Film came out black: Little lever is culprit

A few months ago I received a little automatic point-and-shoot camera
from FreeCycleSeattle (a YahooGroup where folks give away stuff they no
longer need).


To my delight, the camera worked perfectly. But I was unable to find a
manual for it. It's a Nikon L35AF.

I was able to figure out the function of all the camera controls except
one: on the face of the camera, with the camera pointed toward you,
there's a little black lever in the upper left corner. Immediately to
the left of the lever is a little red light that flashes each time I
take a picture. The lever is shaped something like a railroad semafore
signal and rotates 45 degrees, so that the "semaphore" arm can be in
either a vertical position or angled 45° to the left.

Do any of you know what this little lever is supposed to be for?

The reason I'm asking is that I've just learned the hard way that when
that lever is in the 45° position, the shutter doesn't open when you
press the shutter release. The film advances so it sounds like the
camera is working ok. But the film does not get exposed.

I just got a roll of film processed and it was completely black. So I
started playing around with the camera, with the back open, and
pressing the shutter release while pointing it at bright window. Sure
enough, when the lever is vertical, the shutter opens. But when it is
in the 45° position, the shutter doesn't open.

So now that I've learned a painful lesson and lost a summer afternoon's
photos at the lake building sandcastles; I'm curious: What in the heck
is that little lever for? Why would there be a control that disables
the shutter?

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"

 

A few months ago I received a little automatic point-and-shoot camera
from FreeCycleSeattle (a YahooGroup where folks give away stuff they no
longer need).


To my delight, the camera worked perfectly. But I was unable to find a
manual for it. It's a Nikon L35AF.

I was able to figure out the function of all the camera controls except
one: on the face of the camera, with the camera pointed toward you,
there's a little black lever in the upper left corner.
*******************************************************************
Clueless: That sounds like the self timer lever. If so the way it is
suppose to work is that you move it to it's position and then click the
shutter. About ten seconds later it will trip the shutter. This allows you
to get in the picture. If that is not what it is, I have no idea. Ric in
Wisc.

 

The only other thing it may be for is to let you change rolls of film in the
middle of a roll by winding the film back into it's canister almost all the
way....Then, when you want to reload that canister back into your camera,
you would be able to advance the film back to it's proper place without
taking any double exposures by putting that little lever in the,
"disable-the-shutter" position.
But I like the timer theory better......

 

A few months ago I received a little automatic point-and-shoot camera
from FreeCycleSeattle (a YahooGroup where folks give away stuff they no
longer need).


To my delight, the camera worked perfectly. But I was unable to find a
manual for it. It's a Nikon L35AF.

I was able to figure out the function of all the camera controls except
one: on the face of the camera, with the camera pointed toward you,
there's a little black lever in the upper left corner. Immediately to
the left of the lever is a little red light that flashes each time I
take a picture. The lever is shaped something like a railroad semafore
signal and rotates 45 degrees, so that the "semaphore" arm can be in
either a vertical position or angled 45° to the left.

Do any of you know what this little lever is supposed to be for?

The reason I'm asking is that I've just learned the hard way that when
that lever is in the 45° position, the shutter doesn't open when you
press the shutter release. The film advances so it sounds like the
camera is working ok. But the film does not get exposed.

I just got a roll of film processed and it was completely black. So I
started playing around with the camera, with the back open, and
pressing the shutter release while pointing it at bright window. Sure
enough, when the lever is vertical, the shutter opens. But when it is
in the 45° position, the shutter doesn't open.

So now that I've learned a painful lesson and lost a summer afternoon's
photos at the lake building sandcastles; I'm curious: What in the heck
is that little lever for? Why would there be a control that disables
the shutter?

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
From what I read, it has a "self-timer", and a
"backlight" button. If the backlight is a button, then the timer will prolly
be a lever. Push the button; see what happens. Backlite is supposed to be +2
stops and timer is supposed to be 10 secs. Who knows? Bob Hickey

 

From what I read, it has a "self-timer", and a

Yeah.....Have you tried pushing in on the lever and then turning it while it
is still pushed in? - Perhaps it has some kind of double action......

 

The reply I posted yesterday never showed up in this thread, so I'll
try again.

The backlight compensation control is also a lever, or at least a
lever-like button, that protrudes from the right side of the lens
housing (with the camera pointed toward you). It has a spring that
returns it to it's original position when you remove your finger.

The lever that is disabling the shutter on my camera is in the upper
left corner of the camera face, and does resemble a typical time
release lever in its shape.

Here's a link to a photo. The lever and the camera face are both
black, so if you don't know what you are looking for, you may not be
able to pick it out. Look for the red light cover (LED?) in the upper
left corner. Immediately to the right of that little red light you'll
see a white highlight. That's the pivot of the lever, and the lever is
in the vertical position, a little bit more to the right and above that
highlight.

If this camera is supposed to have a self timer, then my guess is that
that little lever was at one time the control for it. But I guess it
no longer works, and now acts a shutter disabling control. I think
I'll just tape it in the "safe" position. Then, if I ever need to
change film in the middle of a roll, I can try using it in it's new
role as a shutter disabler.

Oh yeah, I did try pushing in on it, but it doesn't have any give in
that direction.

Thanks to all of you for your help.

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"

 

the lever is the self timer. when flipped to nearly horizontal, and the
shutter is depressed, the led should come on and you have about 10
seconds to get in front of the lens and smile. when it starts to blink
you have 2 seconds to shutter firing. the other lever by the lens is a
two stop backlight aid to help the subject not be underexposed when
strong subject backlighting is present. this was Nikon's first AF
compact and has a stellar lens and damn fine flash system, plus it
takes real, screw in filters and since it is ttl there is no correction
factor nonsense. see www.kenrockwell.com for his review. it was a
hallmark camera in its day and still a good pocket film cam, IMHO. Jim
M