So why did I decide to take on this personal project of converting this pdf into HTML and CSS? I decided in Summer 2023 that I finally wanted a good quality 35mm underwater camera. I don't live by the coast really (Austin, TX so it's a several hour drive to get to the closest beach) however, there lots of springs and lakes and rivers in the area. I like to photograph the people who I enjoy spending time with and realized I was missing chances to take photos when we were in the water.
I already knew of the Nikonos cameras and so already had a strong leaning toward getting one of them. I read up on the different models and decided upon the Nikonos III because I prefer mechanical cameras over ones that have electronics (seems like less to go wrong to me and often easier to fix and to source spares for). I also liked that it was the last mechanical version of the Nikonos which means lots of mechanical issues (like the problematic film advance) had been discovered and adressed by changes in the design of the camera.
I then bought a Nikonos III with the standard 35mm f2.5 Nikkor lens. I started firing the trigger and advancing the camera only to realize that the frame counter was very inconsistent. I returned the camera and got a refund. I now realized I needed to read up on the Nikonos III some more to see if this was a common issue and how folks (including Nikon) had dealt with it. In this search for more information I keep coming across references to Bob Warkentin and his shop Southern Nikonos Service Center which led to me finding the PDF version of these articles (as well as ones about the Nikonos IV-A and V). These articles as well as the PDF of the Nikonos Repair Manual helped me to understand that four different versions of the Nikonos were manufactured from 1975 to 1979. These four types have two categories, early (types 1 and 2) and late (types 3 and 4). The late type examples have an improved counter assembly which seems less likely to fail. Here is a little on this from Bob.
A few more things you should know about this "little" counter assembly. You may remember from previous Nikonos III articles that there are 4 distinct varieties of Nikonos III cameras. During these variations, Nikon used 2 totally different types of counter assemblies, and they are not interchangeable! Style #1 was used for nearly 75% of production; Style #2 for the remainder.
Then I came across more info about these issues in the Nikonos Repair Manual Technical Information articles at the end of the document. All of this had me thinking that Nikon had realized that the frame counter had issues and that they had been adresssed in the late type examples. I then read more and learned that the late type serial numbers (engraved on the accessory shoe) likely start with 317 and 318, the frame counter also has a different apperance. The early type has a white dot beside the numbers that rotates around when advancing, the late type has a white triangle instead. The late type also has a red area before the number zero which is missing in the early type. For examples of the different counters see Nikonos III (first term) as compared toNikonos III(Late). These pages also have info about how to find an instruction manual that matches your Nikonos III camera.
So I finally felt informed enough to know what to look for and went and bought a late type Nikonos III. I am happy to say it is working just fine. This experience made me realize that a lot of valuable information about these cameras was not easy to access or searchable (PDF's to search engines just appear to be pictures, they can't search the text inside the PDF). This is why I converted the PDF to HTML and added some internal references as well as exterrnal references to the Nikonos III Repair Manual.
Note that in the Nikonos Repair Manual there are Technical Information articles at the end of the document. This is not obvious when looking at the Nikonos Repair Manual table of contents, it would appear that these articles were periodically issued (see that each has a date) and sent to repair/service shops. I am thinking this is the reason they are not listed in the table of contents. The earliest one is from October 24, 1977 and the latest is from May 11, 1978. I do not know if any more very published after this. I have only found this one version of the document.