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Time to repair my F5... where-o-where to send it?


austin_calhoon

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Okay... after a few years of hard use, my darling F5 is ready to go

into the repair shop. The meter has somehow uncalibrated to

vary +1 to +1 1/2 stop on every exposure, and the aperture return

ring is toast. Nikon USA recently quoted me around $300 to fix

everything up.

 

Seems like a fair price to pay to get my darling back into

commission. But, I need to find a repair center with the fastest

turn around time as possible. There is a local repair center in

central florida which is not only less expensive, but can turn

around the camera quicker. Is the repair completed to the

standards that Nikon USA would use?

 

Is it worth paying the premium price to send my camera directly

to Nikon USA? I've had a dropped 80-200 2.8 repaired by Nikon,

and the repair bill was nearly the cost of the lens. But... It was

fixed right the first time and I havent had a problem since.

 

Shooting mainly sports, I need the camera back asap. I have a

D1H to hold me over and an F2. Who do you trust with repairs? I

would appreciate your input.

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Austin,

 

While there are no guarentees that anyone will get it right the first time, I know that Nikon, not only repairs the asked for items but with the F series cameras does an end to end check of all the functions - adjusting those that are out of spec and updates outdated parts in the camera. I would advise sending it to them and maybe renting an F5 body (if you've a shop near you that rents 35mm equipment) when you need a film body until the F5 comes back. There are a lot of good shops out there that can do a good job and have quick turn around, but how many places have worked on as many F5's as Nikon themselves?

 

They did a great job on my F4 a couple of months ago. It now functions as new.

 

Good luck,

 

Jim Seaman

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Learn, my son, from the wisdom of your elders. I had an F3 which needed only new seals, I thought. But, local repair people got out of their depth with the camera. This saddened me because the camera was away for 3 months while they awaited "parts". Then it infuriated me because they charged me $300 and it was worse than when I sent it in to them. Become enlightened, and send it to Nikon. Nikon corrected all the foolish errors of the local "repair" morons, and gave a turn around time of 2 weeks. They charged only $250, which I would have been happy to pay 4 months prior.<p>Alas, grasshopper, your F5 is far more complex than an F3. Learn from the wisdom of your elders and send it only to the temple of Nikon for rejuvination. To send elsewhere will bring the curses of the gods upon ye.
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Austin, what is the name of that "local repair center" in Central Florida? Without knowing that, how can anybody comment on the quality of their work?

 

In any case, for something as complex as the F5, I would send it back to Nikon USA. They typically charge $200+ for any small repair anyway. $300 doesn't sound too out of line for a $2000 camera.

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Send it to Nikon. They fixed my F5 (shutter sync wasn't working for flash) for around $300 (and replaced the rubber cladding on the body for free).

 

After you send it in, you will get a letter in the mail (USPS) which will have a web address. You can go online and approve/disapprove the fixes as well as keep track of the repair.

 

It took Nikon about a week to turn the camera around with a new shutter.

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Send the camera ONLY to Nikon in Melville, NY or Torrance, CA. IMHO, Nikon's regional repair facilities lack the competence and probably the equipment to work on F5s.

 

In order to properly calibrate an F5, you need to use an expensive proprietary diagnostic computer program that few, if any, independent repair services have. I know that $300 for minor repairs and a CLA is painful, but unlike most of the other Nikon equipment I own, I would only have Nikon's primary repair facilities work on my F5s.

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Thanks everyone for the responses....It's going back to Nikon

first thing tomorrow, and hopefully will be repaired right the first

time.

 

It's tough sending your child out in the mail, to a destination

where technicians will pick and probe at her, and I wait in

anticipation for her glorious return.

 

I was thinking about this today... I spend more time with my F5

then any person in my life. I didnt realize how much of an

extension of myself this piece of equipment has become, until I

have to send it away for a month or so.

 

Thanks again for all the reponses.

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I would send it into Nikon for the repair. Trying to go cheap on repairing a nearly 2000.00 USD camera this complex is really asking for trouble. One other thing that you may want to consider is having the aperture ring replaced with the flip up tab version. When the F5 was released this modification was available and they should still be doing it. This would allow you to use the camera with Non AI compliant lenses and I noticed that you are also shooting with an F2, bravo, the F2 was the BEST camera Nikon ever made.
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Flipped up tab version? i missed that update. Hmm.. Hopefully that is the standard

and they will replace it without asking. My return ring happend to fall victim to a

bottle of champange during an awards ceremony. sugar+mechanics= death. I quite

enjoy the F2, and look forward to having an excuse to use it more.

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You will have to ask for the flip up tab version of the aperture ring. Historically Nikon builds parts like this in a large batch then doles them out from the warehouse. This means that the parts were probably made when the F5 was introduced and, after all this time, the bin in the warehouse may be getting low.

 

I solved the non AI problem by getting an AI kit from Pacific Rim Camera for each of my older lenses. I also have added rabbit ears to all of my AF lenses. Only the oddball 400mm f6.3 Soligor is restricted to the older F2's, someday I may notch the aperture ring and bring it up to spec.

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Any recommendations for where (preferably in the NYC/NJ area) to send an ancient FE for CLA and repair of seals and all the usual beater tune-up stuff? I already thought of the East River, thanks. Also, assuming no major problems, what is this likely to cost? At some point it would probably be better to find an FE2 or FA in good shape.
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