j_a_rankin
New member
Greetings, Nikonites. I had a really bad experience on eBay and am looking for advice from someone who's done camera repair on how best to proceed
In summary, I now own a damaged D5100. It's been returned to me after being beaten mercilessly by the Postal Service, suffering a broken lens mount (on the lens), cracked front cover, and damaged shutter. The first two items are rather easily repaired. The latter is not. The damage to the shutter is obvious - mirror up, one of the blades of the curtain closest to the lens is out of its track; when the shutter attempts to open/close, it instead bends into the mirror box. I tried coaxing it back into the track to no avail.
First question, if a shutter is this physically damaged state, would the AF not work? AF is not working, regardless which lens I try. The rest of the camera electronics, displays, dials, switches, etc. seem to operate correctly. The mirror operates as it should and the rear curtain operates behind the damaged one.
If the AF on the camera body is also damaged, that answers my question: sell it as scrap.
If the AF issue is only due to the damaged shutter, then I have a choice of whether to have it repaired or repair it myself.
Second question then is how possible is it to replace the shutter myself? I've replaced the front cover on a D5100 before, so I know I can get to the front part of the camera. Removing the top cover to access the top mounting of the mirror box then seems pretty straight-forward. Other screws hold it in place at the bottom - but I can't find any online reference for shutter replacement, so I'm not sure if the shutter can be replaced from the front - looks like three solder connections and two ribbon cables.
Thanks all in advance. Shame such a nice camera has met this untimely end.
In summary, I now own a damaged D5100. It's been returned to me after being beaten mercilessly by the Postal Service, suffering a broken lens mount (on the lens), cracked front cover, and damaged shutter. The first two items are rather easily repaired. The latter is not. The damage to the shutter is obvious - mirror up, one of the blades of the curtain closest to the lens is out of its track; when the shutter attempts to open/close, it instead bends into the mirror box. I tried coaxing it back into the track to no avail.
First question, if a shutter is this physically damaged state, would the AF not work? AF is not working, regardless which lens I try. The rest of the camera electronics, displays, dials, switches, etc. seem to operate correctly. The mirror operates as it should and the rear curtain operates behind the damaged one.
If the AF on the camera body is also damaged, that answers my question: sell it as scrap.
If the AF issue is only due to the damaged shutter, then I have a choice of whether to have it repaired or repair it myself.
Second question then is how possible is it to replace the shutter myself? I've replaced the front cover on a D5100 before, so I know I can get to the front part of the camera. Removing the top cover to access the top mounting of the mirror box then seems pretty straight-forward. Other screws hold it in place at the bottom - but I can't find any online reference for shutter replacement, so I'm not sure if the shutter can be replaced from the front - looks like three solder connections and two ribbon cables.
Thanks all in advance. Shame such a nice camera has met this untimely end.