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

[Dan Cardish <dcardish@microtec.net>]

Before I bought my first Leica, I contemplated buying a used Nikon
rangefinder camera (can't remember the model).  I telephoned Nikon Canada
to find out about having the camera checked out.  They told me (literally)
they wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole.  I eventually bought myself a
second hand M4-P (there, back on topic).   This was back in 1987.

About 2 years ago, I bought a Nikon F2 from a friend, mainly for
sentimental reasons.  Again, I called Nikon Canada, and I got essentially
the same response; "Why do I want to buy an old camera like that?".   They
allowed themselves to check the shutter speeds for me (no big deal), but
that was about it.  At a free camera Nikon camera clinic offered at a local
dealer, the technicion told me that even mundane things like the little
metal spring at the bottom of the battery compartment cannot be replaced.  

Dan C.

At 08:28 PM 05-10-98 EDT, you 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. 
>Rumour is, at the cut-off date, Nikon destroy their remaining parts
>supply.  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.
>
>Regards,
>Nigel
>
[snip]