D70 Worn out?

My D70 stopped working about 8 weeks ago (its 6 months old). Took it

to the local camera store who had no clue. They sent it to Nikon. 8

weeks later (today) I got it back. Turns out they had to replace the

moving parts...at least those associated with the shutter/mirror

mechanism. Nikon said it simply wore out... I shot 7K pictures with

it. The camera store agreed thats about the life of the

shutter/mirror mechanism.

 

Question: Should I really expect to have my camera rebuilt every 7K

shots? Is this normal?

I would certainly hope not. I know my D2H should have a shutter rated to around 100K to 150K clicks, so I would expect at least 25-50K out of a D70. But you can check to see what it's rated for.

 

By the way, 8 weeks seems like a long time for service and I'm guessing it's because you had the camera store send your D70 in for you. I'm about to send in my D70, SB-000, and D2H for repairs. The advice I got was to contact Nikon first (email or phone) to discuss the problems and get service numbers before sending everything in. Then include a letter describing the problem along with a print out of the service number when you ship the camera directly to them following their protocol as described on their website. Then it's recommended that you be a greasy wheel and call them frequently to inquire about the status of the repair. This is going to be my approach; I'm hoping it will minimize the turn around time.

 

~ Ted

 

www.pbase.com/turnert

7,000 exposures doesn't seem like very many. Think of it: supposing you took 35 exposures per day, really a modest amount for someone who is an active photographer. In 200 days the camera would be kaput. Is my math correct?

 

This doesn't seem right. If these shutters were this short-lived we'd be hearing more tales like this one. I think something else is going on here.

Doug

Considering that digital photography encourages us to take more photos, it's reasonable to expect a reasonably long life from digital cameras, all things considered - price, amateur or "pro" body, etc.

 

I tend to side with Douglas: if this was a common problem with the D70 we'd have heard more complaints by now. But it would be disappointing to learn that what we believe to be a perfectly good camera could be worn out prematurely in normal use.

I experience with my D100 is very different. It has about 35K images on it now and is going strong.

 

It needed to go in for warranty work over a year ago (hot/stuck pixels). My camera store sent it in for me and it was turned-around in about 2.5 weeks.

The word on the street has always been that Nikon shutters on professional models are rated to 150,000 cycles and non-professional rated to 50,000 cycles. I'd be really surprised if a D70 only lasted 7,000 cycles.

They can't have it both ways. First, the "local camera store ... had no clue."

 

Fair enough. Likely they're not technicians. They why they sent the camera to Nikon.

 

Then, after Nikon repaired your camera, the camera store [same one, I gather] "agreed that's about the life of the shutter ..."

 

Now, if one of the Nikon techs regularly repairing the D70 were to say 7000 actuations represents the life expectancy of the shutter, *that* would be news.

 

Not good news, I might add.

Gee I hope not. Getting close to the 7K mark myself.

I'm with Patrick... I'm at just under 7k.

How do you measure the amount of shots (cycles?) taken on your camera? (mine's a Nikon D70). Thank you.

<p>Mine is close to 10K and no problem (knock on wood :-). I seem to recall it was rated

for 50K which should last me a couple of year...

<p>--ben

Same case as Benoit.

emm...If mine did die at 7K I wonder if that would be a good enough excuse to my wife to pick up a Dx2 when it hits the street?

 

I'm sure she'd faint from sticker shock though.

Olivier asked:

 

"How do you measure the amount of shots (cycles?) taken on your camera? (mine's a Nikon D70)."

 

The D70 encodes a shutter count into the EXIF data. Different EXIF viewers do or don't show this (I use 'exiftool', which does). I'm not certain, but I think this count is greater than zero on a brand-new camera, probably already including some factory test exposures.

 

Also, if you set your D70's "File No. Seq." setting appropriately (see page 159 of the manual), then a glance at the filename of your most recent photo will tell you the exposure count (modulo 10,000).

 

--Bill

If thats true, it was a great marketing secret becuse they wouldn't have sold (1) D70. I can't imagine 7,000 shots and its shot.How much was the fix? I'm sure that was pricey.With the digital cameras, you can take way more pictures in the same time it would have taken you to wear out a 35mm SLR camera.

7k would indeed be grim news. I do hope DSLR makers are not going to go the way of

their consumer electronics cousins and manufacture obsolescence into their digital

products, forcing us to upgrade every six or seven years. Am I being naﶥ?

Oops, the forum doesn't do i-umlaut. :)

 

Last word of the last post = naive.

The repair was free...extended warrantee (the only time I have ever bought one). It was only 6 mo old so I am not sure if I would have been charged or not anyway.

(Thanks, Bill)

i shot fashion week in new york this past week....well over 6000 pix and no problems....think you just got a bum cam is all....ive had my d100 over 2+ years now, shot 200k images easily....no problems....so no, its not normal...

That sounds more like it. And I don't know Grant personally, but my guess is he doesn't exactly baby the cameras. Am I right, Grant?

Anyone who believes 7K is the lifetime of a shutter on a D70 or any other SLR should be pummeled and their camera given to someone else.

<i>the local camera store who had no clue</i> + <i>camera store agreed thats about the life of the shutter/mirror mechanism</i> = time to find new store<p>

I do not know if you are very happy with the quality of their service but it sounds that it is time to look for a store where they do have a clue about photography/cameras. From experience I know it is not always that easy and probably you have to pay a price for that, but I think it is well worth it.

For reference, it most certainly is a field camera (you can look at my photos, all outdoor stuff), but the camera has never been droped, punted, or similarly abused.

 

I hope I'm not the intended pummeling victim....

Paul,

 

Would you believe a mechanic that said your cars engine had to be rebuilt every 7000 miles becuase "that's about the life of the engine" ?

 

:)