Thank you so much! This is the best Nikon video on all of RU-vid. Was able to do some small repairs to my Nikon as a complete beginner to camera repairs. Thank you!
Man that was like a suregeon operating. Really interesting. I have a F3 I bought and the film counter aint working which is frustrating. I should stick to buying off ebay in the future....but thanks for that.
Thank you for the video - very instructive! My light meter is intermittent i.e. works then doesn't - i suspect corrosion/dirt - I've cleaned the battery compartment - where else might be good to clean for this issue?
The ASA resistor is dirty along with the ground contact. Be careful of the white plastic gear with the cord attached, don't jump the cord from the pulley and don't remove that section with a lens on.
@ICTCamera thanks for this video! I'm wanting to replace the right top plate on my F3. Are there any specific tools needed? It looked like you used a small Phillips head, a grippy rag, and a (hex screwdriver?) for the grub screws on the speed dial? Do you need to mark where things are so you are able to put it back in the right place with the right speeds in place? Cheers
James Holman Some tools I used can be bought, like the driver tips which are JIS that I buy from Canon. I have acquired most of my tools over 40 years of repair career, and since I do a lot of F3 repairs I made some special tools to speed service and cut down on incidental scratches. From the looks of the impact the cover will be difficult to remove because the tolerances are so tight and a pushed in top plate will bind on the threads that you will find under the winding lever after a retaining ring is removed. As for tools, the grippy thing is just a piece of old bicycle inner tube, the round nose pliers were kinda cheap but had a long arms and were thin, perfect to the modified for the ring and lastly a screwdriver modified to remove the multi-exposure retaining screw. I'm not sure what the repair guy was talking about when they said something about gears being bent that run the counter, they don't know the F3 very well.
Thanks for this. I have an F3 with a floppy multi-exposure lever and although I rarely miss it, I want to see what’s involved on the bottom end and what might be broken. Cheers!
The Multi-exposure lever is spring loaded by another lever on the bottom but if you have an earlier style the set screw could of fallen off or just become loose.
Thanks for the incredible video, do you know what can affect the operation of bulb mode? I have a Nikon f3 and that mode does not work but the other speeds are correct
I don't think I have ever heard of a F3 that doesn't have bulb. If you remove the speeds dial but leave it electrically connected the camera will be in Bulb mode. I would check the 2nd curtain magnet and clean it with alcohol.
Thanks for this great video. I have a problem with my Nikon F3, maybe you can help me out! The shutter-release button of my camera does not work properly anymore. The batteries inside are new, the camera is turned on and the exposure/ light meter still works. I can take a photo by using the backup mechanical release lever but the shutter-release button will only fire after pressing it many many times, always randomly... it's impossible to properly photograph like this. I'm afraid to open up the camera myself, because I don't have any experience. What would you suggest doing?
Hi! Your videos of the Nikon F3 are just exquisite. My F3 has a small problem that the advance lever is not returning. Everything else works fine. I used your video and took off advance liver with counter. Everything looks fine, nothing is broken, the same applies to the spring. I tried spraying some rubbing alcohol and it got a little better but not completely. There is still resistance for advance lever to return. Can you advise me how I could lubricate it so that this improves? Do you have any thoughts? Thanks
@@ictcamera560 Hello Jim! I have one more question. For some unknown reason, the fastest shutter speed for this camera is about 1/80 sec. This applies even if I choose A, all shutter speeds from 1/2000 to 1/125 have a speed of 1/80. Lower shutter speeds are all correct from 1/60 up to 8 sec. Do you have any ideas as to what this could be? Rob
@@ictcamera560 Forgot to mention. On the display inside, the maximum speed is 1/80, although it says 1/2000 on the shutter speed selector. Counter works as it should, it counts pictures fine and resets to zero when I open the back cover. Or did you mean something else?
Hi, greetings from Cuba. I have a nikon F3 with all electronic speeds working but only when a use the secondary shutter release, the emergency next to the mirror box. Any thoughts on what might be happening? I’ve done the cleaning, but it didn’t affect the results. Thank in advance
Hi mate, my winder was loose and it went flying, (on the f3) luckily i found it. but I need some help re-esembling it - could you help me - so its all the elements of the winder/door release please?
Hi Jim, appreciated this full tear down video with audio explanation, which is very useful . I got a f3 that have strange error could you take a guess to see anything wrong: when winded up, the first shutter press (full press or half is fine, I think it means to activate the camera)with no response, I need to wait a count to 3-5then I can fire. (I can’t constantly pressing it, it just not fire, only when I wait a couple of seconds can it fire)It seems to taking some buffer before could fire the shutter. Really wired, do you have any guess on that? I measured the battery with 2.83v I suppose it’s fine.
