Erratic Nikon N70 "err" message (N70 Film Body)

I am frustrated and furious. But I don't know wether at me or at

Nikon. <p>I just finished a 750 mile week end tour of the back roads

of southeastern Spain hunting for castles' ruins (my hobby as some of

you might know). The days where very hot (around +40? C at midday)

but my car is well air conditioned. I started Friday afternoon and

shot a roll of Velvia without any problems. <p>On Saturday I was

about to finish a second roll -it was 14:00 hrs- when the camera

refused shooting. I got a flashing "err" message in both displays.

According to the camera's book this means "take it to a Nikon

specialist". Ominous message.<p>3 hours later that day, when I was

reaching my destination for the night I arrived at Villena -near

Alicante- which has a spectacular gothic castle. Just for a try I

took the camera out and it worked! I had tried earlier a couple of

times without any success. I shot some 15 pictures until it refused

going again (1 hour later perhaps)<p>Next morning it worked again.

But just for 2 hours and some 20 photos. That was the end of the week

end!<p>I thought it might have been the batteries. They were new and

i put, in any case, brand new ones. No avail. I thought about the

heat and I put the camera in the front seat well covered to shade it

from any direct sunlight. No avail either!<p<Any ideas of what this

can be or mean?

I tried with all my lenses (Nikkor 28-105 D; Nikkor 70-300 D; Cosins 19-35 and Nikkor 50 f1.8) All were correctly fitted and the camera worked with all of them and suddenly failed wit this message.

Hi,

 

I have an F70 (that is roughly the same camera sold in Europe). I enocuntered this problem whenever the camera complained about something not right. In programs P and S the camera does not like the aperture ring anywhere else then the orange number which is the biggest aperture number. It did it once because of the wrong way I did put the film in. It also did it when used whit SB50-DX when a zoom lens was on and set to more than 50mm which is the max reach of the flash. I also had the camera in repair once because it did the same thing - wrote an Err on the screen. Having said that it was not intermitent but happened and was there. The mirror sticked locked up between 2 frames. Since I found, when it happened again that all you need to do is touch the mirror from its lower part.

But that is out-of-scope regarding your problem. I would double check the aperture ring and lock it (there is a small switch on the lens so that an accidental turn of the aperture could be avoided) while on programs P and S or use A which gives you more control over the exposure anyway. Also would check the compatibilty of any accessoires, if used and check with your local Nikon service centre(the guys in the camera shops all gone to digital now). If the forementioned is no way the problem you are encountering, check with the service centre.

Thanks Peter. Your comment is very helpful. Actually, I always use the camera in M setting (I prefer to be in total control). <p>Also I should point out that my camera is not the N70 but the N80. Perhaps I made the mistake of writing N70 instead because I am already thinking in the D70 as alternative.... <p>But the alternative considered it's even more electronic!!

My N80 does this once in a while - or at least, it flashes the DX symbol and "eRR" at the same time. that means it can't read the DX coding on the film cartridge for some reason. Set it manually with the ISO setting on the main dial, and off you go.

 

Never figured out why mine does this sometimes. Contacts and canisters are always clean.

Hi Alberto,

 

this happened to me as well. the reason was that I haden't properly screwed in the lens when changing them. I un mounted the lens and mounted it again and it worked fine. Give it a go.

I have a N80 (USA) that had this problem when I was on a trip in the Eastern Sierra last autumn. It was my lightly used backup body. I was able to survive the trip by constantly turning the camera off and on. After the trip, I took the camera to Nikon Torrance for repair. The repairs were quick but cost over $200 since the camera was slightly more than a year old and out of warranty. A new N80 isn't that much more expensive. I'm still not real happy with Nikon since they should have repaired it at a more reasonable cost.

<b>Thank you Andy!</b><p>That's exactly what was happening and your solution is exactly what has worked! <p>An additional comment is the insuficient redaction of the manual. It's true that they identify the problem of the "err" and "DX" messages both flashing (I didn't pay much attention to the "DX" flashing...) but the manual says that the problem is that you loaded a film with no DX and I was using a Velvia with very much a DX! I discarded that problem as an alternative. Blame on me!

What you need to do is make sure the camera lens is locked in the autofocus setting. If the camera lens is not set in autofocus you cannot use autofocus settings. To do this you need to turn the lens to the highest f-stop and push the button on the lens down.

You are wrong, Wes and Andy was right. It had to do with the DX readings. When the camera cannot read the DX code on the film cartridge the err message appears and the camera won't work. Set the ISO manually and the problem is solved. As simple as that.

<p>I just got the Err code with a blinking film sign... it started after I rewound a roll and put a new roll in. it was bugging the crap out of me for about an hour, then i removed the new film, closed the cover (without film in the camera) and held down the film rewind button longer. That seemed to fix my problem.</p>