Nikon D70s shutter issue

[guillaume_salvo]

Hello,

 

 

I bougth a D70s camera in may 2005 (S/N 4029769). After one year of use (ca.

7000 shutter releases), the camera began to "hang up": The shutter is not open

but the mirror is all the way up and the only way to unlock the camera to click

the shutter release again: the mirror will then go up and down a couple of

time, no picture is written to the card. Sometimes it will only do this only on

the first shot, and sometimes almost every shot will hang.

 

 

I had the camera serviced by Nikon Germany in May 2006: they replaced the

shutter under warranty, and everything went fine....for 7000 more pictures.

Now, I have the same problem again, and almost every shot (4 out of 5) hangs. I

don't believe that shutter lifetime on D70s is as low as 7000 actuations / one

year, although in my experience, it has been.

 

 

If this issue on my D70s can't be sorted out / repaired, I am considering

buying a D80 or a D200, hoping that it will be more reliable.

 

 

 

So my questions:

 

1. Does anybody has some experience with this issue on D70s? Can it be sorted

out whithout servicing?

 

2. Is the D200 significantly more reliable than the D80?

 

 

P.S.: This issue is quite alike to the one already described by Jim King in a

previous post, however in my case it does not seem to be related to outside

temperature, and shutter replacement didn't really help:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00HiGy

[erik_loza]

I'm sure that some here have more mileage on their D70's. But, two years is a pretty decent lifespan for a consumer-grade DSLR. Just my 2-cents: I wouldn't have it serviced. Just buy a D200, or something. It's like PC's; most of us don't keep the same one past 2-3 years (and pay A LOT more for a laptop than a DSLR).

[frank_skomial]

Some D70 reported required shutter re-build only after 12000 pictures, while others go strong til about 60000. That could also be related if the camera is "tossed around", "knocked a lot" or whatever expression of misuse that could be... or just pure luck.

[elliot1]

I would contact Nikon service with the info you presented here. They may fix it again for you under warranty (worth a try).

[stephen_fassman]

My shutter block froze after a year & 1/2 of gentle use. Eric... my 1975 F2 Photomic, 1980

FE2, 1990 F4 still work as great as when new! Your "2 year lifespan for a product" is an

example of Bill Gates/ Sony/ (you fill in the name) brainwashing at its best. A $1000 camera

should not fail at all, unless you consider it OK for a product to be defective as

manufactured.

[erik_loza]

Price has nothing to do with it and D70's don't cost $1,000. Most of will voluntarily replace our DSLR's withing that period, regardless of whether or not they work well. Nikon knows what tech nerds we are and gives us the itch, so we scratch it. My F5, I will keep forever. My lenses, I am attached to. The D70 or D200 could die tomorrow and I'd just buy a new one. It's just another computer...

[pmarcus]

So, your film camera has soul and your digital camera is just a computer? I've owned a dozen or so of both and found they were really just machines. . .

 

I'm personally happiest when I'm working, using the machine for what it was intended: taking pictures. Personally, I hope I never have to develop film again. I just shot my first catalog with digital. It was a lot easier than with film.

 

As for durability, all my Nikon gear was great except the Coolpix 990, which was so unreliable that it visited Torrance several times over its four year life. Today I brought home a new D200; I'm hoping for the best. The image quality is astonishing, but I hope the shutter lasts a while.

[oskar_ojala]

I remember hearing failure rates around 50000 to 100000 shots for Nikon's pro-bodies' shutters. 7000 is really low, especially considering the price of the camera as new. The computer analogy doesn't work, laptops are engineered to be more "on the edge" and are designed for neat office environments. My cellphone from 1998 still works flawlessly and has undergone far more abuse than any normal camera would do (full of dust after going with me everywhere, several drops, extreme temperatures, always on etc.), so a realistic expectation for a D70 should in my opinion be 20000-50000 shutter releases. Try contacting Nikon.

[walterh]

I have used myself and seen other D70s well above 20 000 shutter cycles without any problem.

 

My personal experience with Nikon Germany was very positive. I would call them and talk to them nicely about your serious worries and see what happens. Nikon Germany also has a nifty WWW interface where you can monitor the progress of your repair. Turnaround time for my D70 repair BGLOD (free including shipping cost back) was 5 working days.

 

Good luck.

