Metering needle stuck on Nikon FM3A

[agoglanian]

Hey guys / gals,

I bought an FM3A earlier this year, shot maybe a dozen rolls through it, enjoyed it, but ultimately didn't "love" the camera so I turned around and sold it for what I paid. It had minor brassing on the edges but was otherwise a fully functional and perfectly working camera.

I packed it safe and tight and shipped it off to its new owner when he received it he said it didn't work. Naturally I was perplexed because it was working perfectly when I shipped it off.

Suffice it to say I had to refund him and the camera is now back in my possession. What's wrong is that the metering needle is stuck at the top in the "A" section. The blue bar for the manual shutter speed selection moves normally and it's obvious the camera is still responding to light (based on pointing it at differently lit scenes and listening to the sound of the automatic shutter speed.

My question is: Is it a simple fix to try and do myself? I'm reluctant to have it fully serviced as that's a lot of additional cost for a camera I didn't intend to keep. (I don't mind paying for repairs on the cameras I keep / use regularly).

I know it's worth fixing because the FM3A is a sweet camera, it just wasn't the right one for me.

Any tips/thoughts?

 

[jonmanjiro]

The needle *could* be stuck, possibly to a bit of foam. IIRC you can access that needle by removing the focus screen. You could try removing the focus screen and carefully nudging the needle with a toothpick or something. Its simple enough to do, but be careful as its easy to damage parts in there if you slip up.

 

[agoglanian]

I'll give that a try! I'll be careful

 

[maitani]

I remember the FM3a has some kind of emergency mode, the camera functions but the lightmeter at some point doesnt with weak batterys. try a brand new set of batteries i m pretty sure it will work as new, good luck