20 Most Recent Nikon F3 35mm Film Camera Questions & Answers

Hi,
When the batteries in an F3 die, though the film can still be advanced, the photographer is limited to a single mechanical shutter speed of approximately 1/60 second. It is tripped by a secondary fully mechanical shutter release. Works fine when camera is attached to a motor drive because it uses the drivers power...Pls replace the batteries as one of the following is okay.....

• Battery: Choice of one 3V lithium battery CR-1/3N type,,

• two 1.55V silver-oxide batteries SR-44 type, or

• two 1.5V alkaline batteries LR-44 type

Hope this helps!
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You can do more damage than good when working on an old F3. Best thing is to send it to Nikon. Find Nikon Authorized Repair Station

Try to clean the corrosion off the battery contacts. If not give it to Nikon they may be a little expensive but they will restore the camera to it's original condition. http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Service-And-Support/Nikon-Authorized-Repair-List.page

ebay is your friend, most any part can be found there

You can just insert a small styrofoam in back of the film plate, if you can't install the spring latch hook.

Check to see if you locked the mirror in the up position.

Check to make sure that the film is properly inserted into the take-up spool, and watch the rewind knob and make sure it is turning indicating that the film is going through the camera. Also check to make sure that the multi-exposure lever isn't stuck in the on position by spillage or impact so the camera just keeps taking exposure on one frame and the film doesn't move.

there are a number of things that could be causing this and none of them are good. The impact could have torn the main circuit. If it hit on the rewind side there is an expensive glass disk (glass is used for temperature stability) called a FRE that has contacts on it for the ASA and aperture information to be sent to the main circuit. This is easily broken. You may also have damaged the shutter speed unit or its flex.

You need to open the right side top cover to repair this. The "button" is not a reset - the counter is activated by the pressure of the film door on the "button" - it holds a shaft with a 'slice of pie' cutout on it against the gearing on the bottom of the counter disk. When you open the film door, the spring on the "button" moves it away from the counter disk, and a circular spring under the counter disk makes it return to '0'.This problem is usually caused by impact to the top cover, causing the disk not to turn freely, or spillage, usually of a 'sugar' drink. It it is spillage, you can put some Windex on a clean toothbrush and clean around the advance lever and hope it gets far enough inside to dissolve the stickiness. If you have canned air you can spray a little around the advance lever to dry it out. Take out the batteries first, and leave them out for an hour or so to make sure the Windex has completely evaporated. Do not spray the Windex directly on the camera!

The Nikon F3 uses standard 35mm film, also known as 135. The type of film you use is up to you. You can use black&white film, color transparency (color slides), or color negative (color prints). Prints are generally cheaper than slides but slide films generally produce better results, and prints can be made from slides. You can also make black&white pictures from color films, though obviously you can't go the other way.These films are available in a variety of speeds. Faster films let you shoot in lower light and/or with a faster shutter speed for stopping action, but slower films have finer grain. Different films also have different color properties. No film (or digital sensor, for that matter) reproduces every color exactly. You may need to experiment in order to see which film gives you the colors you like for the types of pictures you like to take.

Welcome to Fixya.

This is where you can purchase a Nikon FM2 camera in the Philippines :

Nikon FM2 purchase

Thank you for using Fixya.

You can download a Nikon F3 manual from
http://butkus.org/chinon/nikon/nikon_f3/nikon_f3.htm

If you have a different model Nikon camera, take a look at
http://butkus.org/chinon/nikon.htm

Yes and no. The lenses will fit with no problem.

On DX cameras (everything except the D700 and the D3 series) the smaller sensor causes the lenses to seem longer. A 50mm lens on a digital body will give you about the same image as a 75mm lens would on a film body.

Older non-CPU lenses do not have the electronics to communicate with a newer camera. On some of these cameras you won't be able to use the camera's light meter.

Were the old batteries left in when you stored it? Alkaline cells can leak and cause corrosion, no matter what anyone says. A coating of metal salts on the battery contacts could be the problem. I hesitate to suggest that you may have put the cells in the wrong way up, or forgotten where the on/off switch is, but these will certainly stop the cameras working.

You need to be more specific.
- What model of Nikon 35mm film camera is it?
- what "other error codes" do you see besides "SE"?

Hi,

You can download and print the instruction manual in PDF format by clicking this link.

Adobe PDF Reader is required to view this manual. Click here to download the latest version of Adobe Reader.

Hope this helps. Thanks for using FixYa.

The frame counter will read at least the number of frames the film should have. If the camera will no longer 'fire', the film has probably come to an end.
Rewind the film and take it out normally. You'll notice if the film is no completely exposed since the rewind time is relatevily short.
Anyway, it's better to have a few pictures than no pictures at all.

The split image focusing screen is difficult to use in low light or with slow lenses, or extremelylong lenses. If your eye is not exactly centered on the split image finder then it will go dark on the top or bottom of the finder, depending upon whether your eye is above centerline or below. Both annoying and hard to use.

A company called Beattie made intenscreens that were either brighter than the Nikon, or not split image, but just the matte glass screen. Focusing on the matte screen is at first rather hard to get used to, it takes some practice to be able to recognize when the image is in focus, and of coarse your eyes should be checked to make sure they are accurate and wear corrective glasses if necessary. I've know photographers that needed corrective glasses so the focus in the camera was moved a foot forward.

Since 2001 Beattie has been out of business so you may have to find a replacement. There are several companice on the web that may be able to help. http://www.display-optics.com/products_35mm-format_nikon.htm These guys have # 82110 which looks like a solid matte and #82114 which is a split image finder, but on a 45 degree tilt. this allows you to use the cmaera and lens without as much darkening because of up/down alignment. But then you have to worry about some side to side and up and down. A solid matte in my opinion is best.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=nikon+f3+beattie+screen&N=0&InitialSearch=yes

Take all this info as a guide, make your own decisions based on tests at a dealer if possible, beware internet claims until you have check them out, get a right of return and warranty in writing if you buy on the internet. http://www.brightscreen.com/intenscreen.htm