D70 - out of action
 

My Nikon D70 is out for the holidays. Without warning the metering system just went nuts. Luckily I discovered it while taking some useless pictures. The meter, as seen through the view finder, would bounce all over the lot. Any picture I took would either be mostly black or mostly white, depending where you caught the bounce of the meter. No matter what setting I used, including manual, it would not work.

I took the camera to one of the local Nikon dealers, thinking that they could turn a screw or rub it in some special way. The feller behind the counter looked at it and said that he had seen this before. He pulled out a log book of repairs and found a recent entry. He then read the identical symptoms from a recent log entry. No kidding, I said. Yep, he said.

You need to send it off and it will take about six weeks, AND, it's going to cost you $387. That sucks, I said, and I took my camera back and left.

I'm going to look for a second opinion but needless to say I am feeling a little like a stripper without her pasties -- all naked.

Laughing
 

Mike,

I can't remember when I laughed so hard!

Thank you for posting this - uh, I mean the camera related part of your post. I recently read some reviews online about the Nikon D70 (or maybe it was the D70s) and some of the reveiwers reported malfunctions. Not many, but enough to make me wonder if that's really the camera that I want for Christmas.

Joan

Nikon repairs
 

I just had to send my Nikon D50 into the Nikon Service center because of a spot on the CCD. I was surprised that a black spot (dust?) could get into the camera, but when I called their technical assistance hotline, they said it does happen, though usually they see it in cameras used to photograph rodeos! Maybe 5 kids, 6 cats, 1 dog, 3 guinea pigs, two rabbits a fish and a lizard constitute something on the order of a rodeo. Hmmm...
Anyway, Mike, just wanted to let you know that Nikon really has its act together. If you send in your camera for service (call the tech support first) they will send you an estimate for the repairs FIRST, for your approval. My repair took less than two weeks from the day I sent it out until I had it back in my hands.
If your camera is still under warranty (as mine was) all the better, but I assume you'd know that.

Good luck and hang in there. Good thing you're in Florida. If you had to be naked for ten weeks in Pennsylvania, you'd be in a world of hurt! ;)

Joan and Molly:

I've taken roughly 12,000 pictures with my D70 in the 18 or so months that I've owned it. It has been trouble free and I've loved it. I would have just chalked it up to rotten luck if I hadn't seen those identical symptoms in that log book.

You have to wonder when you get the same troubles brought into a little camera shop in Venice, Florida within a short period of time. Maybe there is some inherent problem.

I'm going to take the situation to the Nikon dealer here in Sarasota and see what kind of response I get.

This puts me back to my back up film camera for some time to come.

Mike!!

Welcome back!

Sorry to hear about your camera.

Mia
 

Oh my gosh, Mike, so glad you're back!!! Where've you been??? Misssed all your insight and humor. :sunnysmil

Ditto what Carol said!

Mike,

Ouch! I feel bad for you. You might as well just get it fixed even at that price, because it's a great camera, and another one to replace it will cost more.

Maybe you want to save up for the new Nikon D200, due out soon. That is really tempting me! My camera (D100, 3+ years) won't last forever with close to a hundred thousand shots logged on it (how long do these mechanical shutters last anyway?). Even the D70 is an upgrade from the D100 (better imaging algorithms)!

To Molly: Sorry about your problem too. Is yours simply a dust spot problem (and not a dead pixel problem)? That is common to all DSLR's. I have been there, cleaning mine many times. This is extremely risky business so you are right to have it professionally done.

One thing I learned the hard way: Never change a lens in Arizona!!!! I never saw such a dirty capture chip. (It's way too dusty in Arizona ;) )

Best wishes,

Garth

?
 

SO...we want to know.(where you were...)

My Nikon D70 doesn't like this thread today. It is still getting used to me,,,learning about me, so together we want to hear all about your adventures and how we can live forever. Can you two help?

Garth:

That's the hard truth isn't it. It is a great camera and I'm going to do a little more investigation first.

Carol:

My understanding is that if you eat lots of fiber and don't look at dirty pictures you may live forever.

I've been wondering aimlessly along the Florida beaches. They made me stop because I was scaring children and small dogs.

Hey Linda.

That's it?
We send you off with an Honorarium to find the Secret of Life, and that's what you've got for us?

NO kidding, huh.

And the beach bum doesnt even say HELLO to all his friends. pfffffffffftttttttttt.

Welcome back Mike,
I bet you

Mike--

Great to hear from you...

Well, SHOOT!!!! (No pun intended.)

I've just gotten used to my D70 and love it. Now whenever I take it out, I'll be waiting for the pie in the face.

Might as well just forget it, I guess. Can't afford a backup.

Regards as always--TE

Kim,

I've missed you desperately.

Allan,

I'm always taking pictures, but I'm afraid I'm going to be out of service for a while. Kind of scary to be back to my old film back up, my camera has spoiled me rotten.

Tom,

I walked into two more Nikon dealers yesterday and got no helpful information. Each said that they had not heard of the trouble (this is good news for you guys I think) and that I should look for help on the Nikon web site. So I came home and logged in and e-mailed there tech service department. I

Mike, you darling charmer you - you know what a girl likes to hear!

I bet those folks at the nursing home were desperately clawing under their mattresses for more dollar bills!

Im so glad to see your back. :)

I hope Bill Murry will forgive me for stealing his schtick.

About the dirty picture thing: my understanding is that it isn't really a rule, it's just a suggested guideline.

As I reported above, my D70 is kaput. I have further news in this regard.

I discovered a nice little retail art supply store in Englewood, Florida. I noticed that the owner had a D70 on a tripod and began to tell him about my tribulations. He said that he has owned three of them and two of them had already been returned to the factory for the same problems that I had experienced. That's four D70's that I know of in a twenty mile radius of where I live.

Also, while searching their web site, www.Nikonusa.com, for any relevant information, I noticed that they have a recall on the battery: EN-EL3, which was supplied with my D70, as well as the D50 and D100. You might want to check the site and see if the serial numbers match what you have.

I have a new service number that I'm going to try tomorrow: 1-800-645-6678

Mike--

Thanks for the heads up on the battery. Nice that you only find out when you visit the Nikon website by accident, since the reason for the "voluntary" recall is that the !@#$%^&*(!@#! batteries apparently overheat and MELT!

They instruct you to remove it and send it in, and not put it back in the camera. They'll send a replacement, but you still have to return it via UPS.

If you hadn't flagged it, I guess Nikon wouldn't have informed me, letting me happily discover it when it destroyed the camera and fried my paw. This is my first Nikon. I expected better from these guys.

Now about the other thing....can I eat the fiber and still look at the dirty pictures, or are they linked?

Hoping for a loophole--TE

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