Walter

[pmarcus]

My camera store guys, Camera CO-OP in Houston, Texas, tell me that the D70s shutter is supposed to have a mean time before failure of 40,000 cycles. The D200's is 100,000.

[guillaume_salvo]

Thanks a lot for your inputs. I will contacting Nikon service and see.

[karoly_nagy]

7000 releases is not much. I am the proud owner of a camera vith almost 68000 releases.The couter resets automatically at 65535.I have both pictures: number 65535 and 0 that followed it.The shutter count is now by two tousand and something.

So if yours failed at 7000 that is bad luck. Get it fixed by nikon.

As you see it should last much more than that.

[christianaires]

Karoly Do you have proof.?

 

Because i wrote Nikon about this issue and received this response.

 

"The shutter count on our digital does not reset unless the shutter is

changed."

[bjørn rørslett]

A 16-bit counter (that would be reset at 65,536) is not exactly unheard of in Nikon DSLRs. For example, both the D2H and D200 have this kind of counter and that's what limits their long exposure NR to durations <= 109 minutes 13.5 secs (= 65,535 * 100 millisecs).

[christianaires]

Bjorn,

That is probably where people are getting mixed up.

And also how opanda uses 2byte which would reset the file count at 65,535.

 

If anyone has a d70 or any nikon, where they have more then 65,535 pictures taken and is showing a reset with opanda.

Would you mind posting it on here or sending it to me.

 

Ill use exiftool set with -htmlDump5 and see if it still resets after 65,535.

 

Thanks. I tend to trust Nikon on this. But i have been fooled by Corp. before.

[ger_vermeulen]

Christian, I checked the photo's from Karoly Nagy. I can only conclude Nikon is not honest. Technically the counter is not reset, just the high part of the value is lost. So bottom line software bug from Nikon: filling a 32bit field (type-4) with a 16bit value.<br>

<br>

Clipping from 4 pictures in a row from Karoly Nagy:<br>

Tag type count value<br>

00 a7-00 04-00 00 00 01-00 00 FF FE 0x00A7 Shutter Releases<br>

00 a7-00 04-00 00 00 01-00 00 FF FF 0x00A7 Shutter Releases<br>

00 a7-00 04-00 00 00 01-00 00 00 00 0x00A7 Shutter Releases<br>

00 a7-00 04-00 00 00 01-00 00 00 01 0x00A7 Shutter Releases<br>

[nikonthree]

Seems I have begun to see this issue, does anyone have a estimated price on the fix?

[mustafa_canbolat]

I have the exact same problem.

 

Problem Description:

The camera powers up but the shutter doesnt work properly. When I remove the lense, I could see that the mirror is locked up. I press the shutter button, I get the "click" sound, then "err" in the display. Shutter seems to "lock" when you release the button, then if you hit the shutter button a second time it releases but doesn't take a picture. I tried a different lense, a different CF card but no help.

 

Follow up:

I returned my Nikon D70s without any lens or accessories for repair as it no longer functioned properly. The service technician told me that there was an estimate of $282 Canadian for repair (replace the shutter). He acknowledged the fact that it was not a user mistake or error but he refused that it was a manufacturing defect.

 

Conclusion:

Nikon doesn't stand behind its products and doesn't want to issue a recall to prevent side effects.

[christianaires]

Could. be.

 

Was your d70s still under warranty?

 

if not then they have no obligation to repair it for free.

 

300 bucks. ill pay that for when my shutter dies on me.

unless i decide to spend 1800$ on a new d300.

 

Things. break. That the great world of electronics. :(

 

I doubt that canon would of replaced a shutter for free either. Unless it was still under warranty.

[rod_melotte]

<p>How do you guys know how many shutter clicks - estimate??? </p>

<p>My D70 just went FUBR with shutter lock Err grrrr</p>

[nuruddeen_lewis]

<p>I've found a solution online. If the shutter locks up, if you look into the camera (where the lens attaches) you should see the shutter screen closed and you'll see three small rivets. Take a small, tiny something, and gently pull the top rivet down and this will open the shutter. Be careful about dust. Afterwards, your camera may just be repaired. I found this solution online <a href="http://johnbagnell.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-fix-d70s-or-d70-shutter.html">at this webpage</a> and it totally worked for me. I hope this helps. </p>