Shutterbug Strasse

Posted by mhardy6647 (A) on June 09, 2009 at 16:51:42

My son has a Nikon FM body he bought used last year from KEH and a brand-new (as of last week) 85 mm f1.8 AF lens. The aforementioned Nikon lens (carefully chosen by him for compatibility with his FM and his D40 DSLR) works perfectly with the D40 but appears to have a weird intermittent compatibility issue with the FM. Given that the lens is brand new and the camera used, he's in a quandary: is the new lens somehow defective OR does the camera body have an issue OR is it some fundamental (albeit unexpected) compatibility glitch?

He e-mailed Nikon's service support. Here's his question to them (and their response); I'd be interested in any comments, suggestions, or thoughts any Nikon-gurus here might have!

Question:
Customer (...) 06/09/2009 03:58 PM

I have owned a Nikon FM for about a year and had no issues with it
using a variety of lenses. I recently bought a new 85mm f/1.8 AF lens
because I wanted a short telephoto to use with film. As far as I know
this lens should be compatible, but when I try to use it on the FM the
camera has some odd issues. Approximately every other time I advance
the film either the shutter releases as I release the advance lever
(without ever pressing the shutter release), or the camera locks up
(mirror up, shutter open, aperture stopped down) until I fiddle with
the shutter speed dial. The FM still operates fine without a lens or
with a different lens. Do you have any idea what is causing this?

As I said, the lens is brand new, I bought it maybe a week ago...

Thank you...

Nikon response:

...Not sure why your Nikon FM and with the 85mm f/1.8 AF lens is having
this difficulty. The lens is compatible for use with the camera. The
lens should not have any relationship with the shutter and advance
mechanism. If the problem persists you may want to have it inspected
by a service facility...


He got the lens at a bricks & mortar store here in MA, but he is in GA for two months on a summer internship. I figure in the worst case he can take it back to the store when he comes back in August, but it would be great to have some inkling of what is going on and whether the camera or the lens might actually have something wrong with it.

You can read a little more about this glitch (and see some of his photos!) at his photoblog (link below).

I am a proud father (and a bad photographer) so I'll also link to a few of his photos as part of this thread! Thanks very much for your consideration!
___






all the best,
mrh

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