Nikon F4 shutter release

I have a Nikon F4. It will not fire the shutter if the back of the

camera is open. The film spool turns but the shutter does not open.Is

this normal? I am trying to look through to the lens to check lens

aperature when firing.

It's normal. Nikon claims that people put fingers between the delicate blades if it works when open. Works fine on other cameras beside the F4 though.

James,

 

There are release pins in the back of the body that prevent the shutter from firing when the back is open.

 

You should be able to see the aperture blades close by looking through the FRONT of the lens while firing the camera with the back closed.

It's normal. You can easily defeat the mechanism if you like. I don't have my F4 in front of me, but I believe there is a shiny pin in the felt 'light trap' immediately below the rewind crank. If you hold that pin in with your fingernail (or what have you) the camera thinks it is closed and will fire normally. I have found that variations of this work for all of my AF bodies.

<i>You should be able to see the aperture blades close by looking through the FRONT</i>

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True enough, but if you've ever had an 'iffy' (slow) aperture before, you learn that the 'acid test' for whether it's fast enough to function is to view it from the shutter side during firing. If you can see the aperture move from the shutter side, the aperture is moving too slow.