Why can I never mount a lens to a Nikkormat successfully?

[Tim Murphy]

Dear Board,

I have no problem removing a lens, but putting one back on is a challenge for me.

I know that the ring with the aperture pin must be moved to the far right as you view the camera from the front. I know you must set the aperture on the lens you want to mount to f5.6.

I do that. The lens engages the pin and settles in the mount. From the front I turn the lens to the left and the bayonet locks securely.

Now the fun begins. I know you need to set the lens maximum aperture so that it indicates such on the ring with the pin. Most times it does but sometimes it does not. Common wisdom says cycle to the minimum aperture and then back to the maximum aperture until the lens registers.

When I turn a non-A-1 lens like the 50mm f2.0 that I own to the minimum aperture it seems to go f18 and lock the entire mechanism up tighter than a frogs a-hole, and they are waterproof!

I'm getting quite skilled at removing the front plate on top of the prism and resetting everything but I have some questions? As you view my picture the cog on the far left has dropped 2 positions. The cog that runs across the right 2/3 rd's of lens also drops, and is the real culprit for the jam.

Do the spindly little springs wear out over time? They certainly don't look very robust, but I own 3 Nikkormats and none of the springs have broken. I've carefully dosed all pivot points with RONSOL and carefully cleaned up with cotton swabs.

There must be something I am doing wrong. or something I could do to prevent this issue?

Can anyone help a brother out?

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg, PA 🙂

Nikkormat (1) by Tim Murphy, on Flickr

 

[madNbad]

Always set the non-Ai lens to f5.6 before attempting to mount. Then do the Nikon minimum maximum dance.

 

[madNbad]

The other step is tripping the indicator pin and making sure it’s at the 5.6 maximum mark on the camera before mounting the lens. Maybe some wing nuts for the nameplate.

 

[Tim Murphy]

This may be the answer!

This may be the answer!

The other step is tripping the indicator pin and making sure it’s at the 5.6 maximum mark on the camera before mounting the lens. Maybe some wing nuts for the nameplate.

Dear madNBad,

I'll have to try this fix the next time I have a failure! I'll report back if it works, maybe even tonight because I have a jammed FT2 Nikkormat laying around here somewhere.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg, PA 🙂

 

[Pál_K]

The procedure you describe works for all Nikkormats *except* the FT, which requires an initial step described below.

Whether you have an FT or later Nikkormat, it still shouldn't jam up like that. I suspect there's a problem with the linkage in the body.

 

[Tim Murphy]

The procedure you describe works for all Nikkormats *except* the FT, which requires an initial step described below.

Whether you have an FT or later Nikkormat, it still shouldn't jam up like that. I suspect there's a problem with the linkage in the body.

Dear Pal,

I'm leaning to a linkage problem too. But I have the same problem with an FT2? The camera pictured is a 4400000 s/n Nikkormat FTN. I guess I'll just have to pay more attention to making sure the aperture is set on the ring with the pin to the maximum lens aperture before I start stopping it down?

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg, PA 🙂

 

[madNbad]

Tim, I’ve owned a lot of Nikkormats and the one constant is to assure the maximum setting on the body is 5.6 matches the 5.6 on the lens. From the earliest FT to the end of the FT2, insuring both the lens and the body match minimum aperture is the only way both the meter is properly calibrated and the lens is mounted correctly. The problem with mounting the lens is what drove the move to Auto Indexing.

 

[Pál_K]

This shows how I've mounted a 28/3.5 Nikkor lens on my Nikkormat FT2.

First photo shows 5.6 on the lens and shows the body's indexing ring to the far right (shutter speed was set at 1 second, so that lever obscures things a bit).

Second photo shows how lens just slips into place. I have not locked the lens into place yet.

Third photo was made after locking lens into place, then twisting aperture ring both ways. Notice the little black line on the scale which is just beyond 2.8 -- this indicates the aperture was correctly noted as f/3.5 (I moved the shutter speed to 1/125 so that its lever doesn't obscure things). This check of the scale always needs to be performed to confirm the body recognizes the maximum aperture of the lens.

 

[CMur12]

I attended the Nikon School in 1972, when the F2 had just been introduced and the F was still on offer.

I remember the instructors referring to the "mini-maxi quick twist" when talking about mounting a Nikon (Nikkor) lens.

- Murray