Several Nikons with locked up mirrors. Repair advice..

[John Koehrer]

The F2 does have a T setting & would have to have the collar around the shutter release rotated to unlock it.
Other possibilities are self-timer not run through or the timer itself needs lube.

[Ira Rush]

OK, so with the risk of sounding stupid... could the mirror lockup switch be stuck in the up position?

This would only apply to the F2, (the FE series did not have this feature) especially if it had been used with a motor drive at the highest shooting speed. With the MD-1, MD-2 etc., in order to shoot at the max rate, the mirror had to be locked up.

In addition, even if the body was never attached to a motor drive, I know in my own experience that with that lock up being a part of the depth of field lever, it could be tripped accidently to cause the mirror to swing up.

Love the F2, but in my humble opinion, putting the lock-up and depth of field lever in 1 switch was not a bright idea by Nikon!

[John Koehrer]

Crap! the collar I was referring to was on the F's.
Anyway, I guess it's possible for the linkage to be bound in some manner. Can the mirror be lowered manually? If not, the linkage is somehow jammed. could be bent or broken front standard, binding or stuck linkage. Typically these worked by lifting the mirror with a lever & on release, the mirror being spring loaded would drop.

[dpurdy]

With my old F Photomic I used to ocassionally have to take off the lens and with my finger move the mirror back down.

[Nicholas Lindan]

http://photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/005mF3

Google for <jammed nikon>

[RidingWaves]

The trick with the F where you use your finger shows that there is a tiny spring that goes off its post, inside the mirror box. This seems to happen with older F's from a jolt or drop, it the does not stick the mirror up every time just once in a while. Fixed a friend's F by doing it correctly and going into the mirror box by pulling off the front, sure enough, the spring was off its post. Ed Romney's Nikon FtN repair guide had that fix I think.

As with the FM and FE, taking the bottom plate off would be the first step. Often by jiggling the cams and levers you can trip it, once again a drop or jolt may have set the sequence off.

[fotoobscura]

I fixed three of my cameras (FE's and FE2) using the method described (opening the bottom and flipping a lever that was tripped in the wrong position). It worked fine. Cameras are fine now. So, fantastic.

On the other hand, the F2AS is a problematic beast. The meter appears fine but the film level won't advance. I tried removing the bottom but it doesn't remove as easily as the FE/FE2's. It looks like I need to remove the winder wheel on the bottom as it's in the way of the back cover coming off.

Does anyone know how to get to the bottom of the F2? Or, alternatively, anyone know where I can download a copy of the repair manual? (not the owners manual, already have that).

Thanks...Have three FE'2 that are back to perfect working order. The MD-12 probably broke all of them at one point or another so I'm shooting them without the motor drive from now on.