Repairing the winder on my Nikon F3

Last summer I sent my Nikon F3 to International Camera Technicians for repair and CLA. The winder was good and stuck. Jim Holman did speedy, good work, and shortly the F3 was back in my hands. In the box was a USB drive with the ICT logo on it. I thought it was odd to throw a promotional item like that into the box, but I kept it because you never know when you’ll need a USB drive.

Not long ago John Smith wrote about sending his Nikon FM to ICT for an overhaul. He mentioned that John included a USB drive with photos of the camera torn down, and then showed several of the images.

“Is that why Jim included that thumb drive?” I wondered. So I fished it out of the drawer and plugged it into my computer. Bam, there they were, nine photos of my winder under repair!

I thought you’d enjoy seeing them. Here’s a slideshow.

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Comments

17 responses to “Repairing the winder on my Nikon F3”

  1. bodegabayf2 Avatar

    Those of us who enjoy using old film cameras are lucky to have techs like Jim around to keep cameras like your F3 in good health.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Indeed. He did terrific work bringing my F3 back from the brink.

  2. Andy Umbo Avatar
    Andy Umbo

    Love, love LOVE this idea!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      It’s fun to see inside!

  3. DougD Avatar
    DougD

    Wow, such ability to tear this down and repair. I must admit that my attempts to repair camera innards were not successful ☹️

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I’ve only done a little repair of my gear. I’m not patient enough for the exacting work.

  4. sonny rosenberg Avatar

    What a great bonus, to document his process like that!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Sover Wong does it too, when he repairs your Nikon F2. You get a CD.

      https://blog.jimgrey.net/2020/12/07/deep-inside-my-nikon-f2a/

      1. tbm3fan Avatar
        tbm3fan

        That he does as I got mine last year. He also sends along how the speeds did before the CLA and then how close he was able to get with the indicated speed after CLA in a chart. He overhauled both the black F2 and the DP-11 which needed new cells.

        1. Jim Grey Avatar

          I loved the shutter-speed charts he sent with mine. So cool.

  5. fishyfisharcade Avatar

    I always find it amazing the amount of mechanical and electronic complexity that goes into something that looks relatively basic from the outside.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      IKR? Scary what all is in there. Packed in tight.

    2. Kodachromeguy Avatar

      I agree. I’m awed by the engineering, machining, and precise manufacturing that went into these mid- to late-20th century cameras. They were consumer products, but so refined. Amazing.

  6. billeccles Avatar

    Oh my goodness! That’s GREAT to see! Thanks for sharing, and kudos to Jim for the foresight to document what he did. (It’s also a great sales tool as it will discourage any other F3-wannabe-technician-at-home from competing with him!)

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      No doubt! Seeing inside these cameras definitely scares me off ever trying to repair one.

  7. Steve Mitchell Avatar

    Great images – my camera tech sometimes shares on his facebook page what he is doing, it is enough to put me off trying it myself!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      For sure. So much going on. So much opportunity to screw it up.

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