Nikon D70 is DEAD!! - Any ideas??

Canon EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM

05/22/2005 11:32:57 AM · #1

Alright, so there is this huge car show in town yesterday that I normally miss, but remembered this year. I got up early yesterday morning, the sun was perfect, so I got around because ti was a perfect day for photographing custom cars.

So I grab my D70 toss the flash card in it and turn it on to format the card and the read/write light is flashing. I wait a bit thinking it's just reading the card, but it doesn't stop. I shut off the camera and the light keeps flashing. Pull the battery for a few minutes, replace it and the same thing. Try a new flash card, same thing. Try the reset button, but that does nothing either. OK, I'm freaking out now.

So here are the sysmptoms...

- read/write light flashing whether the camera is on or off
- if I push the Menu button the LCD display just flashes once
- nothing is showing up on the control panel display
- changing batteries, flash card, or doing a reset makes no difference

Any of you Nikon folks have any ideas?

I'm off to start scouring the Internetfor ideas, since I now have my Internet access back, after a dump truck went down the alley beside my house and ripped all the cables out of my house. Talk about a crappy weekend!

Thanks!

ClubJuggle

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

05/22/2005 11:36:21 AM · #2

What happens if you boot it up with no flash card present?

grigrigirl

Nikon D3

Nikon AF Fisheye-Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8G IF-ED DX

05/22/2005 11:38:14 AM · #3

Im thinking the D70 has a short life expectancy. My D70 shutter started acting up after owning it for 5 months. Of course, Im sure I had shot over 40,000 frames with it in that time. I read somewhere that the life expectancy of this camera is about 40,000 frames. I know this doesnt help. Perrsonally, Im not impressed with the D70. Seems more of a disposable camera. My D100 is far more rugged and long lasting.

Nikon AF Fisheye-Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8G IF-ED DX

05/22/2005 11:51:21 AM · #4

Originally posted by ClubJuggle:

What happens if you boot it up with no flash card present?

Nothing.

I'm starting to find in other forums that this seems to be somewhat common. It also seems to be common that is happening after about a year of use, and wouldn't you know it I bought mine the end of March 2004. Hmmm..

Gonna be fun shooting weddings with no camera!! Urgh!

grigrigirl

Nikon D3

05/22/2005 11:57:26 AM · #5

If your going to be shooting weddings for a living, you need to invest in a camera meant for professional use. Even a used d1h or d2h would be better than a new d70...i think.

Nikon D200

05/22/2005 11:58:14 AM · #6

Look here: Flashing Green Light of Death

Message edited by author 2005-05-22 11:59:46.

05/22/2005 12:07:12 PM · #7

Originally posted by grigrigirl:

If your going to be shooting weddings for a living, you need to invest in a camera meant for professional use. Even a used d1h or d2h would be better than a new d70...i think.

That's my plan, but have to get the money first. I've been hoping the "D200" would be coming out soon, because I can't afford a D2X. Right now all my money has been going into the bank so I can afford something new.

Unless you want to send me the cash. :-)

Message edited by author 2005-05-22 12:09:44.

05/22/2005 12:09:00 PM · #8

Originally posted by A1275:

Look here: Flashing Green Light of Death

Thanks. Another good one from Steve's Digicams
My D70 has died!

Nikon D200

05/22/2005 12:10:39 PM · #9

Chris, is it possible that your internal battery is dead? Have you left the camera with the power off and a fully charged battery in it and then tried the reset button? I had that problem once with a Blackberry - I had to stick a brand-new battery in it, let it sit overnight while the internal battery took a charge from it and then put another brand new battery in it and reset it and then it worked great.

05/22/2005 12:27:00 PM · #10

Originally posted by A1275:

It's not that. It was sitting with a charged battery when it happened. I had actually used the camera earlier in the week to change some in camera settings. Then when I turned it on yesterday, it was dead.

My sypmtoms are the same as the others that have reported the "flashing green light of death" in the 13th month on several forums.

We'll see what happens with Nikon Service. Hopefully they stand behing their product and fix it, so I don't have to get nasty. ;-)

Fujifilm XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS

05/22/2005 07:04:24 PM · #11

In case anyone else encounters this problem, I want to include all the information I found in this thread.