I can only guess your issue since the camera is not in front of me. First the mech could be sticky and slow and it take a few seconds for some of the switches to make proper contact. The other one I have seen is a slow elctronic capacitor build-up from a bad component.
@@ictcamera560 Very very Thank you… I spent the whole night tear down the bottom and top right, and cleaned it follow your steps, unfortunately I cleaned the contacts of the shutter release the problem still, I even try to manually use tweezer to trigger the brass contacts. I think It is something that take time to ‘charge’ so it can fire the shutter. So I really believe in the later one you said, could you briefly let me know where the ‘electric capacitor’ is if it’s not taking much your repair time… Really appreciated your reply….
Hey Jim! My advance lever is stuck and the manual release hasn’t helped, so I don’t know what’s causing the problem. Got it off eBay. I took off the bottom to get it back in position as one vid demonstrated, but I believe I have a different version than the one used in that video, so it didn’t work for me. Would a proper CLA fix it or is it a more advanced job?
It is hard to say without seeing it. If you got it off eBay than anything could be wrong. Very little happens on the bottom the charge and latching of the shutter are all done on top.
Hi! Thanks for this video. I need to screw my multiple exposure lever back on (it randomly fell off). Would you recommend using the round-nose pliers for that? It the video you mentioned that the pliers need to be modified? Is there any other tool that would work for that? 7:00 Thank you so much!!
Hi :) very interesting video! I have a question. My nikon f3 stopped working while I was using it. Photometer flashed on and off and then just died, I thought it was the batteries so i changed them, but it didn't help. Camera doesn't shot in the mechanic option either. At this point it seems to be the power switch, but it clicks on and off perfectly, it doesn't seem broken. Could it be that it needs cleaning, or you think i should replace the piece?
So if you have power, LCD turns on, but no release than you are going to have a bad release magnet or the mirror box didn't charge. There a few other reasons but without it in front of me I will not be able to give the exact answer.
Hi i'm getting trouble taking of the top plate, it's very hard tight in he right part (multi exposure level) like if theres a screw grabbing the plate. any idea??
Hello, First of all, great video it helped me a lot on a f3 Wich I bought as not turning on electrically. This was an fairly easy fix however it still has the problem that all times are the same. What I did was clean the magnet - nothing changed I checked the capacitor by desoldering and measure it - fine I measured the spool of the magnet (although not desoldered) fine resistance in my opinion. And I measured the voltage Wich was where I got lost. Both contacts of the electromagnet read 3 volts all the time Wich leads me to believe there is a short somewhere. Do you have any idea what could cause this?
Is the counter switch detached? Black wire. The magnet will have 3volts until release where one side wide go to ground. After this you are getting into troubleshooting, which is impossible to do over the internet.
@@ictcamera560 that's it. I think the release switch wasn't grounding it properly due to corrosion. I was firing it repeatedly for a really long time while switching times and it got better every time. I'm going to clean the contacts again so it won't happen again. Again thank you for posting videos like this. Without it I wouldn't have fixed it this fast
My F3 has a broken power switch (electronics work fine but the plastic ring that turns under the advance lever is broken in half and held on by tape), any idea where I could find a replacement? Any help is appreciated! Thank you!
Hi there, thanks for the informative video! I have a F3 that has a small problem with the LCD. In 'A' it meters correctly, but the speed does not always show correctly on the LCD. Some of the segments are not fully darkening, or the wrong segments partially darken, making it unreadable. Seems to affect lower speeds more, and its intermittent. The LCD shows the speed correctly when manually set to one. I am sure it is not the battery, I have tried several new ones. Any insight is greatly appreciated!
You may have an issue with the LCD contact strips. They are a real pain in the you know what to remove and clean, very small fiddly work. Much care needs to be taken to service and if done wrong the problem will get worse.
Great video! First time seeing someone take apart F3. My F3 has this issue with meter consistently over exposure by one full stop, everything else works perfectly, any idea where I should look for to fix it? Thanks so much!
Howdy Jim, I have a strange issue & I cant find an answer or similar symptom anywhere online: Midshoot, I tried to engage the backup shutter release lever, for the first time since I've owned the camera. It would not fire. Also the meter stopped working - the F3 immediately lost all power and won't fire from either release. Zero power w/ new batteries. The backup shutter release is lever is now limp and goes all the way down and does nothing. Feels floppy, and now the camera is bricked. Any ideas? Is the F3 somehow left powerless if the backup shutter release malfunctions? Is there a way to release that lever without taking off the front? The shutter is wound and ready to fire position. Thank you!
Interesting issue and I can't be absolutely certain without seeing it. I do feel the manual release lever is jammed in a half released half not position internally so I'm not sure what you can do to make it operate. If the mirror is up then the LCD will blank out which is normal but if the mirror is still down then the hang-up could be in the mirror up system. If the mirror doesn't go up the shutter will not release and the camera will not cycle through.
