Sub command dial works intermittently

JC565

New member
Im gonna vent first. Im a bit peeved that people pass stuff off on ebay as fully functional when its beat up crap that works "sorta'' and i guess they just hope you won't notice.

Ok anyways. The sub command dial only seems to register when it wants. Not every click. It gets where i want eventually, but i might have to spin it 4 or 5 times. Is there anyway to clean this easily? Entire camera was filthy actually...can i send the whole thing out to be cleaned? Its got less than 20k shots on it.

If this is some huge deal that's going to cost hundreds of dollars I'm sending it back and asking paypal for my money back. The add said 'fully functional'
 
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hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Did you contact the seller and let them know? I thought ebay offered some type of buyer's protection...or is that only if items are paid by PayPal? I'd try to return it if it was me.
 

JC565

New member
I havent let the seller know yet. I saw that the dials were only 12 bucks on ebay. so if its not hugely expensive to fix, i wouldnt mind doing it. (hence my post/question)

i do want a 7200 anyway..so... lol this one more than likely getting sent back.
 

spb_stan

Senior Member
If it works some of the time, it is probably the very common problem with all switches, jack normalizing contacts, potentiometers and connectors: Exposure to atmospheric oxygen oxidizes metal surfaces and becomes an oxide of the metal, which is a very good insulator.All metal get is but the rubbing action and normal use usually prevents the moving contact surface from building up too thick a layer of metallic-oxide. It is not a bad thing, it protects the surface from deeper oxidation normally and is actually intentionally added to metals such as aluminium because it oxidizes rapidly after smelting. If cut into a bar of aluminium you see a bright shiny mirror like surface but the undisturbed surface it the normal dull gray "aluminium"color. That is surface if coated with aluminium-oxide. The same oxide that keeps plates of capacitors from conduction able to prevent hundreds of volts from conduction between the plates that are only a few micrometers thick.

If the camera sat for a while there is a good bet it developed the problem while sitting and was not known to the owner before he shipped it.
It is easy to fix, there are de-oxidizing chemicals which attract the oxygen more than the the metal does and wash it away. Most sprays labeled as Contact Cleaner are the worst thing possible for contacts, look for a de-oxidizer instead. Caig Laboratories makes a whole line of liquids and sprays used in the electronics industry to fix oxidized contacts. A 5% spray solution that is very effective is DeoxIT #DN5S-6N There is a version without the N suffix that does not dry as fast which is best for moving contacts. But being inside a camera, I suggest the N version. For those in Europe, Cramolin ContactClean is about the same, maybe better since they invented the chemical back in the 1960s and licensed it to Caig Laboratories which was their US distributor at the time.
IF this is the problem and if the wheel feels normal, smooth and sure on each detent, it most likely is, than getting a tiny bit inside the switch means pulling the side cover off and applying a little so it flows into the contact area. It is very thin and wets easily so you do not have to get inside the switch. With the remainder, if you have any hi-fi gear with scratchy static sounds from the speakers when turning the volume controls,or treble control this will fix it instantly.

If the switch feels odd, uneven when moving around the detents, it is probably the switch itself. Easy to replace but harder to get inside to replace it.
 
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