Some months ago a friend Jim R. gave me some lenses and two bodies, an F and F2. I've used the F. It's okay but doesn't feel as ergonomic as my Nikkormat FTn. It has features I will never need. The F2 needed light seals (he said, and which he gave me) and had only a plain viewfinder from an F, so I haven't tried it yet. Well, after putting in new seals for the film door I found a good, not expensive, not perfect but perfectly usable F2 DP1 that claimed to have a functional meter (that's the whole point of course), picked up some batteries (they are different from those of the F), and tried it. Nuthin', nada, zippo. The battery check indicator didn't even work. (I checked the batteries manually out of the camera anyway.) So I checked the voltage between what appear to be the two points to carry voltage from the body to the Photomic meter. Nuthin', nada, zippo. Meter switch on or off, made no difference. In fact, I could find no voltage anywhere in the viewfinder-mounting well. It appears that the camera body is not routing battery voltage to the meter.
The positive battery voltage goes directly to the camera body. That's easy to test. I checked the continuity from the negative contact in the battery cavity to what appears to be the non-body terminal feeding the Photomic, got nuthin', i.e. infinite resistance. So it appears the battery voltage is never reaching the meter. Jim R had always used the camera with an external meter. Which means I have no idea how long that circuit has been busted.
How much trouble is it to take the F2 body apart? Or should I take it to a camera shop? Or should I just use it with an external meter? When I first started doing 35mm photography long ago I used a Zenit B which had no meter. I missed a lot of shots, and still would 50 years later. Meters rule! Convenience rules!
This is all for fun anyway. I don't need the F2, or the F or Nikkormat either for that matter and I can always use the Nikkormat for film, but it would be fun to have the F2 functional.
How much do you want to invest in it? It could be a bad connection at the battery tray or it could be something farther in. A shop visit could run a couple of hundred dollars and then there's no guarantee the meter in the prism is accurate. Sover Wong has made a cottage industry of just fixing F2's. Customers often wait a year and pay a lot of money for the service. The Nikkormat will fill the need for a film camera.
I have really cool light meter for sale on the B&S, but I'm going to suggest you download a free light meter app for your phone. I have a bunch of cameras that never even had light meters that I use an Android app that is free called "Light Meter" - what a name. I ended up paying a couple bucks for the deluxe version out of guilt, but use just one basic area of the app. You can zoom the view to match your camera pov - move a circle of interest where you want the reading, and Bob's your uncle.
jimmuller wrote:
Also posted in Nikon/MFNG thread.
Some months ago a friend Jim R. gave me some lenses and two bodies, an F and F2. I've used the F. It's okay but doesn't feel as ergonomic as my Nikkormat FTn. It has features I will never need. The F2 needed light seals (he said, and which he gave me) and had only a plain viewfinder from an F, so I haven't tried it yet. Well, after putting in new seals for the film door I found a good, not expensive, not perfect but perfectly usable F2 DP1 that claimed to have a functional meter (that's the whole point of course), picked up some batteries (they are different from those of the F), and tried it. Nuthin', nada, zippo. The battery check indicator didn't even work. (I checked the batteries manually out of the camera anyway.) So I checked the voltage between what appear to be the two points to carry voltage from the body to the Photomic meter. Nuthin', nada, zippo. Meter switch on or off, made no difference. In fact, I could find no voltage anywhere in the viewfinder-mounting well. It appears that the camera body is not routing battery voltage to the meter.
The positive battery voltage goes directly to the camera body. That's easy to test. I checked the continuity from the negative contact in the battery cavity to what appears to be the non-body terminal feeding the Photomic, got nuthin', i.e. infinite resistance. So it appears the battery voltage is never reaching the meter. Jim R had always used the camera with an external meter. Which means I have no idea how long that circuit has been busted.
How much trouble is it to take the F2 body apart? Or should I take it to a camera shop? Or should I just use it with an external meter? When I first started doing 35mm photography long ago I used a Zenit B which had no meter. I missed a lot of shots, and still would 50 years later. Meters rule! Convenience rules!
This is all for fun anyway. I don't need the F2, or the F or Nikkormat either for that matter and I can always use the Nikkormat for film, but it would be fun to have the F2 functional.
I've only worked on the F, but I have watched teardowns of the F2 and it doesn't seem particularly difficult. The main thing is tooling; JIS screwdrivers are needed for this. Depending on where you need access to once you open it up you will also need an A/R ring removal key, but I am not sure you will need this for checking the battery terminal.
From what I've seen much of the wiring and the battery terminal is accessible by removal of the mirror box assembly, which is fairly straight forward to remove. If you decide you want to do this, I can send you some links for tools/disassembly videos/service manuals.
Personally though, I would simply keep with the eye-level prism and use an external light meter. I've gradually gone to nonmetered cameras over the last two years just because I find in-camera meters more inconvenient.
I thank all of you for your replies. James, I do have a phone light meter but of course it means pulling out my phone whenever I am unsure of the light. That would be inconvenient most of the time. And of course I do not really need this camera at all. I just thought it would be fun to try it.