Thank you for the reply, Jim. Mirror is down, and the camera seems fully sound except for the backup shutter release not engaging, and it's turns loosely down to 8 o'clock. The camera was shooting and working great up until i tried engage the backup shutter release. Could the camera be stuck in mid-release, hence the mirror is getting an "up signal" even when down? Any idea how to get that backup release re-engaged? Thanks @@ictcamera560
First check the pin on the winding side, it is in the back door seals groove. I have been seeing them stick in lately. If not then you will need to take off the wind side to investigate.
Hey again, today while using my f3 without anything happening externally to cause this the shutter is automatically releasing once I cock the film advance and I can’t use the shutter button or mechanical shutter release because the instance that it cocks all the way it releases the shutter. I think there’s a chance that this was caused when I accidentally didn’t cock it all the way and so I clicked it once to fully engage it and I think that might have been when the shutter just released when I did that and now it will only do that. I have an insurance policy through Allstate and they say that they will repair it but I don’t know if it’s a good idea to trust them with it because they don’t seem to know if they actually can do old Nikon repairs and I don’t know if maybe they contract out qualified repair shops.
I have a few problems that cause this issue, one was a loose screw that jammed in the release magnet and the other I had Monday where a mirror box lever was sticky and didn't return fast enough to latch the mirror. I can take care of the repair if you need.
@@ictcamera560 oh so it seems like a relatively easy thing? I can send it to Allstate and have them supposedly fix it for free but idk if I should trust them.
@@JoeStaehle It all depends on who they find to work on it. I tend not to have problems with F3 camera but I have been repairing them since the mid 80's. By the way, getting to the release magnet means the front needs to come out, not an easy thing to do.
I wonder if you could help me with my F3. I put a new battery in it and it won't operate at all aside from the 1/60th mechanical release lever. What's also weird is that battery gets really hot. Do you know what might be causing this?
Hi! Great videos! I have an F3 wich has a problem with the aperture coupling ring. When rotated all the way and then released, it drags and doesnt want to return to its original position. When the AI tab is lifted up the ring moves more freely. Is there an easy fix to it? Thanks!
Most of the time a dragging coupling ring is because of dust and dirt. The ring will need to be cleaned but the biggest problem is the coupling string. If you do this and jump the pulley, it will be a big repair to put the string back on the pulley again.
Hi. Thanks for the video. I just bought an F3 that seems to work in ‘A’ mode but whenever the dial is set to other manual shutter speed ( except T or B ), the shutter will fire and jammed. The only way to release the jammed shutter is to remove the camera battery. Is there a fix to it like you’ve shown in this vid? Thanks in advance!
@@borneoagathis5920 I would clean the 2nd curtain magnet, clean between the speeds dial casting and body ground and clean the ASA resistor and ground wiper.
Hey Jim! Great videos you've got here. I'm personally more experienced with mechanical cameras, recently did a full overhaul on a Olympus 35RD (only been repairing cameras for myself for a couple years, but recently getting confident to do bigger tasks). I've bought myself an F3 here that was sold as working (it was cheap so I expected that'd be incorrect). It did nothing for a while, but fiddling with all the dials did bring it to life, was working as expected yesterday however today when you have it set to "A" it meters correctly for the ISO selected, however when using it manually its miles off (in fact f16 in manual metering, seems to match the wide open when set to "A") - do you have any ideas what could cause this? I'm going to follow your videos to give it a good clean up once I get a better soldering tip myself after seeing those wires haha.
Clean the ASA resistor but also remove the speeds dial and clean the metal between the speeds dial housing and the body. That acts like a ground for the speeds dial and if not clean the speeds and meter will do weird things.
Hey, sorry to bother you with this question but on my f3 that I just got the film advance lever works just fine but it has a little bit of vertical play in it and it doesn’t sit level on the camera body and it just bothers me so much lol. I was wondering if you think it’s an easy fix. Also the LED for the little lcd screen doesn’t turn on
The backlight for the LCD is a 6volt very miniature bulb. It really was not a good system with the little red button and needs attention on all cameras in for service. It is hard to say whether the play in the winding lever is acceptable play or not. The system runs on ball bearings so it might be normal but too much may mean something coming loose.
I just bought an F3hp online for $300. IT came with a 36-72mm lens. Im having issues with it though. I think the light meter doesn't work properly. It stays on 1/80th whenever I try to shoot it in manual. I shot a roll on it yesterday and have it developed to see if the thing works. I was honestly guessing my metering. Any suggestions as to what can be the problem? The batteries are brand new, so I can rule that out.
When the counter doesn't reach #1 yet, it will shoot at 1/80th. If the counter reaches #1 and still is shooting at 1/80th you have a bad counter switch or bad counter.
