Re: [Leica] 35 goggled - long and on and off topic -

[Ken Iisaka <kiisaka@ms.com>]

N. B. Watson wrote:

> I'll have to stand by my original statement.  Nikon *USA* state
> emphatically that parts are no longer available for F or F2.  Independent
> repair facilities can not obtain parts for them from Nikon, either.

Yes, the above statement is indeed true for Nikon USA.

> Rumour is, at the cut-off date, Nikon destroy their remaining parts
> supply.

This was due to the ISO 9001 (?) certification.

>  The only reason F's and F2's are "repairable" is because they
> are fairly un-complicated to begin with, there are hundreds of thousands
> of ratty-looking bodies out there selling cheap enough to be stripped
> down for parts, and a certain supply of parts were stockpiled by repair
> shops a while back, just as I'm sure they're doing now for Nikons (and
> Canons, I might add) approaching the cut-off mark.

The Nikon factory in Tokyo does not replace broken parts with a used part.
Where replacement parts are not available, they either refuse to service it,
or make you sign a waiver.  As of a couple of weeks ago, they took in an F
and a Nippon Kogaku Nikkor-H 50mm 1:2 lens for an overhaul with a smile.
They will not, however, service the viewfinder.  They will not even service
the eyelevel viewfinder as they are out of the leatherette strip.  However,
if you bring in the replacement leatherette, they will gladly work on it.
Also, years ago, you could bring two bodies and ask them to rebuild into one
body, but I'm not sure if they still do this.

If you have any rangefinder Nikon, or an F or F2 that was refused by Nikon
USA for servicing, consider sending it yourself to Nikon in Tokyo.  As I
wrote in a previous mail, they do have a number of replacement parts even for
the rangefinder stuff, and they have even reran a production run of certain
critical components such as the rangefinder prism so that they can be
serviced.  I even heard that they overhauled a model I for someone.  A friend
has an S3 with a brand-new prism.

Another virtue of the rangefinder Nikons and F is that many parts are common
among them.  I have seen an S2 with a titanium shutter leaf from F, installed
by Nikon. Also, I've seen an S3 with plastic-covered rewind and self-timer
levers from the late F.