Ugh! My Nikon FE advance lever is stuck

An old camera store trick, but use at your own risk:

Take off the lens. Rewind and take out the film.

Pick up the body and firmly smack down the base plate into the palm of your other hand a few times. Sometimes this will free it up. It has worked for me on both an FM2n and a Bessa. Good luck.
 
I had an Nikon FE for 28 years - never a problem.
Then my 2nd FM2n had this exact problem...

It's still stuck and none of usual treatments worked,
I recently got the name of a technician here in Dublin - will contact him someday when our tight Covid restrictions lift, as I'd like to continue with FM2n
 
Nitroplait said:
Maybe fix it from under the button plate?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0ljbTWPl3M
Click to expand...

Is it really an FE in this video or is it an FE2? My FE looks nothing like it. Not a very good picture, but I think you can see the difference.

U73354I1615716375.SEQ.0.jpg
 
Take a second look, the brass coloured plate in my FE is different and the bronze coloured arm next to it is missing from my FE. It's clearly different.
 
Kai-san said:
Take a second look, the brass coloured plate in my FE is different and the bronze coloured arm next to it is missing from my FE. It's clearly different.
Click to expand...

I don't know what you expect me to say or see. The two examples I have given in this thread are FEs Tt is clearly visible when you see the top of the cameras.
And that is how mine looks.
I have no idea why yours would look different.
 
Ok, so then we have established that Nikon made FEs with two different film winding mechanisms. Mine is serial no. 3220545.
 
Nitroplait said:
I have no idea why yours would look different.
Click to expand...
I confirm that some FE bodies will look like the one in this (now very famous) YouTube video while some FE bodies would look like Kai-san's FE. Which look like some FM cameras actually. Yes, Nikon changed their design at some point, which is not surprising : the FE production run lasted for seven years.

The FE (and FM) which look like Kai-san's camera cannot be fixed like the FE in the video. A friend of mine now has his FE stuck as well, same problem as kshapero's one and same design as Kai-san's one : none of the Internet tricks we could find out could solve the problem. The friend's FE had been sent to a repairman once already, for the same problem ; now the friend gives up and he uses another camera.
 
That figures; mine is locked for the third time. I managed to fix it twice, but this time I'm lost. It seems to happen if I point the lens downward when firing the shutter. I originally bought the FE because it can use both AI and pre AI lenses. But now I've got a Nikkormat, an F, F3, F4 and FM3A, so I see no point in replacing the FE with another.
 
I got mine unstuck today with this suggestion from rodeo joe at Photonet:
George, have you tried pushing the auxiliary
shutter release? It's the little silver button recessed
into the camera base. It's there to be used by a
motor drive, but can be depressed with a biro point
or similar.

Also make sure the self timer isn't partly cocked.
 
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