Nikon F3 shutter release button

[james65]

Am a new user and couldn't find any info on this subject posted.
I inherited a Nikon F3 camera and can't get the shutter release button to activate (release the shutter).
I can release the shutter with the backup shutter release lever but would prefer the main release button
on the top of the camera. Does anyone know if there is an over ride to go from the top button to the front lever?
Would this be a repair item?
Old timer still stuck in the film age - do have the new digital cameras but not too thrilled with them.
Anyway thanks for reading and hopefully someone has an answer.
Thanks in advance
James65

 

[Derrel]

Does the camera have good batteries in the battery compartment, located on the bottom of the camera? I am going to 'assume' that it is simply out of juice. The backup shutter release, which is that small lever located concentrically with the DOF preview button, fires the shutter with MECHANICAL TIMING, as I recall, at the top X-synch speed of the F3, which is to say 1/80 second. Soooo...if the shutter actually FIRES with the mechanical, backup release, I am going to guess (I'm a longtime F3 owner, but NOT a repairman!) that the camera simply has dead batteries. A couple of new 1.5 volt A-76 (or equivalent) button cells might be all you need! Let's hope so, eh?

 

[compur]

What Derrel said ... plus: Did you turn the camera on? There is a power switch surrounding the shutter release. It's a little tab that needs to be rotated to the right to reveal the red dot.

 

[james65]

Thank-you Derrel, Compur,
The batteries were the problem, strange that I could not find a reference to the on/off switch with the shutter release button info in their manual?
The component part description gave me the on/off switch yet never found link to the shutter.
My F3, I was told was the mechanical model and not the electronic model of later manufacturing so I never really figured that the battery would control the shutter.
Thought it was for the metering only.

 

[compur]

You're welcome. All Nikon F3s have electronic shutters. The Nikon F & F2 have a mechanical shutters.