Thought my meter had died as well a couple of months back. Sent the camera (grey market) to Repair Tech (had warranty coverage). When it came back, the metering problem was fixed but the viewfinder would not give a clear focus. Downloaded images were great so back it went. I have now been without my primary body (I am a staffer on a weekly newspaper) for almost ten weeks total. But I am looking at the new D2Hs as my next buy and will use the D2H as my backup. The D100 will go to my wife after a visit to Nikon for firmware upgrade and a CLA.
Just had the same problem. Shooting indoors the D2h was working as normal. I´m using manual mode. I went outside to take pictures of the house and the meter failed. No matter what I did all pictures was overexposed. To be frank the lcd was white. Shutter showed 1/2 sec. at all apertures. Some times the meter showed ok exp. but still overexposing. I did try another lens but with same result.
D2h 1 1/2 years Actuations 25000.
I had the camera repaired by Nikon and payed ZERO. They did the job under warranty Now the camera is perfect. Firmware 2.01
Kjeld
Thanks for all the posts. My D2H went off to Nikon in El Segundo yesterday. (No longer Torrance. They moved). Since my D2H is no longer under warranty, my included letter asked them to take into consideration the fact that this is a very well documented problem, and I felt that it should be repaired at no charge to me. I’m prepared to pay tho. If they still charge me, I may make a phone call to talk to them about it, but I’m not going to loose any sleep over it. In the meantime, my D100 and D1h will get more use than usual.
I bought mine 2nd hand and it had already been in for the fix. I had it for some months but the focus was sometimes erratic, as well as the contrast. Without changing any settings, one minute day the next night. From what I have been told, the next step was dirt nap. I took it in personally to melville. It took two weeks. They repaired it and sent it back, I am pleased. They only have two facilities for the whole country, I guess that is why it takes longer than we would like. CS Dayan
I have heard nothing. UPS tracking says they delivered the camera on Thursday at 10:56 am. A phone call to Nikon on Friday reveals that it takes several days for them to figure out that they have received the camera, then they will send out a letter via snail mail when they figure it out even tho I’ve provided them with two phone numbers and my email. They said to call back next week.
An email to Nikon ended up giving me the runaround, and I don’t even know if they received the email. I’m in their data base but I can’t log on. Can’t have them send a password, as I’m unknown. Very frustrating. I had been planning on replacing my D1h with another D2H before too long, and I think this will accelerate that thought, but I will only buy one that has had the metering problem fixed already. I’d hopped I’d slid thru with a body that wasn’t going to develop the meter problem as I’m nearing 10,000 actuations, but not to be. I heard from someone else that it took 26 days to get his D2H fixed.
Yea... you probably guessed it. My D2H meter started acting funny a few days ago... then bit the dust. Exposure is reading the same on everything and the auto focus will not work. Yes... I was like you... watching the "D2H meter failure" postings go by and hoping for the best. I guess I'm one of the unlucky ones too. That is why this thread hit close to home with me.
I'm taking the same approach. I'm sending it off to Nikon and explaining the situation... including all the documented D2H meter failures and asking for special consideration. However, I'm prepared to pay if they don't see it my way.
Please keep me posted on your situation. I'll be right behind you.
I feel bad for you folks having this problem here. Of course, as some of you know, I too had the meter die on mine. FYI, there was no warning, it just croaked. I have read somewhere that one of the traces on the circuit board is faulty and will burn out easily. That's because it can't carry the necessary current, not because you left it in a hot place or anything like that. It's not anything you are doing or not doing with the camera, it's simply a faulty part. In my case, Nikon Canada was fantastic about the whole thing, and offered to rush the unit back once they found out they had had it for 2 weeks. It was my suggestion that they not worry about rushing it since the D2X was working fine and I could "make do" (he too smiled at that), and was very appreciative that I wasn't putting the screws to him (I'm not saying that anyone here is putting it to Nikon). I said that I was much more concerned about warranty than it being rushed since the camera failed while under warranty, but I was out in the field and didn't get back until after the warranty had expired. They repaired it, did a couple of things like replace the grip, and returned it asap and under full warranty. So my experience with Nikon Canada was very positive indeed. I hope your situation is resolved asap and with as much satisfaction as mine, but be comforted to know that there is no way as a user that you can prevent this failure, and you should feel confident in using the camera as per normal (which in my case is sometimes under extreme environmental conditions ) when it's returned. FWIW .
Bill.... Sorry to hear that. I had no warning. First time I noticed it was when I put the 60mm micro on to step outside and take a flower photo, but didn’t take it cause I couldn’t figure out, no matter what I did, why I couldn’t see shutter speeds faster than 1/15sec. Later, it fell to 1/8sec, inside, outside in bright sun, and with the lens cap on, and that’s where is was when I packed it up, and sent it off to Nikon. Last time I used the camera before that was in manual mode using the L-358 in the studio, so I didn’t notice anything funny going on. Just picked the camera up to take a flower shot, and the meter was dead. The meter problem has been a well known, well documented problem since the introduction of the D2H. Like you, I’d hoped I’d somehow slipped thru without ever developing the problem. Here is an email that I just got from someone.
Nikon repaired the meter problem, replaced the rubber grip,(which was unmarked) put a new door on the card slot, cleaned it, installed new firmware and returned the camera to me, UPS overnight. There was no charge for any of this service. I included a letter stating that the camera was being returned for the known issue of meter failure.
I’ve heard of the grip being replaced even when there was nothing wrong with the original. Makes me wonder if the meter is within the grip, and it’s easiest to just replace the grip?