It might be fun to try fixing it myself. I've taken Triumph transmissions and differentials apart. And even put them back together successfully! A camera can't be much different even if much smaller, right? Most likely though I'll just use it as-is. But I'm not finished pondering...
jimmuller wrote:
I thank all of you for your replies. James, I do have a phone light meter but of course it means pulling out my phone whenever I am unsure of the light. That would be inconvenient most of the time. And of course I do not really need this camera at all. I just thought it would be fun to try it.
It might be fun to try fixing it myself. I've taken Triumph transmissions and differentials apart. And even put them back together successfully! A camera can't be much different even if much smaller, right? Most likely though I'll just use it as-is. But I'm not finished pondering...
Jim, the DP1 finder may not be worth dealing with. I have found that even when working, they with age have become very inaccurate. The plain metereless finder - which was the budget option in the day - is now worth much more than the metered ones.
So I'd go with that.
I have a DP1 finder that I never use - because the readings are not reliable depending on EV level - but you are welcome to test that on your camera to see if the fault is with your meter or your camera body.
In these cases it usually always is a broken connection within the camera body.
Desmolicious wrote:
Jim, the DP1 finder may not be worth dealing with.
...
In these cases it usually always is a broken connection within the camera body.
Thanks for the note and the offer. I'm thinking that if it's a break in the camera body, quite possible, I may not be able to fix it easily.
madNbad wrote:
How much do you want to invest in it? It could be a bad connection at the battery tray or it could be something farther in. A shop visit could run a couple of hundred dollars and then there's no guarantee the meter in the prism is accurate. Sover Wong has made a cottage industry of just fixing F2's. Customers often wait a year and pay a lot of money for the service. The Nikkormat will fill the need for a film camera.
The cost of a full camera and meter service is not insignificant. See prices on his web site.
Unless you really want a working F2, I would just shoot the Nikkormat.
I keep hearing a steady drumbeat that has only two rhythms:
Use the Nikkormat -or-
use the F2 with plain viewfinder.
And did I mention use the Nikkormat?
I was thinkin' using the F and F2 would be like driving an antique car every so often, fun for the experience. I've used the F, not my favorite. Except for the interchangeable focus screen the plain F2 is almost a Nikkormat without a meter. So you all convinced me - maybe try a roll of film in it but otherwise don't bother. I was never going to spend big bucks for repair anyway.
I might try taking the F2 apart, at least the bottom cover. I watched a bunch of online video and relearned why I dislike instructional videos. ThefirstoneIwatchedhadtheguyworkreallyfastflipthecameraovernandtalkagainstaloudmusictrackbuticouldn'tseewhathewasdoingmostofthetime. The second one...had...a.....guy who...talked....sloooowly, first explaining how...you....needed...a...bunch of...tools,...then...showing those....tools then...explaining...how...you...needed...those tools then...saying...again...what those...tools...were. (This is why that video was an hour long. And did I mention that you need special tools?) Several videos showed the guy carefully peeling off the glued-on black cover. I can understand that you need to do that to remove the front controls, but it wasn't clear whether removing everything required it. If I did that I know I'll never get it back on right. So if it ain't easy I won't try. It ain't ain't broke but I ain't gonna' fix it.
Must use the F2 w the plain prism. Even if you fix the broken power connection, you’ll most probably find the meter is not accurate. Treat the F2 like a meterless M - M2/3/4/A - and revel at the fact it did not cost you $thousands for that privilege!
I had two Nikkormat FT2s, really liked the build and feel but the meters on both went wonky so got rid of them. Age…
For some reason I find it much more enjoyable using a meterless camera (F2 w plain prism) than a mechanical camera that can still be used even if the meter is broken (F2 w DP1 finder, Nikkormat w wonky meter etc). I think it is due to the fact that you know that is how the camera is meant to be, and if you have any form of OCD that can be a very good thing!
P.s. I had a couple of plain prism Fs, the black one being especially cool looking, but sold them off because the F2 is so much better, functionally and ergonomically.
FWIW, my Nikkormat FTn's meter has never failed me even after it sat dormant for many years until I revived it this year. With a Wein mrb625 battery the shots I've taken have been spot on. It seems responsive, and to a first approximation at least reciprocity is as expected. This week my latest roll should be back from the lab and I expect the exposures to be fine. For the last four shots the Wein had finally died so I put in an alkaline and compensated the film ISO until it agreed with my Z5ii. So the exposure of the last four may be interesting. It appears now that the alkaline voltage may have dropped a bit and the compensation had to be reduced. We'll see.
However my phone app has not behaved. In the house it seemed to be off by as much as two f stops. After review (as they say in NFL games) a test of an outside subject seems to be just fine. Oh well.
EB-1 wrote:
Have you tested the viewfinder on another camera?
EBH
Noop. Don't have another, don't know anyone around here who does though I'm sure there are some around. I don't own another F2 and this one was a gift, the proverbial gift horse. So even if I proved the meter was good (as it was claimed to be), it wouldn't do me any good. That's okay. I don't have a lot invested in it.
Most likely though I'll just use it as-is. But I'm not finished pondering...