I sold one of my D700 cameras to my friend Charlene about a year ago.
The camera was in excellent condition and had only taken in the region of 30,000 photographs. Sometime later my friend started experiencing a problem with the camera. The camera intermittently displays an error message. Nikon South Africa has been unable to resolve the problem; it's still on-going. Charlene created a video that illustrates the problem. The YouTube video can be viewed at the following location:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GjhN47mPr5g

I would appreciate it if anyone is able so shed some light on the situation. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Thanks; much appreciated.

'Since the mathematicians have invaded the theory of relativity, I do not understand it myself anymore'
- Albert Einstein
‘I did not invent chimping, I just perfected it.'

I watched the youtube video and the only thing I can think of, can it be the card she's using. Has she tried using a different card? Is her lens stopped down?
I've never experienced this on either of my cameras. I'm curious as well. I hope she gets it figured out.

Cheryl

Is the problem present with all/any lens?
Has Nikon South Africa been unable to identify the problem?
Or identified it and were unable to solve it?
In other words, could they reproduce it?
To me it looks like a camera-lens contacts problem.

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Thanks for the responses. I shall submit the questions to her and get back with the answers as soon as possible.

'Since the mathematicians have invaded the theory of relativity, I do not understand it myself anymore'
- Albert Einstein
‘I did not invent chimping, I just perfected it.'

Apparently Nikon either replaced or serviced parts (rings) on the lens connection (coupling) mechanism.
Charlene also tried different memory cards. She says that the problem occurs after the camera has taken about 50 photos or so.
It would seem to be a heat related problem. If she allows the camera to "cool" down for a while then it works fine for a short duration and then the error occurs again.

She primarily uses two lenses; a Nikon 50MM 1.8 and a Nikon 24-70 MM 2.8; the problem occurs with both lenses.
The same lenses work fine on her Nikon D300.
The flash hot shoe mechanism was also replaced (not sure whether this was considered relevant to this specific problem or not).
Charlene uses a mixture of SanDisk and Transcend memory cards; she even purchased new ones in order to diagnose the problem.

Not sure whether Nikon managed to reproduce the problem or not.

'Since the mathematicians have invaded the theory of relativity, I do not understand it myself anymore'
- Albert Einstein
‘I did not invent chimping, I just perfected it.'

What battery? New one? Different brand than Nikon?

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Understand -- I'm not a camera repairman. But heat can only be produced by something in the electrical circuitry, and my first stop would be changing the battery. There have been some batteries that have overheated. There are also (a) off-brand batteries and (b) counterfiet "Nikon" batteries in the market. I'd make sure the battery being used is an authentic Nikon-brand battery from an authorized seller. Charlene might also check the conditin of the battery as indicated by her camera menu. I can't imagine outside weather related heat being the issue, as I used Nikon DSLRs in Baghdad in the summer of 2003 and it doesn't get much hotter than that place.

Alan
Waterloo, IL, USA
www.proimagingmidamerica.com

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Thanks for all of the replies.
I would also be inclined to suspect the battery.
She is using genuine Nikon batteries, but even so, they could still be the cause of the problem.
The camera is back with Nikon so let's see if they can resolve the issue.

Also, today, Charlene acquired a second D700 camera and so she will be able to test her batteries out in the newly acquired D700. It will be interesting to see if she can duplicate the problem on the newly acquired D700. The newly acquired D700 is in immaculate condition and has only taken 1040 photographs.

If it's not battery related then let's hope that Nikon can resolve the problem fairly quickly.

I shall provide feedback as soon as possible.

'Since the mathematicians have invaded the theory of relativity, I do not understand it myself anymore'
- Albert Einstein
‘I did not invent chimping, I just perfected it.'

I had an old N80 - a film camera - and I had a similar problem with an intermittent error. My Nikon authorized repair station was able to identify it as a main circuit board failure. When the camera got warm, an electrical connection would short disconnect (short out???) and I'd get the message. A few minutes later and all would be okay when the connection was re-established.



Anthony

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