Death Nikon D3

[roland_schmid]

Today my D3 died in my hands during a job. It still fires but no picture shows up. Instead of that there is

an error message on the upper display.So I'll get a loan camera tomorrow and the camera will go back to

Nikon for replacement or repair. Anybody else had similar experiences concerning D3 reliability?

 

Regards

 

Roland

[jc5066]

It would help if you told us what the error message is.

[ddexter]

Have you tried resetting it?

[ron_hiner2]

My d3 has been 100% reliable. But I carry a D300 as a backup on any pro job. Never had to use it.

[errol young]

The D3 is a tank and is probably ok but the CF pins are delecate. If the error is CHR then that is the problem. I never take my CF cards out. I use the USB connection. Nikon should have switcned to the CF format. They have better connectors.

 

Errol

[ShunCheung]

The D3 has two compact flash card slots, so even bending a pin is not going to disable a D3 completely. But any high-quality camera can break down. That is why pros carry a couple of backups.

[dcphotography]

Errol Young, you mean SD?

[jc5066]

The D3 takes CF cards, not SD David. I doubt he meant SD.

[arthuryeo]

I have used Nikon pro bodies since the F5 days and they have NEVER died on me. This is not to say it can not happen but you're probably one in "million".

 

Recall that the early Nikon pro bodies went to Vietnam and survived better than the M16 in muggy and muddy environments.

 

Let's hold our horses till you get your repair slip. We'd be most interested to know.

[arthuryeo]

Actually, when I first read the title of this thread, I thot I was going to see dead bodies shot with a D3. :P

[rjm photo]

Arthur

 

Those were good old Nikon F's - without a lot of electronic wizardry.

[ilkka]

"early Nikon pro bodies went to Vietnam and survived better than the M16 in muggy and muddy environments."

 

Quite a few PJs used a Nikonos as a backup or second camera in Vietnam. Now that is a durable camera in bad environments.

[iancoxleigh]

Jon, when David asked if Errol meant "SD cards", I believe here was referring to the line "Nikon should have switched to the CF format." That line doesn't make sense since they did keep the CF format. So, Errol must have meant SD cards in that line.

[ShunCheung]

I too assume Errol meant that Nikon should have used SD instead of CF cards on the D3. The problem with that is the D3 is designed mainly as a sports/news camera. It is very important to have very fast write speed into the memory cards. As of today, high-speed UDMA cards such as Sandisk's Extreme IV is only available as CF. There are only Extreme III SD cards, no Extreme IV.

 

Concerning the use of electronics, there used be a Nikon House in Manhattan, New York. Around 1990, they had a display of a Nikon F4 completely taken apart. All the parts are laid out in a flat display box like a 6 foot by 6 foot poster (roughly 2x2 meters; it has been a long time so that I don't remember the exact size). I was surprised to see a lot of electronic circuits and ribbon cables inside the F4. Now, that was a camera introduced in 1988. I am sure the F5, F6 and D2, D3 have even more electronics inside.

[keith_b1]

The error/death thing has been reported by several at DPReview...some cured it by re-

mounting the lens, others by switching off/on, others could not fix and sent to Nikon, who

claimed that they replaced the shutter(!) and something else.

[Rich B NYC]

"Concerning the use of electronics, there used be a Nikon House in Manhattan, New York. Around 1990, they had a display of a Nikon F4 completely taken apart."

 

Shun,

 

F4? You must be a young 'un. :-)

 

I spent many a lunchtime at Nikon House peering through the 2000mm lens they had pointing at 30 Rock and fondling the lastest gear.

 

They used to have the same parts display for either the original F or F2 but I don't recall which. Had to be in the early 70's so it was probably an F2. Amazing how many parts went into those bodies.

 

I also recall that they had a window on the second floor where you could have your camera checked out for free or purchase small accessories.

 

Now it's a Brookstone's store that sells overpriced odds and ends.

[roland_schmid]

<i>"The error/death thing has been reported by several at DPReview...some cured it by re-

mounting the lens, others by switching off/on, others could not fix and sent to Nikon, who

claimed that they replaced the shutter(!) and something else".</i><br><br>

 

I tried that but nothing helped so the camera went to Nikon today. I got a loan camera for

free, so far so good. They told me I'll get back the body after 2 - 3 weeks.

[andrew robertson]

"It is very important to have very fast write speed into the memory cards. As of today, high-

speed UDMA cards such as Sandisk's Extreme IV is only available as CF. There are only

Extreme III SD cards, no Extreme IV."

 

I would hope that Nikon would have intelligent enough engineers to prevent this problem.

[les_barstow]

I'm assuming, Andrew, you mean the bent pin problem. The CF cards do have an offset groove which guides them in to place, and though it's possible to insert the card correctly, you can tell you're not doing something right before you manage to do so.

 

Otherwise, if you mean engineering around the lack of high-speed memory cards in other formats, it's not something Nikon controls.

[bgelfand]

Nikon may not have a solution to the problem, but I.B.M. is working on one. http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/23859.wss

 

Let us hope Racetrack lives up to its promise.

[ShunCheung]

As far as I know, Canon, Nikon and a number of parties are working on a new CFast memory card standard. CFast is incompatible with the current CF cards and doesn't use those vulnerable pins.

[john_cox7]

There's still a lot to be said for a Nikon F with either an Eye finder or Action finder prism. Sunny f16, no batteries to go flat, and no electronics to fail.