Glenn....I probably could have dropped the camera on asphalt, and the meter would have kept ticking away till it was time for it to die. It’s been an extremely well documented problem in the forums for a very long time. I knew it was nothing I did. All I can hope for is that they will fix it at no cost to me, except the shipping charges to get it to Nikon.
My D2H died at 11 1/2 months. 7-8000 shutter releases. I sent it to Nikon repair East on a Saturday via Fed Ex for Monday delivery. I called them on Friday to see what the status was. (it was in quality control already) It came home fixed on the 8th day. And it was fixed under warranty. So far it's taking much better photos than it ever did before.
In hindsite, I can tell you that the camera lost some contrast when using my SB800 for a month or so before dying. I shoot lots of flash and the last time or so that I used it, it was if the meter was trying to make the entire file 18% grey. Without flash, it made all colors seem too saturated at high ISO. Especially red/yellow. And focus was hit or miss totally - especially when trying to track moving subjects. Sometimes it would take a shot in continuous mode, and then the focus would immediately blur like I had whirled the lens ring.
I don't know whether it's the upgraded firmware or the repair, but it's working quite differently with the flash now - and I think I've gotten all settings back as I had them before.
I'm happy with my repair experience. It was sort of funny to call a photographer friend and tell him how lucky I felt to find my camera dead (last 2 wks of being under warranty) I had been worrying about this happening after the end of the warranty.
I have been following this thread, and others, just in case my D2h meter dies. So far I have had it for a little more than a year and it work OK.
It appears that some D2h owners have had better treatment than others. So I am asking if anyone has an opinion about the best Nikon repair center in the US to fix this problem, quickly and without charge.
Sara.... I almost never use flash except for my studio strobes where I’m using a meter and the camera in manual. I’m looking forward to getting my D2H back. Everyone seems to say their camera works better than ever after returning from Nikon. Just wish it wasn’t going to take so long. I miss it.
Michael.... I had my D2H just under a year and almost 10,000 actuations when the meter died. It almost seems as if it’s a question of when the meter will die, not if the meter will die.
What I was trying to say about the flash was that the raw files were so flat as to appear that the camera wanted to make the whole scene almost all gray. I had to pump the heck out of contrast and saturation to get images that were useable (not good). Now it is back to nicely saturated and contrasted raw images again. That was in contrast to the way it was exposing the files taken without flash and in high ISO (1600) conditions. They had gotten very contrasty and colorful.
Sort of weird behavior, I thought - to be flat in one situation and too contrasty in the other. I photograph dog shows-running from ring to ring to photograph dog, owner & judge-sort of grip & grin, although the dog is highly posed. I do lots of direct flash on camera (bracket). It's really strange when these type of shots have no contrast at all. And the high ISO contrasty ones were candids of dogs in action with no flash.
Anyway, my show from last weekend came out great - very little corrections to the raw files at all. I am very happy with this camera again.
I hope you are all as happy with your repairs. I spoke to a friend tonight who works at a store that sells only professional photography equipment. He tells me that Nikon is just repairing these cameras all as under warranty now - that it's not IF it will go bad, but when - and that they certainly know it. Obviously a manufacturing defect.
I would certainly make every effort to get this repair covered under warranty - even if a camera is over 12 months old. But other than that, it's a really nice camera. I hope to keep mine for a long time.
Sara
SNugent wrote:
Anyway, my show from last weekend came out great - very little corrections to the raw files at all. I am very happy with this camera again.
I hope you are all as happy with your repairs. I spoke to a friend tonight who works at a store that sells only professional photography equipment. He tells me that Nikon is just repairing these cameras all as under warranty now - that it's not IF it will go bad, but when - and that they certainly know it. Obviously a manufacturing defect.
I would certainly make every effort to get this repair covered under warranty - even if a camera is over 12 months old. But other than that, it's a really nice camera. I hope to keep mine for a long time.
Sara...Show more →
Glad your camera is now working fine. I’m sure I will be happy with the repairs, just not happy that the camera is gone. The camera is out of warranty, but I did include a letter asking them to take the fact that the meter failure is such a well known and well documented problem into consideration, and repair it as if it was still under warranty.
I not only plan to keep mine for a long time, I have been seriously thinking of replacing my D1h with a second D2H. This has accelerated that thought, and I’m on the prowl for another D2H, but one that has already had the meter failure, and been fixed.
Last week I purchased a factory refurbished D2H from an individual. It has about 5000 clicks on it and the owner said he put about 2000 on it. Is there any way to find out the history of a camera's service at Nikon? I'm hoping it was refurbished becasue of a meter/shutter failure and will be fine for me. Seems to be a wide spread on usde prices the last 2 months. I've seen them sell between $1300 and $2200 for used and/or factory demos.
I have never experienced a problem with my meter - and hope I never do... but I noticed recently that the backlight for the meter is fluctuating from bright to dim... is this normal?
Ken.... Don’t know if you can find the service history at Nikon, but my guess is that the serial number will get it for you. Maybe someone here that has tried that can add to this.
lxdesign.... I had just under 10,000 actuations of the shutter before my meter failed. Seems like it’s not If it will fail, but When will it fail.
I have heard that comment before "not If it will fail, but When will it fail" before and it always makes me wonder about the real extent of this problem. There have to be a lot of happy D2h users that just never report in. Has anyone seen statistics that are worth passing on?
Now the camera is perfect. Firmware 2.01
