Pragmatic camera repair

My wife's camera stopped working. After exactly 2 years and about 20,000 shutter releases the shutter mechanics finally jammed and the LCD display issued the following error message when trying to take a picture: “Error. Press Shutter Release Button Again”. First I googled the error and found the following discussion thread on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/groups/d40slr/discuss/72157622417755279/. “Cool!”, I said, I can fix this problem myself and I opened the camera with my Wiha screw driver. (Here is how the Nikon D40x looks inside http://www.flickr.com/photos/johncayr/3969534234/).  I pushed some of the gears and closed the camera again. It started working for a couple of pictures and the error came back. Time for Plan B.

Figure 1: Instant photo of my Nikon D40x DSLR taken with my IPhone

Plan B

Plan A was the cheap do-it-yourself approach. Plan B is the other extreme. Ask the professionals at the Nikon Repair center to do it. Here is the summary of my experience:

How long did it take?

I mailed the camera on Friday evening and got it back exactly 10 days later, on a Tuesday. This makes 6 business days, including standard Fedex Ground shipping.

How much did it cost?

Fedex Ground shipping with $500 insurance was: $11.29

Nikon Repair charged: $159.22

I paid a total of $170.51 to get the camera fixed

What did they do with the camera?

According to the repair Invoice and a note that they add to my camera, they performed the following operations:

• Service Repair Rank B2
• Repair System Error
• Clean Image Sensor
• Replace shutter mechanism
• Perform image test
• General check and clean
• Replace SQ base plate
• Checked autofocus operation
• Upgraded the firmware version to 1.01  (Better EN-EL9 battery performance)
• 6 month warranty on the shutter system

Additional comments?

I was quite satisfied with the speediness of Nikon’s repair service. Also I liked the fact that their website gave me detailed tracking information about the camera repair. I definitively will start with Plan B next time.

Ausblick

To get started with a Nikon Repair go to the following web page: http://form.nikonimagesvcapprove.com/

Good luck with your Nikon camera!