;Nikons always workIf a Nikon meter fails ,i's due to fluctuations in the sun's nuclear fusionability.

Correct. That's why they combined "Photo" and "atomic" into "Photomic" for the F and F2 meters.
Those fluctuations can affect the teeny-tiny nuclear pellets that make the things work. (BTW, it's important to change those pellets every 650 years, whether they need it or not.)

Unlucky Month for Cameras

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