D800 basket case

[Nathan Lanni]

I would agree with a lot of what you say, but he's asking what should he do, not a reassessment of how deep the swamp is.

If I correctly interpret your comment: Nikon tek's are gods, and just throw it away. TS pure and simple. Go get another one.

But if you read his statement he didn't get any information from Nikon except it's not cost economical. That's why I said more than likely they took one look at the camera and said forget it.

If you took your car to a mechanic and all he said was, "It's going to cost too much, that one's junk and go buy a new one." it might give you a moment of pause while your anus clinches up, especially if in a relative sense it's a +$100,000 car. You chase after the guy and say "Wait a minute, it's almost new and I'm still making payments. You got to give me something". His response is "Are you doubting me, I'm a car repair god! Now go away".

He came here a little pi**ed, then get's bashed about because he's letting off some steam, but so far I'm the only one who's offered the guy some practical alternatives to digging himself out of the hole he's dug for himself.

Let's face it, between your alternative of throw it away and my alternative of having another tech look at it, what's he got to lose? And as your photos clearly illustrate, the guts of that camera may be worth some money to a person who repairs cameras. At least it's an approach. That's all I'm saying.

And lastly, after looking at the camera frame photos, as somebody else said, plastic would have more durable. Middle photo: middle section with the lens ring appears to be detachable, but no doubt Nikon concluded taking the camera appart and replacing that piece, if you could even buy it, would be very expensive.

FWIW Cheers.

 

[riverside]

I would agree with a lot of what you say, but he's asking what should he do, not a reassessment of how deep the swamp is.

If I correctly interpret your comment is Nikon tek's are gods, and just throw it away. TS pure and simple. Go get another one.

But if you read his statement he didn't get any information from Nikon except it's not cost economical. That's why I said more than likely they took one look at the camera and said said forget it.

If you took your car to a mechanic and all he said was, "It's going to cost too much, that one's junk and go buy a new one." it might give you a moment of pause while your anus clinches up, especially if in a relative sense it's a +$100,000 car. You chase after the guy and say "Wait a minute, it's almost new and I'm still making payments. You got to give me something". His response is "Are you doubting me, I'm a car repair god! Now go away".

He came here a little pi**ed, then get's bashed about because he's letting off some steam, but so far I'm the only one who's offered the guy some practical alternatives to digging himself out of the hole he's dug for himself.

Let's face it, between your alternative of throw it away and my alternative of having another tech look at it, what's he got to lose? And as your photos clearly illustrate, the guts of that camera may be worth some money. At least it's an approach. That's all I'm saying.

FWIW Cheers.

That's certainly his decision. Without factory jigs I'd wonder what the cost might be to dismantle, test each component and assemble a D800 in a new body with a guarantee. $2300 refurbished by Nikon.

 

[Nathan Lanni]

Points well taken.

Cheers.

 

[Silver]

Yo FulThrotl, BOTH my D800's had oil droplets on the sensors right out of the box! My new one, to replace the infamous "basket case", has developed MORE too. I have the VisibleDust swab kit, but am SCARED TO DEATH to do it as of yet! Afraid I'm going to ruin the sensor. Meanwhile my totaled D800 sits quietly in my locked desk awaiting my own repair. I'm going to machine a steel or maybe aluminum body cap "duplicate", with a central hole, to use as a "puller". But it will be a while before I due it 'cause I'm doing as much shooting as I can, and rec. stuff. Ok, I'll swab it real soon.......

PS-- An additional comment on people not wanting to fix things: Back in '81 I had a '76 BMW R90S motorcycle stolen from me. About a year later it was recovered by the Camden Police Dept. in a drug raid. I got it back with a seized engine. I took the entire bike apart, as well as the engine, to repair it (this was before electronic stuff). I had to have the crankshaft journals ground and install oversize bearings. I called BMW North America for some advice on the crankshaft repairs. A GERMAN ENGINEER there told me that the crankshaft could not be repaired and that I had to buy a new one. He said part of it was because there were riveted-on auxiliary crank balancers on the shaft that needed to be removed in order to do the grind process, and that the counterweights could not be replaced. Well, I said Thank you very much, and then I found a machine shop that would do the work needed. They did it, at a very reasonable, almost ridiculous price, and I put the machine back together and drove it another 3K miles (not gingerly either) before selling it, and it was fine. Just another story..........

 

[Silver]

BTW, thank you again, one and all, for your additional comments, and photos of camera frames, etc., advice, encouragements, etc. Thanks!

 

[Marcel]

Ps- thanks for the advice on the lenspen. I'll definitely get one for the sensor. I have the regular lenspen for lenses.

I did try the lens pen on the sensor and was very scared because it did remove the dust, but it left smears. And they could be seen on a neutral background. I had to go wet cleaning to get rid of these lens pen's traces.

​This was my experience

 

[papa2jaja]

silver, I have the D800 and the D600, and for the D600 I've wet cleaned the sensor pretty often. The VisibleDust kit is good, I prefer it to any other kit. For oil droplets (if they really are oil droplets), make sure you initially use the SmearAway liquid (the red cap type of bottle if you purchased the kit with four swabs), and then do a second cleaning run with the DustAway liquid (green cap type of bottle if you purchased the kit with four swabs). Because the liquid for dust isn't too effective for oil droplets.

Be aware you may need more than one swab per cleaning run. And make sure it is really oil and there is nothing on the sensor which could scratch the sensor when you use the swab. You could use a sensor brush (carefully, though), quite a few people seem to use a rocket blower, I use a vacuum cleaning set to remove dust and potentially hard matter from the sensor without touching the sensor.

Regarding your qualms, cleaning a sensor is not per se difficult, but if you make certain mistakes (as outlined above) it can end in desaster. If your hands are shaking, or you tend to be clumsy, or you feel you don't know what could happen, then maybe better refrain from cleaning the sensor yourself.

OTOH, if your hands are steady and you are usually good with manual things, and you know what you are doing, sensor cleaning is not difficult. Just make sure there is nothing hard on the sensor before you use the swab, then make sure you get nothing except the cleaning liquid onto those swabs, and then wipe the swab from left to right, and back. Even within the camera, make sure not to touch anything within the camera (before and after wiping the sensor) except the sensor with the swab, because that might bring new dirt onto the sensor. Especially don't touch the mirror, it might come down (shouldn't, but could).

For me, this always worked well, the sensor was clean and also clean of residues of the cleaning liquid, although sometimes I had to use two swabs with each of the liquids (two swabs with the SmearAway, then two with the DustAway liquid), but in the end, the sensor was always clean.

Regarding your pushed in bayonet, if they say 'beyond repair', that means the price would exceed the current value of your camera. It does not necessarily mean it would be cheaper than a new camera. Looking at used camera prices, that probably means that it is not much cheaper than a new camera, but I would try to get an actual price, then you can still decide for yourself.