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Jirkain
Tinkerer
Username: Jirkain
Post Number: 10
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - 11:44 pm: | 
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Hi guys,
I recently acquired another FM2n. All looks good, everything works as it should.
I noticed just one weird thing when rotating speed dial button it's possible to turn it one more click past 1/4000 position. Is this by design? Anyone has FM2n with same behavior? To me it seems like they left there the X200 setting from original FM2
My FM2n is silver with serial number N845xxxx with aluminum shutter curtains.
Thanks! |
Jirkain
Tinkerer
Username: Jirkain
Post Number: 11
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 15, 2012 - 06:31 am: |
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Also I'm curious if your FM2n doesn't allow to turn shutter speed dial over the 1/4000. |
Brcamera
Tinkerer
Username: Brcamera
Post Number: 194
Registered: 08-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 15, 2012 - 11:37 am: |
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The shutter speed dial on the FM2n should stop at 1/4000. There is a quite solid part that prevents movement after 1/4000 on the shutter speed control assembly. If you can rotate the knob past 1/4000, you will see the X200 flash sync speed in the viewfinder which is a carryover from the original FM2. In all the hundreds of FM2n bodies that I have serviced, the original x200 marking is on the plastic film in the viewfinder, just not visible since the shutter speed knob is prevented from turning past 1/4000. In your case, perhaps the camera was an original FM2 and the speed indicator was replaced with an newer FM2n style-the internals would still allow the knob to go past 1/4000.
While your serial number is higher than the original FM2, I have replaced many top covers that were damaged from impact on original FM2 bodies and the new serial numbers were in the higher range such as yours...
Bill |
Jirkain
Tinkerer
Username: Jirkain
Post Number: 12
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 15, 2012 - 11:28 pm: |
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Bill, thanks for your post. Is there any chance it's FM2n with that "solid part that prevents movement" removed?
In case it's original FM2 body also the shutter unit must be replaced - it's aluminum one.
I know all the external differences of FM2 vs. FM2n. As you have seen quite a lot of them is there any visible difference in mechanics inside the camera? Other words: am I able to tell my camera is original FM2 or FM2n by simply opening the top or bottom cover?
Jiri |
Jirkain
Tinkerer
Username: Jirkain
Post Number: 13
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 16, 2012 - 03:01 am: |
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Note: today I found on some wiki following text "FM2n mirror box was redesigned to add a light trap that flipped up when the mirror flipped down."
Is this statement true? |
Brcamera
Tinkerer
Username: Brcamera
Post Number: 195
Registered: 08-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 16, 2012 - 09:36 am: |
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Jiri,
Yes, the information on the redesigned mirror box is correct, you can see the trap in the back of the mirror box on the bottom. But probably the easiest way to tell if you have a FM2n is to notice the mirror stop toward the front bottom of the mirror box- the FM2 does not have this part.
You could also check to see if the meter turns off when it goes past the 1/4000 mark as this is how the FM2 operated. In fact, that is one of the issues with the FM2 - the meter would turn off when put into X200 flash mode. Not good when you want to meter and use fill flash.
Here is a little know fact on the FM2- although the shutter dial is marked X200, 1/125 is marked in red on the shutter dial, and the Nikon instruction book tells you that 1/125 is the fastest flash sync speed, the camera will actually flash sync fine when used at 1/250!
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Jirkain
Tinkerer
Username: Jirkain
Post Number: 14
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 17, 2012 - 06:00 am: |
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Bill, thanks again, really helpfull!
The mirror box has mirror stop as on your picture as well as the light trap at the bottom. When I turn the speed dial to "unknown" position the lightmeter does not switch off. X200 mark appears in the viewfinder.
So it must be FM2n but it has some internal issue with the assembly which prevents X200 position on speed dial knob. |
Brcamera
Tinkerer
Username: Brcamera
Post Number: 197
Registered: 08-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 17, 2012 - 10:36 am: |
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While this issue probably won't cause any problems for you, if you are curious as to what is causing this, it should be pretty simple to diagnose at this point. Removing the small pin face screw on top of the shutter speed knob is all the disassembly needed. The photos of the shutter speed control knob below show the two different types of stops used on the Nikon FM2 models. If you notice in the FM2 photo, the brass stop (at around 6 o'clock)is at a different position than the one in the FM2n photo. Probably no problem with this stop as it is pretty sturdy, but most likely the rotater tab, made of plastic, may be worn on the part that makes contact with the brass stop.
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Jirkain
Tinkerer
Username: Jirkain
Post Number: 15
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 20, 2012 - 03:09 am: |
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It looks easy to fix. Probably I would not spend the effort on it as it is rather minor issue and - as you said - it won't cause me any problems. Thanks for help Bill!
Jiri |
