Nikon F4 owners..have I wasted my money

excalibur2

excalibur2

My F4's Broken...
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Name
Brian
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Yes
Bought this F4 on the bay for £75 inc postage...erm but it has a fault, well on emails to the seller he said (not encouragingly) that everything else works ok but couldn't remember whether switching off and on between shots was secs or minutes h'mm. Well I don't use continuous mode and don't mind switching off and off between shots.
So is the flashing light because the camera is not set up properly or I'll just have to put up with the fault?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192705799396?ul_noapp=true&autorefresh=true
 
I think it flashes when there is a film advance problem, he may not have actually tried it with a roll of film. If is bu**ered its probably still worth what you paid as parts. As its a 4 rather than a 4S the battery grip alone is worth a few bob.
 
RaglanSurf said:
I think it flashes when there is a film advance problem, he may not have actually tried it with a roll of film. If is bu**ered its probably still worth what you paid as parts. As its a 4 rather than a 4S the battery grip alone is worth a few bob.
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Well the picture shows a film in the camera, could knackered batteries cause this problem?
 
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excalibur2 said:
Well the picture shows a film in the camera, could knackered batteries cause this problem?
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Yes it could Brian, I've just done a little Doogling and when the F4 tests the batteries it doesn't test them under load so it is possible there is enough power to show on the test but in actual use it will fail after the first shot.

When it does it arrive take out the film, manually set the film speed, take off the lens (if fitted), set the camera to manual, set the shutter to 250 or more and the drive to Ch and fire off the shutter, it should rattle through with no problem.
 
Yeah, the error light will flash if set to DX with no film in. Try changing the film speed dial to a non dx setting if it isn't already and see if that helps ?

Otherwise it could be a number of other things - film not winding properly, or the camera not being able to set an auto aperture (make sure lens is set to f22, or try shooting in A or M).

If it is borked and you don't want to repair, I'll buy the MB-20 grip off you if you're getting rid.
 
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RaglanSurf said:
Yes it could Brian, I've just done a little Doogling and when the F4 tests the batteries it doesn't test them under load so it is possible there is enough power to show on the test but in actual use it will fail after the first shot.

When it does it arrive take out the film, manually set the film speed, take off the lens (if fitted), set the camera to manual, set the shutter to 250 or more and the drive to Ch and fire off the shutter, it should rattle through with no problem.
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I was surprised Butkus didn't do a manual but this site did:-
http://cdn-10.nikon-cdn.com/pdf/manuals/archive/F4-F4S.pdf
 
I had an F4s and it was seriously greedy on battery power.
As soon as the batteries started to weaken, the camera would opertae incorectly including not always firing the shutter,, film advance not working and often the mirror would lock up.

Be sure to try some new good batteries in it ( not some cheapo £2 for a dozen pack off the market!
 
Asha said:
I had an F4s and it was seriously greedy on battery power.
As soon as the batteries started to weaken, the camera would opertae incorectly including not always firing the shutter,, film advance not working and often the mirror would lock up.

Be sure to try some new good batteries in it ( not some cheapo £2 for a dozen pack off the market!
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Well ATM only have el cheapo Kodak batteries 12 for a £1 at Poundland o_O..do you know if the F4 doesn't mind very good rechargeable batteries (Panasonic eneloop) ?
 
excalibur2 said:
Well ATM only have el cheapo Kodak batteries 12 for a £1 at Poundland o_O..do you know if the F4 doesn't mind very good rechargeable batteries (Panasonic eneloop) ?
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Eneloops will be better in a high drain situation than cheap alkaline batteries
 
excalibur2 said:
Well ATM only have el cheapo Kodak batteries 12 for a £1 at Poundland o_O..do you know if the F4 doesn't mind very good rechargeable batteries (Panasonic eneloop) ?
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I duno about rechargeables Bri,
I got fed up of betteries dying easily, even duracells were far from brilliant, that I ended up using Energiser Lithium AA batteries ( contrary to what some people say about using liths in the F4.
They did the job very well.
Thy don't come cheap BUT they do the job correctly and take away the frustration of replacing other AAs every two minutes.
Out of all the cameras that I've ever had, the F4 was the greediest, after that it's the A590 canon p&s ( a digi thingy lol) which i still have and use with lithiums!
 
