D80 problem

Giphsub · January 15, 2008

My friend has a nikon d80 and is having a problem with the battery charge display. He sent me these emails asking me about it:

"Hey mike do you ever have this thing happen with your camera? The camera seems to get a bit confused (maybe when changing zoom quickly) and the battery icon starts flashing like the battery is flat, then stop after a while, you press the button and everything seems ok again? Not very well explained but have you had this happen?"

I asked if it is a nikon or third party battery. This was the response:

"Nikon battery, and in pic fully charged, but I have this problem where it goes to empty and the camera does not want to do anything, it flashes for a while, then seems to correct itself and goes back to looking fully charged again, sorry I am not explaining myself very well."

I don't really know what the problem might be, but thought some of you who have or have had d80's might have heard of this problem. Any ideas? Thanks

rbrugman · January 15, 2008

My D80 has never done this with either the stock nikon battery or the third party battery packs I use. I would suggest maybe a camera reset? Be sure to fully charge the battery and then reset it. It could be something with the way the camera is measuring how much charge the battery has.

If that doesn't work, I'd send Nikon and email or call their support line. Something has to be up with it. Is your friend using the 1.01 firmware?

SloYerRoll · January 15, 2008

I don't have any advice from a soft/firmware perspective. But I have some mechanical advise.

As soon as I saw the part about zooming quickly. I thought the terminals might not be making a good connection.
I don't know how mechanically inclined your friend is. But you may want to suggest checking the posts inside the bottom of the battery well to see if they are bent or aren't spring up to a "normal" position.

How old is the camera in regards to purchase date? Is it still under limited warranty? This sounds like perfect candidate to have Nikon fix on them.

Seymore · January 15, 2008

Also, what lens is mounted when this problem occurs? Can I suspect it's an AFS lens? If so, the lens is drawing its AF power from the body and I'd call Nikon to get this looked at under warranty.

The other thing to do is to try a non-AFS lens and see if the problem still happens. If not, it's that lens body combo...

Let us know what your friend can tell us...

Giphsub · January 16, 2008

Thanks for the replies all!

The camera is less than 6 months old, and he is using the nikkor 18-200 VR lens. He is very mechanical minded, and could check that quite easily. I sent him the link to this thread so he will have a look and let me know how it goes. Thanks again.

ShepsMom · January 16, 2008

My D80 never had that problem, along with 18-200 lens and other lenses. I'd call Nikon! This would drive me crazy.
Best of luck!

Giphsub · January 16, 2008

Thanks Marina. A call to Nikon might be the best thing to do. He got the camera from Hong Kong, but lives in Aus, so simply taking it back to the store is not really an option.

bkatz · January 16, 2008

I know on one of the other Nikons - forget which - someone had a similar problem and folded a post it note and taped it to the door of the battery compartment because they were getting loose connections.

Dpeneding on which lens and the torque due to focusing it could be knocking it loose. If you then moved the camera it might make contact again.

ziggy53 · January 16, 2008

bkatz wrote:

I know on one of the other Nikons - forget which - someone had a similar problem and folded a post it note and taped it to the door of the battery compartment because they were getting loose connections.

Dpeneding on which lens and the torque due to focusing it could be knocking it loose. If you then moved the camera it might make contact again.

I have read that also, that there is not enougn pressure on the battery to keep positive contact with the camera. People have used foam pads as well to increase the pressure.

I have also read that a similar problem can be related to certain VR lenses and that Nikon will service the lens for repair. It seems the problem crops up more on Nikon D200 and D80 camera bodies.

Giphsub · January 16, 2008

Thanks again for the replies guys. Will pass this info on.

Shane422 · January 16, 2008

nikonians thread
There is quite a lengthy thread about this in the D80 forums on nikonians.org.

Giphsub · January 16, 2008

Thanks for that! That may well be very helpful!

Gav · January 17, 2008

Giphsub wrote:

Thanks for that! That may well be very helpful!

Hi, I am that friend with the D80 trouble. Seems shane gave good advice about the nikonians thread. Yes my problem is not the first, seems quite a few battle with it. It's the contacts between the body and the lense. I could reproduce the problem by applying a small amount of pressure on the lense. I removed the lense, cleaned the contacts and have not been able to reproduce the problem (well in the last ten minutes anyway). One of the nikonians had a good solution, he suggested "shimming" the lense, that is, putting a thin gasket between the lense and body to give a slightly tighter fit.

Anyway, I'll see how we go. Unfortunately it was bought over the internet so taking it back to the shop is a bit difficult - that will teach me......

ziggy53 · January 17, 2008

Gav wrote:

Hi, I am that friend with the D80 trouble. Seems shane gave good advice about the nikonians thread. Yes my problem is not the first, seems quite a few battle with it. It's the contacts between the body and the lense. I could reproduce the problem by applying a small amount of pressure on the lense. I removed the lense, cleaned the contacts and have not been able to reproduce the problem (well in the last ten minutes anyway). One of the nikonians had a good solution, he suggested "shimming" the lense, that is, putting a thin gasket between the lense and body to give a slightly tighter fit.

Anyway, I'll see how we go. Unfortunately it was bought over the internet so taking it back to the shop is a bit difficult - that will teach me......

Gav,

Welcome to the Digital Grin. Please do keep us posted, especially with any resolution to the issue.

I can personally vouch for B&H Photo Video and they are great about returns. I just bought a new camera from them and I have no reservations recommending them to anyone.

Their "Director of Corporate Communications" is a regular here and, if needed, he will come to your assistance. He is a photographer, just like us.

Giphsub · January 17, 2008

Good to hear that has helped (initially) Gav! Thanks everyone for your help on this one

D80 problem

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