Important: I recommend against taking your camera apart. Though I was able to fix the shutter problem, it wasn't by taking the camera apart. (Read on for my fix, which I also don't recommend you do unless you're prepared to risk ruining your camera. I did it as a last resort.) Taking a camera apart will expose you to a risk of electric shock from the capacitor (the thing that looks like a battery) inside. I'm including pictures in case anyone's wondering what the inside of their camera looks like, not because I think you should do this.
A couple of weeks ago I got an email from my friend Tim who asked me "Do you have any use for a dead Nikon D70s?" He had found it in a recycle bin and told me that if nothing else I'd be getting a spare battery. I have a problem saying no, and a misplaced confidence that I can fix anything, so I told him I'd take it. When I got it, it didn't work - as promised. The battery was charged, but when I pressed the shutter button the mirror would go up but the shutter wouldn't open. "Err" blinked on the top LCD, then after pushing the shutter button again the mirror came back down. No photo. A little googling shows this to be a fairly common occurrence with the D70 and D70s, but there aren't a whole lot of suggestions apart from trying a fresh battery, a reset, and sending it off to Nikon and paying $250 for a repair. I tried the first two with no success, but wasn't interested in the third option. It didn't make sense to spend money on a body that came out of dumpster, especially not when a new D40 body is only $400.
Don't do this. I mean it. If you do it, I'm not responsible for what happens.
I figured I didn't have much to lose by taking it apart. I'm fairly handy and I have a set of small screwdrivers that I rarely use. That makes me qualified in my books. :-) Well it was fun, but I didn't learn much apart from what the inside of a D70s looks like. Interesting, but I didn't see anything to suggest what I might do to solve the problem with the shutter. I put it back together and decided to make it a paperweight while I gave it some more thought.Really don't do this. I'm still not responsible.
A couple of days later it occurred to me that the shutter might just be stuck. I had been thinking that some little actuator was burnt out or some spring had come off its guide, but maybe it was something simpler. If the shutter was stuck, then what it might need was a nudge. So I nudged it: I lifted up the mirror, took a pair of small, pointy sewing scissors and pushed down slightly with a very small force on one of the little rivets in the shutter. (The topmost one in the photo)
The shutter moved a bit.
Encouraged, I removed the scissors, released the mirror and hit the shutter release. The shutter opened and closed. I went and got a memory card and a lens and hit the shutter release again. A photo appeared on the LCD. I had fixed it!
After a week of happy shooting with the D70s it continues to work perfectly. Realistically, I don't expect a lot out of the camera after what it's been through. Getting chucked in a recycle bin followed by disassembly by a fat-fingered, unqualified dumb dumb on his coffee table, then a highly imprecise shutter-shoving with a pair of scissors is probably not a recipe for a reliable camera. But I hope it is, because in a world that has so few user-serviceable parts I feel great about bringing this discarded camera back to life, and keeping at least one piece of electronic gear out of the landfill for just a bit longer. (Oh, and for free. Did I mention that?)
Some notes: I really don't think you should do this. I did it because I had nothing to lose. When I did it, however, I was careful about dust and what length screws came out of which holes. Note that my shutter was stuck in the "UP" position. I suppose it might just as easily have been stuck the other way. The shutter is also EXTREMELY FLIMSY.
Also, who throws a camera in a recycle bin? Maybe one day that'll work, but until then take it to these guys for environmentally friendly recycling. (If you're in Ottawa. If not, your town probably has an option like this too.)
12 comments:
Well, I'll be damned! :D Thank you for your guide on how to fix a stuck shutter! :)
I accidentally dropped my D70 in the floor today and luckily nothing broke, but I got the same problem as you got, and exactly as Jason Blackburn had in this post: http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/8691/176832.html
Since I don't expect digital slrs last more then a couple of years anyway, I found the courage to do the same as you did - apparently the shock from the fall had mislocated the shutter. A light touch and it popped just back and now it works like a charm again! Hooray! :) Thanks again!
/Per
I had this happen to my D70 several months ago. I put it away, frustrated that it was apparently going to cost more to fix than another used D70 would cost. Since this was a backup camera, I hadn't done anything about it. Today I was researching the problem again, and ran across your post. I immediately pulled out the camera, popped off the lens, and sure enough, I could see a rivet caught at the top. I too have the expertise of owning small tools, ;) and so I pulled out a small tweezer, unhooked the rivet, and the shutter came loose. It now works again! We'll see if it lasts, but that was amazingly easy.
I was on the verge of putting this camera forever hidden in my cabinet since it costs too much to repair this shutter problem.
While I was nudging the rivet, I was expecting it to move quite abit but it didn't. However, the camera now works as before after this simple fix.
This is excellent, thanks again! :)
I totally cannot believe this! I had the same exact problem with my D70. I had given up on this thing. I was going to try and sell it broken just to recoup whatever I could. I had totally switched over to using 35mm again. With this simple trick, just slightly pulling down on that top rivet and opening up the shutter, it worked. I've only taken a few pictures so far, but it hasn't locked up again. We'll see how long it lasts. Thanks a bunch!
Have the same problem. I held the mirror the filter over the sensor seem to move (I can see the rivets coming down and up). But I cannot see the greek sensore.
I meant the Green sensor. I can see the shutter move but does not expose the sensor.
After you moved the shutter, would the camera then take a picture when you pushed the shutter release? (You can only see the sensor in my photos because I put the camera on Bulb and held the shutter open.)
Thank you for posting this, John! My D70 stopped working out of the blue the other day, and I was at a loss for a fix. Turns out the shutter was stuck as you described. This one post saved me about $1,000!! Thanks again!
I have a similar problem, but with some odd differences. My shutter only locks up when I tilt the camera down. When it locks up I also get Err in the LCD window. When I remove the lens to look, the mirror is locked up, and the shutter is _open_ (I can see the sensor).
Pressing the shutter button again closes it (no photo is taken). I turn the camera off, then on, and it photographs fine, _until_ I tilt it down again.
It seems to only happen when the lens is point below the horizon by greater than 45°.
Thanks John! I had the exact same problem. Was about to ship it out to a service center. Packed it. Then I found your post. Took it out of the box. Did what you described. Voila! Fixed! Many thanks.
I had same problem with Nikon N4004. Jiggling the rivets on the shutter with a very small shraply pointed skewer got it working after several tries.
Outstanding! I had given up on my D70 thinking it wasn't worth sending it for repair until I nudged the shutter as suggested here. It now works! Thanks.
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