Nikon FE metering problems - reads, but no reaction when f stop changed?

1.--Either buy brand new batteries or a battery test meter. For the cost of either, it is worth knowing that your camera either works or does not. If you are going to use vintage cameras, it's good to have a battery tester/multi-meter on hand to get the exact voltage of batteries. This way, if something is simply wrong with the battery check light on the camera but the battery is 100%, you'll know this. The FE can take two A76/LR44 1.5 V batteries or one 3 volt lithium battery.

2.--Is the AI tab (the tab that rotates around the front of the lens mount on the camera) moving with the change of aperture on the lens? The FE has to mechanically couple with whatever lens is mounted in order to tell the light meter what the aperture is set to. The tab can sometimes get stuck and gummed up over time or could flat out be broken from someone trying to mount a pre-AI lens without flipping the tab up.

3.--Since you changed the shutter speed too, number 2 probably isn't the cause of the non-responsive meter. More likely than not you simply are using a bad battery. Why not spend the couple bucks on a brand new set of A76/LR44 batteries? Once you do this, you'll know if the electronics in the FE are bad. If when you install fresh batteries, the meter still does not work, clean the battery contacts with a pencil eraser to improve the connection. If that still does not work, send the FE to KEH.com for repair. It could cost $150 for the repair and a Clean Lube and Adjust but this would make it run like a new camera. Or the electronics could be bad and this is fairly non-repairable.

At any rate, you need to start with fresh batteries and/or determining if the ones you're using are putting out 1.5 volts each or 3 volts total. Not sure why you would bother asking this question without first being sure the batteries are good.

The FE's a great camera. Good luck getting it together. You will probably want to replace the light seals too if the meter works.

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RE:

Nikon FE metering problems - reads, but no reaction when f stop changed?

I just put a "new" battery in a Nikon FE that I recently acquired. The battery might not be 100% because the battery test light does not come on but the meter DOES move when the light level is changed. However, when I change the aperture on every lens I have put on it so far the needle...

As stated by others, this is a fix aperture lens, so changing f-stops is mechanically impossible. At 650mm, it's an f/8 lens and at 1300mm, it's f/16. Your only ways of changing your exposure would be by changing the shutter speed and/or the ISO. And, I need to correct one thing you said in your question above. Quote: "With the original Nikon lenses I can easily change the F-stop by clicking the "+/- " button and scrolling left or right. " No, no, no! That is how you set exposure compensation. To change the aperture on Nikon and other lenses that better couple with your D3200, you choose A (Aperture priority) more, and then rotate the Command Dial. The aperture you select will be displayed in the info screen and the camera will make shutter speed and/or ISO settings to match, giving you the suggested "perfect" exposure.

Might you be using it in aperture priority mode? In that case no change of the needle would be expected as the camera compensates for the change in aperture by adjusting the shutter speed.