Asha said:
I duno about rechargeables Bri,
I got fed up of betteries dying easily, even duracells were far from brilliant, that I ended up using Energiser Lithium AA batteries ( contrary to what some people say about using liths in the F4.
They did the job very well.
Thy don't come cheap BUT they do the job correctly and take away the frustration of replacing other AAs every two minutes.
Out of all the cameras that I've ever had, the F4 was the greediest, after that it's the A590 canon p&s ( a digi thingy lol) which i still have and use with lithiums!
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...and yet the F90x is good on batteries, the F4 must be doing something extra :rolleyes:
 
Try connecting it up to your car battery** …..You'll get continual shooting frames / second speed that even your grand children won't be able to out run:p

** I hold no reponsibilty if your car refuses to start the following morning:D
 
RaglanSurf said:
It takes a lot of battery power to look that awesome.
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Awesome looks? Am I thinking of the same Nikon F4? If so, with the battery grip fitted I think it looks like someone using an Etch-a-Sketch has tried to draw a Canon T90! :LOL:
 
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I just took the trouble to look up synonyms for "awesome" and came up with

alarming
astonishing
dreadful
fearsome
formidable
frightening
horrible
horrifying
intimidating
overwhelming
shocking
terrible
terrifying

Take your pick :D
 
The F4 is the best looking of all the single digit F series, sure it doesn’t have the charm of the F2 or the modern dingly dangly bits of the F5 or F6 but for functionality and aesthetics it’s top of the Nikon F tree for me.
 
StephenM said:
I just took the trouble to look up synonyms for "awesome" and came up with

alarming
astonishing
dreadful
fearsome
formidable
frightening
horrible
horrifying
intimidating
overwhelming
shocking
terrible
terrifying

Take your pick :D
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I may have to pick a different adjective :D
 
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Mr Badger said:
And it looks like it fell out and hit every branch on the way down! ;)
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I think you’ll find that that particular description in the Nikon world is set aside solely for the F3.
 
Mr Badger said:
Joking aside, I hope it works OK when it arrives Brian. (y)
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Well at a last resort maybe Miles knows about Nikon electronics and can fix it....if he charges £50 then the all in total cost would be £130 inc postage and is still not a unreasonable price for a fully working F4 at today's prices.
 
excalibur2 said:
Well at a last resort maybe Miles knows about Nikon electronics and can fix it....if he charges £50 then the all in total cost would be £130 inc postage and is still not a unreasonable price for a fully working F4 at today's prices.
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Just watched Kai's (Kaiman Wong) review of the f4 on YouTube (would have posted a link but, as usual, he says some rude words in it so best not!) , and I think he said it's made from over 1,700 individual parts, so it might be a bit more than £50 to dismantle and fix, but hopefully it won't need it and will be fine once it's got new batteries and a fresh film in it. :)

RaglanSurf said:
I think you’ll find that that particular description in the Nikon world is set aside solely for the F3.
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Sorry to poke fun at Nikon SLRs from that era, I know they produced some excellent and pioneering kit, but compared with Canon SLRs like the EOS 1 I don't think they've dated as well appearance wise. It's all those knobs and switches all over the place and the more angular and squared off lines.

In use, I doubt you could go far wrong with a fully working top-end 35mm SLR from either Nikon or Canon, but looks-wise, I think Canon were ahead of the game in styling and have aged better appearance wise. I suppose it's all in the eye of the beholder though. (y)
 
Mr Badger said:
Just watched Kai's (Kaiman Wong) review of the f4 on YouTube (would have posted a link but, as usual, he says some rude words in it so best not!) , and I think he said it's made from over 1,700 individual parts, so it might be a bit more than £50 to dismantle and fix, but hopefully it won't need it and will be fine once it's got new batteries and a fresh film in it.
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:eek: some time ago I did read up on the F4 and the early ones starting with 21 had some weakness and the modified ones are 25..erm well mine starts with 21 :(
 
excalibur2 said:
:eek: some time ago I did read up on the F4 and the early ones starting with 21 had some weakness and the modified ones are 25..erm well mine starts with 21 :(
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I wouldn't worry about it yet, Brian. If it was that weak it's probably conked already and been sorted out. If it's not conked already it'll probably go on forever! Have faith. (y)
 
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Mr Badger said:
I wouldn't worry about it yet, Brian. If it was that weak it's probably conked already and been sorted out. If it's not conked already it'll probably go on forever! Have faith. (y)
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I'm also going to gamble on something else and all will be revealed if I win.
 
excalibur2 said:
I'm also going to gamble on something else and all will be revealed if I win.
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If you've got a couple of Canon EF lenses in stock, probably the best bang for buck at the moment is the EOS 30 SLR. It has a 35 zone evaluate metering system (which works really well), 7 point eye controlled focus (which also works very well), it's fairly compact and light and has to be the quietist 35mm auto-wind SLR I've used. As long as you treat the film door latch gently when opening and closing it then it should serve you well for years to come. As you'll probably remember, I also have an EOS-3, which is a fantastic camera spec-wise, results-wise and build-quality wise and I wouldn't want to part with it, but I find the EOS 30 does most of what that will do, and is noticably smaller and lighter. Anyway, thought you might be interested in that if you're looking to extend or rationalise your camera collection. :)
 
