Question on Nikon MD-12 Operation

[ben_johnson10]

I received a MD-12 motor drive recently to use with my FM2 and FE2 cameras and have a question

about proper operation. Reading through the MD-12 user manual I couldn't find any info on this:

since the MD-12 exposes the film, advances the film, then recocks the shutter so it is ready to use

for the next shot, would it be bad to shoot a frame (if, for example, it was in the single-frame mode),

turn the MD-12 off, then just store the camera (say, overnight or for a week)?

 

I would think that doing this would leave the shutter spring in tension (at least for the FM2; does the

FE2 use a spring to actuate the shutter, other than the M250 setting?) and the spring would stretch

and lose firing power.

 

If this is indeed bad for the shutter actuating spring, would the proper MD-12 shutdown procedure

be to turn the MD-12 off, then fire the shutter using the camera's shutter button?

 

Likewise whe starting up the camera again, in order not to waste a frame, use the double-exposure

lever, then turn on the MD-12, then the film doesn't advance, but the shutter is cocked for use?

 

Anyone have any thoughts on this or run across this problem before?

[leicaglow]

It's a Nikon for goodness sake!<g> Ben, the FM / FE series are tough little buggers. I wouldn't worry about it. I've got several with MD12s attached and they've almost always been stored with their shutters cocked. They've worked flawlessly for 20 years.

[lex_jenkins]

Ditto what Michael said. It's nothing to worry about.

[samoksner]

My FE has had an MD-11 on for years, i never take it of simply because of the increased ergonomics, my exposures are still spot on and i'm still cranking away. Really, don't worry about it!

[steve_levine]

I have left Fm2n's with MD units attached for years on end without any troubles.

 

 

Although not a camera story: Springs are pretty tough things, and by definition are "resilient". In 1942 when my father was drafted into WW II service in the US Army Air Corps. He hid and forgot, a .45 Colt auto pistol in his mothers attic in an old locked cabinet. And here it sat for 17 years with it's hammer "cocked & locked".

 

 

The hammer and magazine springs were under constant tension all this time. In 1959, when the gun was discovered, my uncle took the gun outside and fired off the entire magazine without a hitch.So much for spring fatigue or metal failure. BTW, the gun still fires with the original springs in it from it's 1939 manufacturing.

[john_cox7]

Ben, I try to carry out the procedures you have set out above with regard to not leaving the camera shutter cocked, but there are many times when I have forgotten, especially when there is still film in the camera. So far, I have not had any problems with any of the FM's (2), FM2, FM2N's (2) and FM2T and the MD-12's that get attached to them as the occasion requires.

[jim_francis]

If you are nervous about leaving the camera sitting for a while with the shutter cocked, you can simply take that last picture with the MD-12 turned off, and then just don't (manually) cock the shutter.

[todd peach seattle, washi]

I'll join the chorus of folks who never had troubles with FM/FE shutter springs, constantly leaving them cocked on motor drives through a lifetime of shooting.

 

Having said that, I did have an F3 that was about a half stop slow on shutter speeds above 250. My repair person said that a "high miles" F3 shutter was prone to that problem due to most of them being run on motor drives and thus stored perpetually cocked. The F3 is a completely different shutter design than the FM/FE. I didn't bother to have that F3 fixed, as it was pretty much my 'gym camera' and never saw speeds of 500 and up.

[ben_johnson10]

To all that responded to my concerns, thanks!

 

I guess from the many responses posted, the FM/FE is one tough series of

cameras...Nikon did a good job of engineering these cameras! A product that was done

right...one can't say that about many products these days. That is why in this era of

DSLRs, I really have a tough time giving up on my FM2n and FE2.

 

I'm hoping that when I do switch over to whatever Nikon DSLR (Nikon equivalent of the

Canon 5D?) that the design is as competent as the FM/FE/FM2/FE2 series has been

and continues to be!

[graham_line]

What I value most about the FM/FE series is not having to think much about the camera at all.