Nikon F4 won't show zip in view finder

Just bought a vintage Nikon F4 and I can't get any indication that it is a working piece of equipment and not a paper weight. Changed all battery's and double checked installation. no light in view finder. Battery indicator at bottom on MB-21 indicates good to go, Alert light just above rewind lever R2 blinking furiously. No film in camera. Shouldn't the electronics in view finder be on and visible when lock switch on shutter release is in S position and or when shutter release is pushed lightly?

 

Any help I can get would be appreciated.

I'm away from home and from my F4 and its instructions and whatnot, but I think the red flashing light indicates that it thinks it's rewinding. I'd double check the position of the two rewind switches and make sure they're set right.

I found this:

 

http://cdn-10.nikon-cdn.com/pdf/manuals/archive/F4-F4S.pdf

 

The page took longer than I expected to finish loading... seemed like it was stuck.

I'm still a frequent F4 user and have two of them(I also have a hard time considering them vintage considering that it was released the same year I was born :) )

 

As I recall, the flashing red light at R2 indicates that the camera is set to read DX coded film and is reporting an error with reading the DX coding correctly. Since you don't have film loaded, there's obviously no code for it to read.

 

If the film speed dial is set to DX, try setting it to an actual film speed. After you do this, you will PROBABLY need to hit the shutter button for it to go through the loading cycle. Both of mine are loaded at the moment and it's been a while since I played with one without film, so I'm working from memory. Still, all of this should get it working for you to test it.

I'm still a frequent F4 user and have two of them(I also have a hard time considering them vintage considering that it was released the same year I was born :) )

 

As I recall, the flashing red light at R2 indicates that the camera is set to read DX coded film and is reporting an error with reading the DX coding correctly. Since you don't have film loaded, there's obviously no code for it to read.

 

If the film speed dial is set to DX, try setting it to an actual film speed. After you do this, you will PROBABLY need to hit the shutter button for it to go through the loading cycle. Both of mine are loaded at the moment and it's been a while since I played with one without film, so I'm working from memory. Still, all of this should get it working for you to test it.

Thanks All, Ben shouldn't the view finder LED be on as soon as the power switch is on regardless of whether it is loaded?

I don't think the camera will do much of anything if it thinks there's a DX error.

 

Like I said, it's been a while since I played with an unloaded F4, but I was messing with an N2020 the other day. I know it won't "wake up" if it's set to DX and there's no film loaded.

nikon camera instruction manuals

Have got several Nikon Manuals here - you might give it a look. I have half a dozen film F Models and the books have been very useful.

When I had an F4s I never used the DX setting because there was no way to confirm the ISO unless you had a flash with LCD readout attached. I've never heard of any camera mis-reading the code and using the wrong ISO, but I just preferred to not leave it to chance.

 

Eric Sande

Having returned from my journeys and looked closer at my F4, currently empty of film, I note that the camera is essentially dead when the left hand rewind lever is down. If it is set for DX the light will always flash and the camera will not function at all without film. If set for a specific ISO, it will function with the lever up, and will flash when it's down most of the time, but the behavior of the light seems to vary with the position of the right rewind lever, and sometimes it seems the light simply goes off and doesn't come back on. After an ISO readjustment it will go back to coming on when it's down. But either way, the camera will not function and no lights other than the flashing red one will come on when that lever is down.

 

I would suggest if the camera is set to a specific ISO and the light is still flashing, first make sure the left lever is up, and then open the right lever and close it again, and see if the thing wakes up. If the camera has sat for a long time, perhaps it would help to exercise it a little, try different ISO settings, put the lever up and down a few times. If nothing changes when the ISO is manually set and the lever is up and locked, I would suspect a malfunction.