Reply and questions:
Camera lockup with electronic flash:
A warning I'm sure most Nikon users observe is when you reseat a flash make sure the
flash is DISCHARGED before you
remount it, you might fry some of the electronics. I was using a Vivitar 283 with an
F3 many years ago when I took
the flash off the camera then for some reason remounted it on the F3, although the
AS-4 coupler is not the
steadiest of connections with a 283 attached. . Something must have arced inside the
camera because from then on
it refused to work on any shutter speed execpt the manual 90th of a second shutter
speed. The Nikon repair station
had to replace a copper circuit "board" that ran across the top of the camera and thak
goodness I'd charged it so
the charge card company took care of the repairs. The service tech warned me always
make sure the flash is in a
discharged state before mounting it. I don't know what the capacitor voltage is now
in an SB 28 or SB 26 or even a
283, but it can be consierable to a circuit board with loks of ICs. That's why they
have you ground yourself when
working on a computer or other circuit board because static electriciy can fry a
'board.
I noticed several posting concerning battery drain. I have an N70QD and enjoy having
the date back feature if for
some legal reason I need to have the date recorded on a photograph. My QD back, which
has been replaced by Nikon
and my dealer, seems to eat those lithium CR 2025s button batteries like candy. I'm
now on my 5th battery since
Christmas. Finally got some took some test rolls with the QD back and got a mixed
bag of date imprints on severam
photographs. I shot the test rolls using the 28-80D and 70-300D Nikkor zooms and both
Kodak Gold ISO 200 and ISO
400 film. Some of the exposures had the date imprinted fine, some had the date
severely overexposed, and some were
blurred like the datre was in "motion" and taken at a slow shutter speed. All test
shots were made in bright
daylight. Since the date is "stationary" is can't figure out why it would appear it
was "in motion". Anyone on the
list have any suggestions?
Third question: I already have a Nikkor micro 55mm 2.8 AIS and am considering
purchasing an AF macro either/or
the 60mm AF or the 105 2.8D AF. Anyone have any recommendations? As a MF lens the 55
is great and I use it or a 35
f2 as my "normal" lenses. Also has anyone used the Nikkor 20mm D lens? Any
distortion? I've got a 24mm 2.8 MF AI
lens for my F3 so I don't like to "duplicate" everything in both AF and MF modes.
Thanks for reading all of this.
Tom Anderson
Bedford, Texas.
