I cant see out of my nikon fe?

Question

you know how on any basic camera,you look threw one side so you can see what your going to capture with your camera?

well i have had a nikon fe for about 2 1/2 months now,and all the sudden i look threw the eyeglass thing to take a picture and all i can see is blackness.

the lens cap is off and the lens is very clean with no dust or anything,what could be the reasoning for this?

Answer 1

Either:

1. the mirror is stuck in the up position (should be able to see this by removing the lens and looking into the mirrorbox)

2. the diaphragm actuation level is broken and the aperture is stuck on the smallest setting and the finder is so dark that you can't see anything

Answer 2

Well, to investigate your problem, I had to dig my old FE out of the cabinet.  

First of all, the FE did not have a mirror lockup lever.  Second, after removing my batteries, I did not see the mirror flip up.

It does sound like the mirror flipped up and the battery may have died in mid-cycle.

Answer 3

I'm pretty sure your mirror is stuck closed.  Take off the lens and look.

I don't know if this is true for your camera, but there are some older SLRs that would lock the mirror in place as a way to tell you that you need to replace the battery.