D70 Worn out?

[david_h._hartman]

Some photographers are wearing out DSLR(s) in a short period

of time but they should <u>not</u> fail after a small number of

cycles. If the cameras was not damaged as in a drop this is clearly

a defective camera.<br>

<br>

Is it under warranty? Its only six months old? Someone is

lying to you!

[art_kramer]

Not a good sign, just got this from nikon support after I asked the shutter life of a D70.

"We do not have a specification of shutter cycle life on the D70. However, the D70 is a very sucessful and well proven camera." well I feel better about the $1000 I spent. Canon here I come.

[john_tendahal]

D70 Worn Out - Could this be a case similar to D70 Won't Power Up?

Three buddies of mine and myself have exceeded at least 9,800 frames, not counting those that we deleted. I'd say 7K shots is not normal. However, three of our D70s are back at Nikon Malaysia and we have not received any feedback from them. You're fortunate you got your unit back after only 8 weeks. It's been 14 weeks since our first unit was shipped to Nikon for repair.

[martin.datzinger]

Hi!

 

I took 9.600 pics with my D70 since I bought it last christmas. Last friday l generated

around 3.000 pics during 5 hours of shooting horseriding, using my second hand 80

-200/2.8 ED-IF. Equipment performance turned out to be absolutely stunning, both in

terms of picture quality and reliability. AF measured, followed and predicted totally correct

at about 80% of all images, matrix metering almost never failed and worked perfectly

consistent and continuous mode allowed me to shoot some 10 pictures at 3.5/sec before

it filled up the buffer, having set fine JPEG! After all, my own framing skills turned out to

be a much more limiting factor when it comes to aspects I could control!

 

BUT:

 

I consider continuous mode absolutely necessary when shooting horses, because pictures

of horses at standstill are somewhat pointless and moving horses generally don't look like

much when, because a.) they only look good at some angles, b.) they only look good

during a bunch of very short moments during one step, largely depending on the pace and

c.) they only look good when they have proper genes, are in the right mood, trained well

and riden well during the shooting. So, even if you don't care about the way the rider looks

and you accept c.) as a horse and rider dependend variable, even if there is someone

standing beside you telling when to shoot because the angle is correct or when not to

shoot because the horse moves badly while you concentrate on framing and even if you

can rely on good lighting conditions and a more than proper equipment, you end up

throwing away at least 5 out of 6 pictures.

 

SO:

 

At an estimated lifespan of 50.000 shots, I need to trash the camera after some 15 more

of such days! Hurray!

[peter_ruggles]

<p>There are error messages almost unique to the D70. CHR being the most notorious because it shuts down the camera. That is fixable with some tips. Look up 'Nikon D70 error message CHR' for a hundred fixes, most of which work. It is usually a CF card issue, but not always. Sometimes the pins in the camera are dirty. Get a cleaning kit. Clean the CF card itself with a product from RadioShack. Lubricate the contacts with the proper electrolyte grease. The error message should go away. If not, remove and reinstall card. Several times if necessary. Examine the pins in the camera carefully. 50/50 have to engage or you get the CHR message.<br>

DO NOT TRASH A D70 WITH THIS ERROR MESSAGE. Repairs are detailed with pictures at 'Nikon D70 repair manual' and you can totally rebuild the camera if you have parts and your fingers work properly. Get a Phillips #00 first, and avoid capacitors.<br>

My problem is a D70 which will not power up; it is totally cherry, clean, undropped, undamaged, good battery (several), good CF card (several), cleaned contacts, etc. I'm getting the courage up to disassemble.</p>

<p>The D70 shutter and mechanicals should be good for 50,000 at a minimum. 100,000 would be usual. Because of the CF problem, if you can get a D90 for anywhere near the price, that would be the pick. It also has a bigger screen, 12+ MPx, and uses AN SD CARD :).</p>