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Mr Badger said:
If you've got a couple of Canon EF lenses in stock, probably the best bang for buck at the moment is the EOS 30 SLR. It has a 35 zone evaluate metering system (which works really well), 7 point eye controlled focus (which also works very well), it's fairly compact and light and has to be the quietist 35mm auto-wind SLR I've used. As long as you treat the film door latch gently when opening and closing it then it should serve you well for years to come. As you'll probably remember, I also have an EOS-3, which is a fantastic camera spec-wise and I wouldn't want to part with it, but I find the EOS 30 does most of what that will do, and is a lot smaller and lighter. Anyway, thought you might be interested in that if you're looking to extend or rationalise your camera collection. :)
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I'm all right for the Canon AF side with EOS 300 and 300v with a couple of kit zooms but unfortunately all my good lenses are FD\FDn. With the F4 I can use all my Nikon lenses and that leads me to a question: - Can the F4 take a Tamron adaptall mount?
 
excalibur2 said:
I'm all right for the Canon AF side with EOS 300 and 300v with a couple of kit zooms but unfortunately all my good lenses are FD\FDn. With the F4 I can use all my Nikon lenses and that leads me to a question: - Can the F4 take a Tamron adaptall mount?
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Funnily enough, I've also got a Canon EOS 300x and much prefer my Nikon F801 and F4s. The 300x doesn't have a proper focus lock, and the viewfinder is tiny in comparison. I don't really notice a difference in the metering also despite the Canon having a more zones in it's matrix meter.
Mind you, the 300x was a consumer camera, I'm sure the 30, 3 and 1 are better matches for the Nikons.

I'm sure the adaptall mount will work, but it'll be a question of how well it'll work ? Will you get matrix metering like AI/AIS lenses or be limited to spot and centre weighted ?
 
RaglanSurf said:
The F4 is the best looking of all the single digit F series, sure it doesn’t have the charm of the F2 or the modern dingly dangly bits of the F5 or F6 but for functionality and aesthetics it’s top of the Nikon F tree for me.
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It signalled the end of Nikon's dominance in the professional market - lots left Nikon when the F4 was introduced :-(


I am the exact opposite Nick - I think the F3 is the most stunning/functional camera design ever produced by Nikon :) (Closely followed by the FE2/FM3)

@Mr Badger - whilst Nikon used a famous Italian sports car designer for the F3, Canon saved money and used Noel Edmonds Mr Blobby as inspiration! The F3 was Lamborghini in design, the canon was the rounded Ford Sierra :exit:

(The A1 was quite handsome though!)
 
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Fraser Euan White said:
The F3 was Lamborghini in design, the canon was the rounded Ford Sierra :exit: (The A1 was quite handsome though!)
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And looks wise I think the F4 has aged about as well as a Countach 5000 QV! Whereas the EOS 1 has aged more gracefully, like a late 80s Porsche 911 Turbo. Look at the lines and functionality of the EOS 1, achieved using half a dozen sleek buttons, two dials and an LCD panel. In comparison, I think the F4 looks like someone covered it in glue and dropped it in the parts bin, there's knobs and switches stuck all over it! To see who was ahead of the game all you need to do is ask yourself which of the two designs do today's DSLRs most closely resemble? :whistle: ;)
 
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Mr Badger said:
And looks wise I think the F4 has aged about as well as a Countach 5000 QV! Whereas the EOS 1 has aged more gracefully, like a late 80s Porsche 911 Turbo. Look at the lines and functionality of the EOS 1, achieved using half a dozen sleek buttons, a dial and an LCD panel. In comparison, I think the F4 looks like someone covered it in glue and dropped it in the parts bin, there's knobs and switches stuck all over it! All you need to ask yourself is, which of the two designs do today's DSLRs most closely resemble? :whistle: ;)
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Well you could be right but if you were to get a Canon AF camera then you would have to buy another set of lenses for it. Anyway the main reason I even went AF is for shooting my fast moving grandchildren. o_O
 
excalibur2 said:
Well you could be right but if you were to get a Canon AF camera then you would have to buy another set of lenses for it. Anyway the main reason I even went AF is for shooting my fast moving grandchildren. o_O
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It's OK Brian, it's tradition for me to tease Fraser about Nikon, so don't take it to heart. ;) You're right about the lenses though; however, once Canon switched to their EOS system in 1987 it was pretty much future-proof, and I believe every Canon EOS SLR (be it film or the latest digital) will work fully (including metering and auto focus) with every Canon EF lens made (not counting the separate crop sensor EF-S lens range of course), including the latest image stabilised nano-motor ones, so in hindsight, perhaps it wasn't a bad decision to switch to a new lens mount system when they did, rather than being hamstrung by a compromise and having to make changes later?
 
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