very expensive mistake - using old nikon

[jdear]

Greetings d70'ers,
My friend recently had a wedding. I thought I would use it as an opportunity to take some photos and hopefully learn in the process... I did just that.

My primary camera was going to be my old nikon FA (I have a dimage a2 but basically it sucks in bright light). I managed to ressurect an old nikon FM-301 i was given, which had a bad battery leak. I managed to clean it up best as possible, and it all seemed to be working so i took it with me.

Id never used the FM-301 before (first mistake) and it seemed to be operating fine. (i was experimenting with velvia, astia, porta, nps, and xp2 film) It was only until i got my photos back (i got double prints and put them on CD) when i was sorely disappointed.

All the photos taken with the 301 were heavily underexposed, so much so, that 2 rolls the film lab returned to me as nothing on them (which was good i didnt have to pay for their processing) although upon closer examination there was a very weak image on them. I was really looking fwd to these images, they looked soo good through the viewfinder.

Of the 12 odd rolls i took, around 7 of them were ruined, the good ones were on the FA.

paying around $270 for processing to have 5 rolls turn out, was very discouraging. and the $200+ on film.

So people please save yourself the heart-break if your using any equipment you havent used or tried and tested before, test test and test them before any big events! I Was lucky enough not to be the primary photographer. otherwise Id be feeling very sorry indeed for myself.

I figure the heavy underexposing was something to do with the corrosion which might have still left dirty contacts between the batteries. This could have effected the voltage going to the meter, or to the DX film sensor. (it seemed to be shooting 160 iso film at 500s at 20 aperture on a 15mm lens in heavily overcast weather) I should have trusted my instincts that it was metering at a very stupid range. Ill blame my lack of experience.

Ive decided after all this to try and sell my dimage A2, and get a d70 with AF lens, and save myself from any such mistakes in the future. (ill still use the FA)

But as of today, my 301 has made a very short trip to the bin. (i was tempted to thoroughly pound it against something very large and hard)

I hope someone learns from my mistake.
JD

[gstark]

So people please save yourself the heart-break if your using any equipment you havent used or tried and tested before, test test and test them before any big events! I Was lucky enough not to be the primary photographer. otherwise Id be feeling very sorry indeed for myself.

I figure the heavy underexposing was something to do with the corrosion which might have still left dirty contacts between the batteries. This could have effected the voltage going to the meter, or to the DX film sensor. (it seemed to be shooting 160 iso film at 500s at 20 aperture on a 15mm lens in heavily overcast weather) I should have trusted my instincts that it was metering at a very stupid range. Ill blame my lack of experience.

Ive decided after all this to try and sell my dimage A2, and get a d70 with AF lens, and save myself from any such mistakes in the future. (ill still use the FA)

But as of today, my 301 has made a very short trip to the bin. (i was tempted to thoroughly pound it against something very large and hard)

I hope someone learns from my mistake.
JD

Sad story ... but don't throw it out.

How were you shooting with the 301? Manual or auto, and if auto, which mode? Getting back to some basics, was the ISO setting correct?

IIRc, the 301 is a braindeaded - er, reduced feature set - 801?

[jdear]

the FM-301 was introduced in 1985. the FM-801 in 1988. Ive found http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/photography.htm to be a fantastic nikon resource page on all nikon SLR's.

The 301 was the first nikon without a film advance lever, had an autofocus system, and was capable of shooting a 2.5fps. And also incorporating a DX film recognition system.

adversely the 801 was nikon's second gen AF slr. It had a max shutter speed of 1/8000s, nikons 5 segment matrix metering system, 3.2fps built in mdrive and a top flash sync of 1/250s.

The FA (1983 - when i was 1) was the first nikon to incorporate the first generation of matrix metering - called multi-pattern metering back then. It has full mechanical backup speeds of M250 and B.

I was shooting in aperture priority (my old 15mm lens needs to fire at least a fstop of 8 otherwise blurring is evident around the sides of the image - unsure of this technical term). From what i remember, I only set it on DX (decide itself) setting once, the rest i dialed in using the manual iso dial. I was using older AIS lenses, so i was shooting on MF.

The battery leak was fairly expansive. The battery sits on the bottom of the camera, and upon closer inspection, it had leaker right into the bottom of the camera, where you could see the electronics and the shutter unit.

Lesson 2 - keep batteries out of the camera if you are not going to use it for a long time!

JD

[gstark]

I'm well familiar with both the FA and 801, having owned very early examples of each. The FA actually made way for the 801 in my stable, and it's still a very good and servicable camera.

Leigh was around 5 when I bought the 801 - which ties in with your chronology (he turns 21 next month) but was using it within 24 hours of my purchasing it. And within days of that purchase, my AIS lenses were traded in on new AF replacements!