Nikon N80 Film Door Replacement/Repair

You may have read my review last year on the Nikon N80. For being a cheap, “consumer” camera, it offers a lot for your money, especially in today’s world of insane (and rising) prices for more well known and loved 35mm Nikon bodies like the F100, F4, F5, etc.

Unfortunately, what it doesn’t offer is robust durability. The “Achilles Heel” of the N80 is the film door latches. Not unlike the F100, the latches on the N80 are plastic - and 20-something year-old tiny, thin latches can be prone to break. A broken latch is a recipe for light leaks across either the top or bottom of your frames, depending on which of the 2 latches is broken. Said latches are a molded-in part of the film door, so that means that the ENTIRE door needs to be replaced unless you want to junk the camera. Or you can be “that guy” that settles for taping the back shut every time you load a new roll of film.

I’m not that guy. Cue the “Lowered Expectations” theme music from that old Mad TV skit.

Now before I get into how to replace, let me give you some advice on HOW NOT TO BREAK the latches. I’ve found that the best way to preserve the latches is to hold the door latch release button in the “release” position as you shut the film door, then once shut, let the button go back into the lock position. This prevents strain on the latches introduced when they have to overcome the lock mechanism when closing the back. This is not unlike what one has to do when putting a back onto a Hasselblad V-series camera – hold the lock latch open, install, then release the latch. Same principle (except for the fact the Hasselblad latches are metal, but I digress).

OK, on to how to fix!

First – a list of what you need:

Replacement N80 film door – these are no longer available as a new part, so you will need to source a good, used one. Or a dead N80 with a good film door. The most recent one I took a door from had a dead shutter but otherwise looked mint.
PH00 Phillips screwdriver – preferably magnetic since the screws are tiny and hard to handle
Small dental pick or tweezers
Somewhere to put your small parts so they don’t get lost or knocked off your workstation. I like to use a clear-ish 35mm plastic film canister with a lid to keep it all together.

There are several write-ups out there on how to replace the door, but for the most part they have you totally dis-assemble the camera. That’s not needed. Follow the procedure below, and it should take you less than 30 minutes to repair.

Make certain the camera ON/OFF switch is turned to the “OFF” position.
Remove the battery.
Open the film door.
Remove the 3 screws inside the film door that hold the film roller unit (B436) and remove the assembly.
With a small dental pick or tweezers, slide open the latch mechanism on the ribbon that connects to the rear door controls. See inset in diagram.
Pull the ribbon and its connector away from the plug-in.
The ribbon runs under a small piece of foam (sponge #441) in the corner near the pivot point of the door – the foam will need to be pulled back to allow it to be free of the door.
Remove the screw (#611) that holds the door pivot – it’s located on the underside of the camera and is very long – be certain to use this same screw when putting back together.
Remove the film door. It will pivot up and out from the bottom.
Replacement is the opposite order of removal!

There, that’s it. You’re done!

I’ve repaired 2 of these now in this manner, and they work good as new once the repair is completed. Of course, the best option is to be careful and not break the latches in the first place, but as time goes on the plastic only gets more brittle.

Something to watch out for – stripped screw heads. One of my donor bodies had stripped Phillips screw heads from some knucklehead using an incorrect-sized or cheap screwdriver on it in the past. I ended up hacking up the plastic on the underside of the body so that I could get a pair of pliers on the head of the screw to remove it. I only wanted the door anyway, but this was a pain that added quite a bit of time.

The last dead N80 I bought to use the door only cost me $5 on ebay, so if you can get a cheap donor camera and you enjoy tinkering, its well worth the effort to repair, as good to excellent examples of the camera body are going for $80 to $150 now depending on features, condition, and accessories.

As supply dwindles over time these cameras will become more and more expensive, and so will dead ones for parts. At some point the cost of dead ones may get too expensive to make the repair practical – and that’s when the duct tape repairs may start to take over. ACK!

But for now, I think its best to try to save something from going to the landfill if possible. Anything we can do to re-use, reduce, or recycle electronic waste will help minimize more strain on the environment.

Note this repair procedure also works for the F80, which is the same camera, just intended for sale outside North America.

Feel free to hit me with any questions that you may have, and happy repairing!

Jeremy

ADDITIONAL INFO:

Nikon N80/F80 repair manual can be found here if you want to dive even deeper into camera repair.