Replacing N80 Back

I like the N80 as a nice lightweight film camera that is compatible with modern lenses, and for that reason have kept one around for a while.

 

Unfortunately, the door catches broke on my first one, something that I understand isn't terribly common.

 

Not too long ago, I was making an order from KEH and tacked on a $5 as-is one just to see what I would get. The camera I received is cosmetically near perfect, but looks like someone put their finger through the shutter . So, it's dead.

 

I though at first-no problem-I'll just swap the backs and I should get my other one back to functional. I had ASSUMED that N80 backs were readily interchangeable since the camera was offered both with and without a data back(N80 QD with the data back).

 

I've changed plenty of backs on 35mm cameras in my day, and of course most just have some sort of spring loaded hinge that allows you to unlatch one back and install another. Unfortunately, I don't see anything of the sort on this.

 

Does anyone know if changing an N80 back is something that's designed for the end user to do?

Just a bit of DIY: Nikon N80 Film Door Replacement Edited November 19, 2018 by Dieter Schaefer

What a bizarre design! I remember the nice little spring pin on my FM2's door hinge!

 

So, to answer your original question..

 

"Does anyone know if changing an N80 back is something that's designed for the end user to do?"

 

Errr, not designed to but can done with some excessive fiddling!

Just a bit of DIY: Nikon N80 Film Door Replacement

 

- That seems excessive just to remove the back!

 

Surely, once the bottom plate is removed there should be nothing to stop the top door pin being pulled down from the top-plate?

 

I'd definitely go for the bottom plate first and give it a try; before attacking the lens flange and top-section.

 

Otherwise the design is just mad!

 

Having said that: I found that a 'simple' battery-box replacement in an F2 required an almost complete strip-down of the camera and removal of the mirror box... but it did give me the chance to replace the wiring loom while I was in there.

 

There are some jobs you just wish you'd never started.:eek:

Wow, that's crazy. My old N70 has the standard spring release even though it wasn't a camera with a lot of accessories available.

 

Eric Sande

Ouch! I guess that's why they sold standard and data versions rather than (as with the F100) an accessory data back. Incidentally, won't those screws in the ifixit link be JIS rather than Phillips?

Thanks guys for the information. It looks doable-I'll see if I can get it done tomorrow or Wednesday.

 

I've followed my fair share of iFixit guides, and it's unheard of for them to add "unecessary" steps. I do some Mac repair at work, and one of my favorites is hard drive replacement the older aluminum unibody iMacs. iFixit will tell you to remove the screen completely, a process that involves undoing a bunch of fragile ribbon cables and dealing with what can be an unwieldy bare 27" LCD panel. Anyone who's done it more than once knows that you can unhook one of the ribbon cables at the top of the screen and "hinge" it up, giving you ample working room to access the hard drive-I can usually do one in about a half hour where it might take 2 hours with pulling the screen completely out.

 

In any case, though, I may end up doing the full tear down since it looks like the panels come off without peeling back the hand grips. My "good" one(with the broken back) has sticky rubber all over it, while the parts donor is pristine, including the rubber. It might be worthwhile to swap all of the panels and the "good" one a cosmetic refresh.

Alright, I've started the job, but I'm thinking I may just scrap both cameras and buy another(at this point my total investment is still only $25...)

 

The iFixit guide definitely does NOT overcomplicate it.

 

First of all, the back does not have a continuous pin at the hinge like we're use to seeing. The bottom is held in place by one of the screws, while the top is a fixed pin that slots into the top plate. The only way to get enough clearance to remove the top pin is to in fact completely remove the top plate.

 

Unlike more sensible Nikon designs that use contacts to communicate information(like movements from the focus pad) to the camera, the N80 makes use of a fragile ribbon cable. As best as I can tell, you have two options for removing this-the "safer" one, IMO, is to detach it from inside the front panel of the camera and thread it out through the side. Removing it from the back requires partial disassembly of the self loading mechanism on the back, requires that you peel the light seal away from the cable(potentially tearing it) and of course replacing the light seal when done.

The only way to get enough clearance to remove the top pin is to in fact completely remove the top plate.

 

- So how is the top hinge-pin held to the back itself Ben? Any chance of detaching the top hinge from the back and leaving it in place on the camera body?

 

That horrible rat's nest under the top plate sounds similar to what I found inside an FA. I took one look at the cat's cradle of a wiring loom and just screwed the damn thing back together - it can stay busted..... mint-looking but busted and useless, like many FAs that I've seen.

 

Could have been a winner if Nikon had ever got the shutter reliability sorted. But then I suspect sales of the F3 might have taken a big hit.

It's interesting to see the 'Rat's Nest' in a last-gen film camera compared to the latest DSLR.

 

I'm about to IR convert a D5100 and how they get all that inside the body is a modern day miracle!

 

Life Pixel – Nikon D5100 DIY Digital Infrared Conversion Tutorial

- So how is the top hinge-pin held to the back itself Ben? Any chance of detaching the top hinge from the back and leaving it in place on the camera body?

 

Joe,

 

I haven't investigated fully, although I will on the junk back. The top pin seems to be pretty firmly in place on the back-I suspect that it may be swaged into the back or otherwise fixed in some way that it can't be removed without damaging the surrounding plastic.