FM3A Mirror jammed up on both cameras

[ramon_pons1]

I am travelling with two FM3A cameras through Africa and both cameras

are now broken. The mirror is jammep up in both cameras. What can I

do? I am now in Namibia and next week will get in South Africa

 

I am traveling on an overland truck so maybe the vibration might be

the problem. I am extremely dissapointed with the cameras because I

have missed plenty of unique opportunities in Botswana and Namibia. I

would appreciate any help.

 

Thanks

[andy_blagbrough]

Are the exposures set on auto? If they are then change them to a specific speed. If the

mirrors free up, then the batteries need replacing. Not a problem as you have a fully

manual camera - you will just have to estimate the exposure.

 

If its not the batteries, then the problems could be serious. The FM3a is rugged and I

would be surpised if both failed at a similar time due to vibration. It could be that the

shutter has jammed, but again, on both at the same time.

 

What happens if you take the lens off and use a small force on the mirror? Only try this

whennot on auto.

[lex_jenkins]

Just a wild guess, but...

 

Check the self timer levers to see whether they have somehow been bent or jammed enough to force the mirrors to lock up. Like the FM2n before it, the FM3a mirror lockup is tied in with the self timer lever. If the self timer is activated the mirror will lock up and the diaphragm will close down to the chosen aperture. I don't know whether it's possible for the self timer mechanism to become jammed at this point, thus jamming the mirror, but it's worth considering.

 

However it seems rather unlikely that the same problem - assuming my theory is plausible - would occur in both cameras.

 

Hope you can get the problem resolved before the end of your trip.

[manh_le]

I would try removing the battery and setting the shutter speed to, say, 1/125 sec and see if that would make any difference. Good luck.

[ShunCheung]

In Africa, dust and vibration could be the culpit. When I was in Kenya, the aperture diaphragm in my 500mm/f4 P jammed and was stuck at f4 probably because a lot of dust got inside.

 

It is possible to do some self cleaning on the mirror mechanism? If you can get it to work again, I would protect the camera and lenses inside a bag when you are not shooting.

[Sanford]

My FM3a experience has not been all that good. Had to send it in once because 1/60 of a second was way slow (1 second) in some cases and the last roll of slides I had processed showed some overlapping on some frames. I bought grey market so Nikon won't touch it.

[andrew_hull]

I had a jammed FM3A about 3 years ago. Had to be sent to Nikon repair. Nobody

believed me because of the mechanical shutter, but it truly jammed. Other than fiddling

with the shutter speed and trying the mehcanical shutter speeds, I think that a repair is in

order. I hope I'm wrong, but I have a feeling you8 are experiencing the same problem.

 

Good luck!

[johan_greenhorn]

I second the dead batteries version. When first set of batteries died, I had the same panic because mirror was was in "weird position". I thought something broke. However, I soon figured out it worked in manual mode w/o batteries.

[ramon_pons1]

Thanks a lot for your help. The right answer was the batteries had died. I still cannot believe that both batteries died on the same day! The cameras were bought on different years!

 

I probably should have noticed that the light reading was not working properly but given that I use aperture priotity I was not that focused on the light. I was convinced it was something related to the vibration on the truck.

 

The most bizarre thing is that the cameras work without batteries but they don't work at all when the exhausted batteries are in the camera.

 

Well I missed some nice photos but I'm really happy because I still have 6 weeks with both cameras. Thanks again.

 

If only I would have had internet access...

[ShunCheung]

Ramon, I am glad there is a happy ending. Again, please try your best to keep your cameras clean and free of dust. I know that is difficult in game parks in Africa. Enjoy your trip.