I have 2 D300's one of which I heavy load my usage on .... I'm fairly certain I've got nearly 160k actuations.... I know i'm due for a problem.. and today it seemed like it happened.
It froze up... and acted alot like the shutter was in "mirror up" position... I took off the lens, turned camera off and on ... everything was fine except the shutter was frozen up... nothing I could do to change it... right in the middle of a family photoshoot.
I thought it was toast - I swapped to my other D300 and finished the shoot.
left my cameras in the bags for the rest of the evening and then just sat down to mess with them and the locked one - is just fine... so it seems.
Is this a warning that it's coming? anyone have anything like this happen before?
what does it begin to act like when it needs a new shutter? with over 160k actuations should I be thinking about a service soon with a new shutter? how much does that cost? would I be better to just replace it?
curious... any thoughts would be greatly appreciated,
Shutters don't generally heal themselves by sitting, strange. How old is the battery and in particular how old is the clock battery. Always worth changing that when strange things start to happen. Other then that I don't have any clear answers for you since I shoot D3's and D700's.
Yes I have replaced lots of shutters mostly on my 1D2's but I did replace a couple on the D2X's and one on one of my D3's. Costs vary but $300-400 and the camera is good as new once they are done. Yes there is a separate watch type battery which controls the date and time and certain other features in the camera. If it gets low you can experience strange problems with the camera so it is worth replacing. Look at your user manual for instructions. Generally they last 3 to 4 years but they can go sooner and cause some strange problems. If all else fails it worth ten to fifteen bucks to change it out. Replacing a shutter by the way generally takes 7-10 days unless you expedite in which case 3 days. You don't need a new camera unless you are truly experiencing circuit board problems in which case repairs can get expensive.
does the actuation count start over when you get a new shutter? maybe while I don't have any weddings I should think about getting the shutter replaced in general.... preventatively? isn't their lifespan about 160k clicks?
Shutters don't have a fixed lifetime only a rating as to average clicks to failure. I had some last 500K clicks and some last 4K clicks. Nothing scientific. The repair facility to my knowledge does not reset the shutter count but they certainly can, need to discuss that with them. Some people regularly replace shutters when they approach rated average life, most people don't. You need to take a look at the clock battery first before you go off the deep end. I presume from your comments that your cameras are well out of warranty. If it is not the battery only a repair facility can tell you what's going on and so it never hurts to sent it in. Early firmware in D300's had a strange problem with what appeared to be battery failure. I also presume you have the firmware totally up to date in the bodies.
thanks for the advice. maybe someone else will know something else that might be helpful too.
i'll look into the click info .. and I've got 5 more days of shooting here - so I'll update this thread if anything else happens.... i'm going back to shooting with this D300 as my primary now that it seems to be working fine again.
I had the same thing happen to mine a while back. I had it lock up in LV mode and normal. Also had the lightmeter stop working properly. The camera would way overexpose everything in auto modes. I ended up sending it back in to Nikon. This is what they said the problem was:
-A
Never got a clear answer as to what exactly went wrong. I also had to send it back a second time to get it right. It set me back $200. Sorry. Wish I could help more.
There was one guy posting here that he had a D2h, I think, with a shutter count over a million at his last post, haven't seen an update in a while though.
Make sure you have the latest firmware and make sure your lens and body contacts are clean. The D300 seems particularly prone to dirty contacts as well as intermittent electical glitches. Mine has had a few hiccups from time to time but not enough to ID a cause. Modern DSLrs are more computer than camera, and we all know how reliable computers and their software are!
I didn't think about the dirty contact issue. things seem to be fine now.... I'll shoot with it another 5 days and update this thread as things happen.
after my primary D300 starting working again I shot successfully with it thru 2 more shoots... and then yesterday it locked up again. bigtime... this time It's stayed locked up like the MIRROR is up and won't come down. I'm officially going to have to do something big with it.... service, shutter replacement and such.
If it's still under warranty and you're a member of NPS, a trip to Nikon would be your best bet. If it's out of warranty, then you can still send it to Nikon, or send it to an authorized repair center. KEH and Authorized Photo Service are two such places.
after my primary D300 starting working again I shot successfully with it thru 2 more shoots... and then yesterday it locked up again. bigtime... this time It's stayed locked up like the MIRROR is up and won't come down. I'm officially going to have to do something big with it.... service, shutter replacement and such.
i would have thought that shutter count and replacement due to usage was a "wear and tear" item not covered under warranty. I'll have to see..... I think mine's out of warranty... my other one is under warranty... . Thanks for the thoughts.
. Thanks for the thoughts.