Thanks Mike for the link.
I guess my number is not up, though pretty close, 46 AB
Allan

And yet another twist of the fiber ...

Yesterday I was diddling with my camera in hopes of squeezing out one more image of a painting. It led me down a path of false hope for about an hour and a half before the whole thing just quit. When I turned it off and back on it would not respond at all. And, the little green light in the back of the camera began to blink.

So, today I called the service number that I posted above. After about 15 min. of hold time a Cal. surfer dude answered. I told him of my troubles and asked if he could help. He said that if the little green light on the back was blinking the camera had gone into a cardiac arrest and the light was indicating that the camera was under a "service advisory." This self induced condition was indicating that whatever was wrong with the camera, they would fix it for no charge.

What a splendid turn of events for me. Had I not held on to the camera for a couple of weeks, instead of firing it off right away for repair, I would never have known of the little green blinking light, and the "we'll fix it for free" condition that it brought about.

I'm still skeptable (as my daughter used to say). I told him that it was just out of warranty but it didn't seem to matter to him. I hope this Cal dude hadn't just enjoyed a snort of Maui Wowy before answering the phone.

I was instructed to ship the camera to (depending on which state you live in):

Nikon, Inc.
attn: Service repair
1300 Walt Whitman Rd.
Melville (Herman, no doubt), NY. 11747

Including a letter telling of my troubles and that the camera was under a "service advisory."

Tom:

My understanding is that you can look at the dirty pictures only while munching fiber. I picked up a gross of power bars at the grocery, and except for the constant lower g. i. pains, I feel fine.

Mike--

This IS good news--your research and perseverance apparently paid off.

Which little green light????? The one next to the memory card door?

(I'll check for your reply after I get back from the supermarket...and the newsstand.)

--TE

Hi Mike,

I've been watching this thread with interest as I had picked out the D50 as my next camera, hopefully within the next month. What do you suggest I do? Should I make a switch to the Canon Rebel, frankly I'm very leery of melting batteries. :o

Jean

Jean--

In the interest of fairness, I should direct you to the Nikon website Mike listed above. The battery incident has only happened about four times that they know of, and to their credit, they're addressing it. But my frustration with them is that they have, to my mind, been lax in informing us D70 owners of the recall.

The worst possible scenario is when your car acts up, but won't do it for the mechanic. I rely on my equipment, and I hate situations where there is a problem that MIGHT happen, as one never knows what to do--witness Mike's travails.

I love the camera, but not using it while I wait for the new battery is a pain.

--Tom

I hope my older serial number batteries remain no risk!
 

Tom, I have three of the same batteries as are specified with the D70, in use for my Nikon D100. Two are Nikon batteries and older and lower in serial numbers than the range Nikon is recalling; one being a very early specimen, 3-1/2 years old, and the other closer to the recalled subset range of serial numbers. My third battery is a generic one, and who knows about that, however it is also older than the manufacturing period of those being recalled, as well.

All three batteries are performing well for their age and mileage, in fact they have proven to be the best batteries I've ever known. I have not noticed any detectable diminishing of capacity over time. I have three just to be sure at least one of them is always ready on the fly as a fully charged spare for those thousand picture plus shoots.

I hope I have nothing much to worry about, meltdown-wise! Maybe older vintage batteries can be recommended! I am sorry to know friends suffering through such anxiety about their recalled batteries, but just hope everyone gets a battery they can trust, in the end.

Best wishes for better shooting (and painting),

Garth

Nikon extended warranty
 

Just bought a Nikon d70s. My dealer suggest the extended warranty which extends the warranty period for 2 additional years. The listed cost is $129 for the warranty but I got it for only $29 since I bought a complete system. This might be worthwhile for future camera purchasers considering the problems Mike has discovered..

Tom:

It is the little light in the back by the memory card door. Although when you look at it at rest it doesn't appear green.

Jean:

I can only say that I love my D70. I try not to recommend one make over another. My camera was one of the first ones off the line. I waited on a list for about eight weeks for mine to arrive. I would think that the cameras coming off the line some 18 months later would be free of this problem that I have experienced. I don't know if I mentioned it but my battery was not one of those recalled.

Make your dealer insure that the camera you buy is covered by the USA warranty and not something covered in Europe or elsewhere (no offense Allan). As I was waiting on hold the other day and listening to the recorded messages this was one of the things they were stressing.

Richard:

That $29 dollars for two more years sounds like a nice exception to the typical extended warranty deal.

Garth and others:

Although I haven't used it, I believe that my D70 has a regular AA battery attachment which came with my kit. I too have been very impressed with the performance of the battery.

Oh Happy Day !
 

I have received my camera back from Nikon.

I mailed my D70 through UPS on 12/29 from Nokomis, FL. (Daughter of the moon, Nokomis) and received it back on 1/13. It looks brand new and the included letter indicated that they had made the following modifications:

- We updated the firmware of your camera to the latest version (A:Ver.2.00/B:Ver.2.00).

- Changes made for this version:

* Performance of the 5-area AF system has been improved (Dynamic area and Closest subject AF-area modes). I haven't looked into this yet.

* Changes have been made to the design of menu displays. The display does look different somehow, bigger maybe.

* Page-size settings can now be applied from the camera with direct printing from PictBridge-campatible printer.

There were a few others that were pretty small and of not much concern to me.

They didn't give any explaination as to what the trouble was with my camera, but, the cost of the repair, cleaning, and new firmware was $0, even though it was out of warranty. Not a bad resolution I think.

Anyway, I feel whole again.

Hiawatha

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.


Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
5,314 lines finished 1855