strangest issue with Nikon D4

[rick_chen]

<p>Strangest issue with Nikon D4...it works fine all the while until one day in the middle of a shoot I discovered the camera has metering issues. Upon closer look it's communication problem, like the camera cant detect the lens at all. The strangest thing is, it comes on and off, and only on certain lenses.<br>

I would be using the 24-70 and it would show f/2.0, and get stuck no matter what I do. replace battery, upgrade firmware, shut camera off and no, shake, nothing. Try it on 70-200, works perfect. Try it on 100mm f/2.8 vr, it would show f/2.0. Try it on 7 other lenses all works fine. I suspected it was the 2 lenses, so I sent those into Nikon. Nikon couldnt find any issue, but replaced the contacts and everything they could on the two lenses for free. Problem still exists. And this morning it's happening with the 14-24 as well. It has to be the body, I thought, since I have another 3 bodies and all lenses work fine with the bodies, not to mention the 24-70 and 100 macro just came back from nikon all checked and stuff.<br>

Brought it into nikon in LA this morning..put my 24-70 on to try to demostrate to nikon the problem, but at that point in time the D4 chose to work properly...so I couldnt show them the problem. I tell them to take it in and do further checking, they say they cant promise they will find the problem, they will try.<br>

Then this morning they sent me an estimate, $460. If they can find the problem, I think I am ok. The worse is I am afraid I pay it and they cant find the problem, and in the future it will come back and haunt me and I have to pay for it again since the warranty is only 3 months after repair. The problem can go away and come back like once every 2~3 months.<br>

Did anyone experience similar issue like this? Nikon cleaned the contacts, and so did I. That's kinda the first thing we thought of. But the problem persists. In fact I had communication issue just before I drive to Nikon, and yet when I am there it's gone. Electronics are a pain in the a$$</p>

[ilkka_nissila]

<p>It's sometimes difficult to find the cause of an intermittent problem. That they sent you an estimate suggests they have found something that is or may be causing the problem; if they replace the contact blocks on both camera and lens it might cost that much. There isn't much more you can do about it really. If the repair is ineffective it should be under warranty so you can have them give another go (without additional cost), this time be sure to demonstrate the problem; try it until it repeats itself in front of the person taking it in. </p>

[CvhKaar]

<p>On Nikomn lenses there is a Lens Speed Indexing Post on the mounting flange, which encodes the maximum aperture itself. This Post pushes a tab on the camera mount when you attach the lens. If this tab for some reason is bent a bit because of rough mounting a lens, or there is dirt between the tab and the slide its moving in, then it cannot move freely, causing the camera not ( correctly) recognizing the max aperture of the lens. You could check if this tab always moves freely, or sometimes gets stuck in 1 position ..<br>

I do not have currently a picture available to clarify better, but maybe someone else on this form does hav a picture available.. ?</p>

[mike_halliwell]

<p>In these wonderful days of technology, this system of lugs pushing other tabs being pushed around a sliding contact through a curved slot machined through into a weatherproof body is just bl**dy STUPID!</p>

<p>The lens has a chip in it that tells the body <strong><em>exactly</em></strong> what it is, what it's MAX aperture is, when's it's birthday and it's favourite ice-cream flavour. This kinda fault is just waiting to happen...no wait...it's happened again!</p>

<p>Legacy lens support is all very well, but this type of problem is just going to get worse, like painting yourself into the corner of a room, or being hamstrung by old tech. </p>

<p>Hopefully Nikon can replicate the problem and fix it for you, if not, they're the only ones to make any money, especially when it fails again in 100 days....Oh, and the shipping company of course.</p>

[rick_chen]

<p>Oh if I thought nikon find the problem, I would have them fix it for $460.<br>

But I suspect they have no clue what they are doing...coz they want $460 for the camera and $460 for EACH LENS! god the 24-70 and 105 which I provided to them for checking the problem are still under warranty and just came back from them a few months back, with new contacts and everything. Don't they keep a record of stuff? And the system is so slow to get the right person to talk to regarding these issues it's a pain<br>

I am pretty sure the lense are ok, since I never run into any issues with another d4 and other bodies. In fact the D4 will suddenly not recognize new lens from time to time. For example I was using a zeiss 135mm f/2 a while back, with built in chip that will allow metering and focus aid etc., and once the D4 will stuck it at f/2 no matter what I do....<br>

Does anyone know if sending this to KEH or whatever for a flat repair rate of $235 is a better bet?</p>

[CvhKaar]

<blockquote>

<p>Oh if I thought nikon find the problem, I would have them fix it for $460.<br /> But I suspect they have no clue what they are doing...coz they want $460 for the camera and $460 for EACH LENS! god the 24-70 and 105</p>

</blockquote>

<p>mm you could still tell them to fix the camera but not the lenses then i guess...</p>

[robert_bouknight1]

<p>I would find it extremely unlikely that the D4 AND BOTH lenses have issues. Do the lenses work correctly on other bodies?</p>

<p>Am thinking that if Nikon fixed the camera for $460, at least you would have a warranty (short term, at least) for the issue. I have successfully used KEH in the past for repairs, but probably would not expect to find and fix this issue for the flat rate, unless it really is just very dirty lens contacts. Try cleaning the camera and lens contacts again with electronics contact cleaner on a swab.</p>

[tom_boston1]

<p>The Nikon warranty on repairs is six months for the issue that they repaired. My understanding and experience is that they pretty much repair everything for a flat rate. </p>

<p>I recently had a situation where it took them three attempts to successfully repair the issue. They paid for all the shipping after the first repair though I did have to nag them a bit.</p>

<p>What kind of issue did they repair on the 24-70 and 105? It is also my experience that they don't seem to keep track of repairs that they've done. But if you show them the repair receipt they are very good about honoring warranties even if the warranties are slightly out of date.</p>

<p> </p>

[ilkka_nissila]

I don't think modern Nikon bodies read

the speed index tab; they get this

information electronically. It is likely the

electrical contacts which are working

erratically in this instance.

[tom_boston1]

<p>Ilkka, the aperture indexing tab is used by some higher end bodies a non-cpu AI lens is mounted. But obviously, it's not used at all for any of the G lenses because they don't even have an aperture ring.</p>

<p>For some of the lenses that have aperture rings but also have cpu's, i'm not sure what the case is. I think some of the bodies allow you to set the aperture from the ring instead of the subcommand dial.<br /><br />But all the lenses that the original poster is talking about are G lenses so the aperture index ring is unlikely to have any bearing on this at all.</p>