D700 problem - screen, battery

[johnfarrar]

<p>In the field, the screen on my D700 blanked out; an intermittent fault, 'curable' for a short time by turning the camera off and on again. Changing the battery made no difference: still no screen working. The camera was taking and writing to card fine - the pictures are all there (but I couldn't of course use the menu to get eg multiple exposure). At home, placing a battery in the charger resulted in a horrid faint sparking noise, and the charger lights now do not work. Anyone had this problem - sounds like one for Nikon? I'm unwilling to either place a potentially defective battery back in the camera, or try my third EN EL3e in camera or charger, in case of more damage - unless someone has specific experience and advice. Can anyone help?<br>

Thanks. John </p>

[bgelfand]

Your safest course of action is to call Nikon support.

[ShunCheung]

<p>It sounds like the problem is in the bettery or charger rather than the D700 camera. If that is indeed the case, that is relatively good news since the battery and charger are easy to replace. In the US, a new MH-18a charger is like $40 to $45.</p>

<p>I would first find a different bettery and charger to check with camera with.</p>

[Jerry_]

<p>Nikon batteries have no warranty. Has your D700 ever been to a Nikon service center for a check-up? [i'm not sure the blank screen is the result of a low-battery condition: usually a low-power battery makes the camera not capable of shooting....]</p>

<p> </p>

[johnfarrar]

<p>Thanks guys. I'd come round to Shun's view, but Nikon Support UK are (sensibly!) unwilling to diagnose by email and so I'm sending it back to them. Sounds as if it may be an unusual fault - which I hope doesn't mean expensive.</p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>Removing power from the camera altogether (i.e. taking the battery out) results in the viewfinder darkening considerably and becoming blurry.</p>

<p>John, Kodak make an excellent and reasonably priced universal Li-ion battery charger that auto-detects the voltage and polarity of any common camera battery plugged into it. I've used one to recharge my En-el3e and many other camera batteries with no drama whatsoever.</p>