The D300 I recently acquired was missing the little plastic piece that slides into the hot shoe when nothing is mounted there.
Is it important to protect those contacts with something?
Or is it OK to leave it exposed?
Thanks.
I bought a D300 in Oct. 2008. By the end of Nov. 2008 it was gone. Since then I've photo'd in several full blown blizzards, numerous heavy snow storms, a few ice storms, heavy ice fog, regular fog, drizzle, light rain, and dust storms. I photo pretty much daily, outdoors. No big deal.
A replacement is $2.95 or less at most major online retailers as well. Pricey for a piece of plastic, but money well spent if it gives you piece of mind
don't recall any of my film 35s ever having anything to place in the shoe,, don't even know if my D300 had one in it when purchased, if it did it is long gone as I never worry about them,,
have seen some so worried that something was going to short out they took an old credit card and cut out a piece to slide in place,,
then one day I tried to use my sb800 & found I couldn't fit it in. I probably knocked my cam and bent the hotshoe. So I did a sacrilegious try to bend it back with a screwdriver; didn't work.
It cost me $270 to have Nikon fix it. The bitch about it is, they didn't include one with the new hotshoe, and I'm too cheap to pay the shipping
Like someone suggested, include it with a B&H order.
Best solution is to not smash the hot shoe into things. A little bit of caution is all it usually takes. I woefuller be more concerned about my lenses if the HS is bent.
uintaangler wrote:
The D300 I recently acquired was missing the little plastic piece that slides into the hot shoe when nothing is mounted there.
Is it important to protect those contacts with something?
Or is it OK to leave it exposed?
Thanks.
I like to have mine covered to keep everything clean and dry.
kasakato wrote:
Best solution is to not smash the hot shoe into things. A little bit of caution is all it usually takes. I woefuller be more concerned about my lenses if the HS is bent.
The next time I'm in the Nevada desert or the Mexican desert following a race or maybe jumping from one shooting site to the next at a race track......
I'll be sure to remember your advice..... jeeze......
I didn't explain myself very well.
I always use the protector. I use whatever I can to keep the sand and other crap out of all orifices on the camera bodies. This is especially true in the Utah desert where one gust can coat you with a fine layer of grit you were not expecting. Sure, the hot shoe leads nowhere internally, but it can be covered, is minimal effort, so I do. Other environments may be different. And it probably is a protectant from damage as Rags pointed out.
I've been using cameras for 36 years and I've never had the "little plastic thing" in the hot shoe (if the camera even came with one) for more than five minutes. I've never had a problem. By the way, in the old days, cameras never came with the "little plastic things" for the hot shoe. Of course, some of the cameras didn't have a live hot shoe. But the point is that it will not be a problem if you don't use it.