Here is another very good discussion on this subject. Seems to be happening to some of the D70 that were produced before Sept '04.

//forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=115946&page=1&pp=20

This is supposed to be an explanation of the problem that someone got from a Nikon tech.
D70 Failure Explanation

For the record, I purchased end of March 2004 and had 5300 shutter releases when it failed.

I'd be curious to hear if anyone else with an early release D70 ever encounters this.

DanSig

05/22/2005 07:07:56 PM · #12

if the D70 is dead, just give it a proper funeral and buy a Canon ;)

Message edited by author 2005-05-22 19:08:14.

buzzrock

Fujifilm X-M1

05/22/2005 07:13:52 PM · #13

Originally posted by DanSig:

if the D70 is dead, just give it a proper funeral and buy a Canon ;)

So this can Happen?

help, 300D dead? :)

Chris, I hope it gets fixed soon.

Message edited by author 2005-05-22 19:14:51.

Maverick

Nikon D200

Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di for Nikon

05/22/2005 07:40:39 PM · #14

Originally posted by cbeller:

For the record, I purchased end of March 2004 and had 5300 shutter releases when it failed.

I'd be curious to hear if anyone else with an early release D70 ever encounters this.

Mine was purchased at about the same time and has a similar shutter count. I sent it to Nikon a few months ago for regular maintenance and figure that they fixed whatever causes this since it hasn't happened to me as of yet. Just curious, had you sent your camera to one of their repair shops prior to experiencing this problem? It seems to be a common problem, not sure if I'm just lucky or if Nikon does anything to prevent it under regular maintenance. Thanks

digitalpins

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM

05/22/2005 07:53:05 PM · #15

wow that sucks about your d70 and the guy posting about his 300. I just got a rebel 350 I hope that does not happen with mine.

05/22/2005 10:18:45 PM · #16

Originally posted by Maverick:

Nope, I had never sent it in because I hadn't had a single problem with it. I had thought about sending it in for a good cleaning, but hadn't got around to it yet. I guess it'll get cleaned now, and maybe even a firmware upgrade. ;-)

Edit: I did read that people that had Nikon Service work on their D70 automatically had this part replaced while Nikon had it.

Message edited by author 2005-05-22 22:20:18.

dacrazyrn

07/02/2005 08:55:11 AM · #17

So Chris, what happened with that?
Mine just did the flashing green light of death yesterday! around 5000 shots and 13 months to the day on the purchase date. I had sent it in a month after I got it after a shutter relaese problem. Now they tell me to send it in again. Obviously just barely out of warranty...not usure what I am going to do if I have to PAY to have it fixed (besides get extremely PISSED OFF! (C:
Read in many places that this was a known issue by the way.

dacrazyrn

07/02/2005 06:22:00 PM · #18

anyone else been throughthis yet?

deapee

Kodak V803

Fujifilm XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS

07/02/2005 06:30:02 PM · #19

hrmm...where does it say what date your d70 was manufactured?

ursula

Fujifilm X-T2

07/02/2005 06:43:21 PM · #20

Oh boy, I'm in my 13th month with my D70, and many, many shots. Now I'm nervous.

07/02/2005 10:08:45 PM · #21

I haven't had mine for over a month now. I took it to my local shop and he sent it in for me. Nikon replied back it was not covered under warranty and it would be about $271. He then went to his Nikon rep, and the rep said he would "take care of it". Still waiting to see what is gonna happen.

rscorp

Nikon D70

07/02/2005 10:17:31 PM · #22

The pop-up flash on my D70 broke two days ago. Hit the button to pop it up, now it won't close. It will stay down enough that the flash won't fire, but will not lock in place. Nice.

deapee

Kodak V803

07/02/2005 10:50:38 PM · #23

oh come on now you're all starting to scare me. Seriously though, where do you find the build date on your camera...trying to see if I have the pre-sept, 2004 one or one built after.

07/02/2005 11:04:40 PM · #24

Originally posted by deapee:

oh come on now you're all starting to scare me. Seriously though, where do you find the build date on your camera...trying to see if I have the pre-sept, 2004 one or one built after.

I think it's on the bottom by the serial number, but I can't verify that because I have my flash bracket on.

I wouldn't be too scared. I bought a second one when I sent mine in. =)

deapee

Kodak V803