A vgc Nikon FE2 just blew its shutter, no spares available....thanks Nikon

[JDMvW]

Thank you Gus. Nice to hear from you again.

 

As for the FE2, as many of the participants here can testify from personal experience, old machinery gets old and creaky in the joints.

 

Except, of course, for the Nikon F 😉

[glen_h]

The Nikon F might last forever, but many viewfinders don't.

[gwhitegeog]

Yes, the fun of running older cameras. I can't beat Gus's collection but I own about 10x F-era Nikon bodies, F thru to F6. I have a 1969 F body, so 54 years old and still going strong. My technician in Lisbon refused to service it recently as he said it didn't need it (unlike its FTn finder meter which he is rebuilding). FE / FE2s / FM and FM2s bodies abound at fair prices. The FA is a bit more expensive and the FM3a more so. If I have a cosmetically and mechanically good body but the shutter fails, I buy another body with a working shutter to cannibalise. I don't buy separate shutter units - if they have been removed from a body, more chance of damage. I buy a body, so I can keep other bits as spares too and get my technician to remove the shutter unit. The shutter s/h on its own can be almost as much to buy as as a complete camera. I have three F4s bodies. One doesn't work due to excessive battery leakage before I bought it, but I have two mint working models. The damaged body's shutter works and is otherwise is okay. I have an FM2 and an FE2 'rough' bodies to keep as future spare against shutter failures in my working cameras. The Canon T-90 I have was made by servicing a mint (but hardly used) body that had been stored in its purchase box for 30 years with a seized shutter, with a donor shutter from a working body. Canon 35mm bodies 1975-2000 are much more likely to have shutter failures than Nikons, they generally were not as well made, especially the A-series and T-90. Though the F1 and F1n were very robust. My 1973 and 1981 bodies respectively are still going strong. On the whole, mechanical shutters hold up better and are less spares-dependent to keep in use than electronic (though the F4 - F6 were superb). My 1974 Nikon F2 still has perfect shutter speeds (measured technically, not just my judgement) and there is little else to go wrong. Just had a Nikkor 50mm f1.4 and 24mm f2.8 pre-AI converted to AI and they work a dream on the F2. Of course, big advantage of Canon FD lenses is that they all work with all bodies, with no compromises or limitations and they all have proper click half stops on the apertures. They were optically as good as Nikon and very well made (and all had bayonet lenses hoods) but in my experience, the Nikon bodies of that era were superior and more robust, exception being Canon F1n. 

[gwhitegeog]

PS yes I agree about the Nikon F. I love that camera, it is beautiful to use and just goes on and on. The only thing I find limiting in real world use is the slow 1/1000 top shutter speed. But then I am dealing with a camera designed almost 70 years ago!

 

[dennisbrown]

On 6/10/2023 at 7:29 AM, smiffy_smiffy said:

Used Only for 5 yrs, no warning just completely seized f/p shutter...anybody else had this happen?

 

Don't have a dog in the fight, but I do know the owners of the shop.  This FE2 is trashed, but may be what you need for a replacement shutter.

[url]https://www.ebay.com/itm/275960700509?hash=item40408a1e5d:g:xCoAAOSwKflkusgR[/url]

 

[smiffy_smiffy]

V. many thanks but camera was passed on for spares many moons ago 🙁

[smiffy_smiffy]

in reply to gwhitegeog

On 7/15/2023 at 7:50 PM, gwhitegeog said:

Yes, the fun of running older cameras. I can't beat Gus's collection but I own about 10x F-era Nikon bodies, F thru to F6. I have a 1969 F body, so 54 years old and still going strong. My technician in Lisbon refused to service it recently as he said it didn't need it (unlike its FTn finder meter which he is rebuilding). FE / FE2s / FM and FM2s bodies abound at fair prices. The FA is a bit more expensive and the FM3a more so. If I have a cosmetically and mechanically good body but the shutter fails, I buy another body with a working shutter to cannibalise. I don't buy separate shutter units - if they have been removed from a body, more chance of damage. I buy a body, so I can keep other bits as spares too and get my technician to remove the shutter unit. The shutter s/h on its own can be almost as much to buy as as a complete camera. I have three F4s bodies. One doesn't work due to excessive battery leakage before I bought it, but I have two mint working models. The damaged body's shutter works and is otherwise is okay. I have an FM2 and an FE2 'rough' bodies to keep as future spare against shutter failures in my working cameras. The Canon T-90 I have was made by servicing a mint (but hardly used) body that had been stored in its purchase box for 30 years with a seized shutter, with a donor shutter from a working body. Canon 35mm bodies 1975-2000 are much more likely to have shutter failures than Nikons, they generally were not as well made, especially the A-series and T-90. Though the F1 and F1n were very robust. My 1973 and 1981 bodies respectively are still going strong. On the whole, mechanical shutters hold up better and are less spares-dependent to keep in use than electronic (though the F4 - F6 were superb). My 1974 Nikon F2 still has perfect shutter speeds (measured technically, not just my judgement) and there is little else to go wrong. Just had a Nikkor 50mm f1.4 and 24mm f2.8 pre-AI converted to AI and they work a dream on the F2. Of course, big advantage of Canon FD lenses is that they all work with all bodies, with no compromises or limitations and they all have proper click half stops on the apertures. They were optically as good as Nikon and very well made (and all had bayonet lenses hoods) but in my experience, the Nikon bodies of that era were superior and more robust, exception being Canon F1n. 

 

[smiffy_smiffy]

In reply to gwhitegeog, many thanks for your very interesting posts, most informative and clearly laid out 😌