bart_pagor Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 Hello all, I've just bought a used (mint) F4 and have made a disappointing discovery: When a manual focus lens is set to minimum aperture, I notice that the F4 is having trouble letting the lens diaphragm stop all the way down. When I fire a shot at say 1/2 sec. using a standard 50mm lens, the diaphragm stops to about f16 then continues to slowly close before reaching f22. Sometimes it doesn't close all the way down at all. It's almost as if the aperture blades were sticky, or there wasn't enough tension to move them. Before you all say "IT'S A FAULTY LENS YOU FOOL!" I've tried EVERY one of my Nikkors with the F4. The problem persists. I had a look at the F4's diaphragm release lever (on the left side of the lens mount inside the body): It only travels half way down when I fire the shutter, but when I press the aperture preview, it moves all the way down as expected. My old F3 has none of these problems. It's mechanism stops down all the lenses perfectly and seems to have much more tension. Has anyone come across a similar problem? Any comments much appreciated. Bart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan_merrigan1 Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 When I bought my used F4 the diaphram release lever was bent and not contacting the pin on most of my lenses. The fix was a simple twist with a pair of pliers. Perhaps yours is bent slightly and rubbing against the side. Try moving the lever by itself and see if you feel any drag. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bart_pagor Posted August 21, 2003 Author Share Posted August 21, 2003 Hi Alan, Do you mean twisting the lever on the lens? They all seem fine and free-moving to me. Bart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_seaman Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 Bart, I had this *exact* problem with the used F4 that I purchased. You can see this happening by pulling the lens and then setting a shutter speed to 1/2 second or longer, release the shutter and see if you can push down gently on the apperature lever. If it moves down at all, you will need a fairly major service to get to the spring that pulls the arm down. Mine was under warrenty and was sent to Nikon for a repair and a cla. Good luck, Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bart_pagor Posted August 21, 2003 Author Share Posted August 21, 2003 Thanks Jim, It seems that's the problem. It's also apparent when I put the lens back on the camera, release the shutter on T-setting and then with the shutter open, press the aperture preview button. I see the blades close down further to their original position triggered by the shutter. Incidentally, has your F4 performed reliably since the problem was fixed? Bart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_seaman Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 Bart, Yup, it sounds like your F4 has the same issue. "Incidentally, has your F4 performed reliably since the problem was fixed? " Yes, it hasn't missed a beat. I personally prefer it to my F100 for full manual work. If you send it in to one of the Nikon service centers, they will do a thorough cla on the camera and update any interal parts that have been superceded. I think the bill on mine was under $300 but I'm not sure if that was my local shop's "special" rate or not and didn't persue it since they paid for the job anyway. One other thing if it gets serviced by Nikon, they will then warrenty their work for 6 months! The work includes all the cla related bits as well. Mine functioned as new when I got it back. Good luck, Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary_loo Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 I had this same exact problem with my F4. Nikon in Torrace CA fixed it by replacing a spring and the lever mechanism. It ended up costing me $275, apparently because the procedure involves a fair amount of work to dismantle the camera. Works like a charm to this day. I too prefer the F4 over the F100 for macro work and in all honesty, I almost prefer the F4 over the F100 if it weren't for the Matrix metering of the F100 (which is darn good by the way). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vgoklani Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Strangely enough, mine has the same problem too! But when I spoke to a tech (in NYC) about this, he said it was a design flaw, and a lot of F4(s) has this problem..........I think we should write a letter to Nikon and threaten a lawsuit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron_ng Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Yes, my F4 had the same problem. Nikon fixed it for AU$280. He also said that it was common on F4s and happens on both well used and slightly used cameras. According to my repair invoice, it was a malfunction on the Aperture Control Unit. Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan_merrigan1 Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Well I just checked mine and it has the same problem with the lever not coming down the whole way. It doesn't seem to be a problem though. The lens I checked it with has been giving me correctly exposed slides. Perhaps it's one of those "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" kind of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph_mcdonald Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 I had a similar problem with my F4s. When I was overseas, all of the flash photos were grossly under exposed. However, my photos without flash were perfectly exposed. My F100 worked fine. When I took it in for a $285 service and repair, the repaired a contact in the DP-20 and replaced the aperture lever. Maybe the aperture lever wasn't the problem. They may have replaced it to head off a problem. There does seem to be a pattern here though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nic_olas Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 Reviving a long time quiet thread, facing a similar issue - dof / stop down button very squeaky / raspy when pressed. Aperture arm moves smooth half way, hits a hard stop, makes the wheeze noise and then pushes down. I intended to shoot with this old glass, maybe not at this point! Is oiling or cleaning an option without full dissasembly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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