D70 shutting off randomly.

[DeemZ]

Hello Nikon people, weird thing happened with my D70...

I got the D70 off someone who used it for Studio use. It had 43k shutter actuations. I got it, and the e-shutter was syncing wrong, before it eventually locked up with the mirror down. I sent it to a repair shop, cancelled the repair, and the camera... somehow miraculously worked again? With none of the artifacts that I had before (black bar on the bottom of the screen indicating some timing issue with the e-shutter and mechanical shutter). I tested at speeds where the e-shutter kicks in, and signs of blooming is present, indicating the sensor can at least gate properly.

I was using my D70 for a walkaround, and got in 70-80 shots before I ran the buffer through. Suddenly, the camera shut off, and locked with the mirror up and shutter closed with little to no explanation, with a classic in-and-out of the battery not doing me any favors.
I get home, pop in a new battery, and the camera fires on with an 'Err' screen on the top LCD which cleared after one shutter actuation. The "photo" that the D70 took came out as a corrupted NEF, and can't be read on both the camera and the PC. Camera seems to operate fine afterwards, but what baffles me is that the battery only needed 10-15 minutes of charging before it was fully juiced. This seems to indicate that (alongside the corrupted NEF and the weird state the mirror was in) the camera shut off on its own for some weird reason.

I'm using a Kingma EN-EL3E battery with a Kingma charger. I don't have access to an original Nikon battery since it came with no battery.
I'm using a Sandisk Extreme 32gb adapted with an off-the-shelf SD to CF adapter.

Any... help?

 

[SoCalAngler]

Hello Nikon people, weird thing happened with my D70...

I got the D70 off someone who used it for Studio use. It had 43k shutter actuations. I got it, and the e-shutter was syncing wrong, before it eventually locked up with the mirror down. I sent it to a repair shop, cancelled the repair, and the camera... somehow miraculously worked again? With none of the artifacts that I had before (black bar on the bottom of the screen indicating some timing issue with the e-shutter and mechanical shutter). I tested at speeds where the e-shutter kicks in, and signs of blooming is present, indicating the sensor can at least gate properly.

I was using my D70 for a walkaround, and got in 70-80 shots before I ran the buffer through. Suddenly, the camera shut off, and locked with the mirror up and shutter closed with little to no explanation, with a classic in-and-out of the battery not doing me any favors.
I get home, pop in a new battery, and the camera fires on with an 'Err' screen on the top LCD which cleared after one shutter actuation. The "photo" that the D70 took came out as a corrupted NEF, and can't be read on both the camera and the PC. Camera seems to operate fine afterwards, but what baffles me is that the battery only needed 10-15 minutes of charging before it was fully juiced. This seems to indicate that (alongside the corrupted NEF and the weird state the mirror was in) the camera shut off on its own for some weird reason.

I have had similar behavior with newer bodies like my D7100 and the battery was the problem as well as my old D40. In each case it was a third party battery, not a Nikon battery. The third party battery seemed to recharge really quickly as you described.

Replacing with even a mostly discharged Nikon battery and I would get an "Err" which cleared after one actuation.

You might try picking up another third party battery.

I'm using a Kingma EN-EL3E battery with a Kingma charger. I don't have access to an original Nikon battery since it came with no battery.
I'm using a Sandisk Extreme 32gb adapted with an off-the-shelf SD to CF adapter.
Any... help?

 

[Models By Day]

If the battery charges in less the 30 mins, or even quicker the battery is most likely very close to dead or soon will die.

I had a 3rd party battery for the D300 and it did not last very long. I still have the original Enel3 for my D300 and it works fine. I have an original D50 battery that still works.

I do however also have a Grip for my D300 that works with AA batteries so if my original fails I will be able to just start using AA batteries

 

[DeemZ]

Bought another brand (Powerextra), still does the same even with a fresh battery. Looked at the charger that the battery came with, and it seemed to show 3 bars out of four at the battery that the camera rejects, which shows it's still fairly juiced despite. Makes me think it's something in regards to the camera

 

[DeemZ]

Really weird... I picked up a Powerextra battery and it's still going through the same motions. The only way I found to remedy it consistently is to only put the battery in the camera when I need to take a photo. Some friends on other communities suggested it could be a bad capacitor, but I have my doubts.

Regardless, I quite literally bought the camera for 30 dollars, and I think it'd be more useful as a doorstop if I can't fix it with another 30 dollars worth of battery...

 

[Models By Day]

Have you checked the contacts in the camera, try clean them. I never really know how or what is the best way to clean them.

Are there any camera clubs near you, maybe someone has a system with Nikon Batteries that you might be able to test camera with. Just in case it has something to do with battery.

 

[DeemZ]

Have a friend that has a D200, but I don't think he has any genuine Nikon batteries

 

[Bob A L]

All kinds of Nikon dslr's that are better and much newer available for $50-$100 with a battery and warranty from MPB and probably KEH, B&H, etc. Not worth trying to buy new batteries for a D70 that exhibits those problems.

 

[DeemZ]

Friend said as much, and told me to run the thing to the ground with the things I know already. I'm not looking into another Nikon DSLR currently, since I'm predominantly a Fuji shooter, but I won't toss up an S5 Pro

 

[Tord S Eriksson]

Hello Nikon people, weird thing happened with my D70...

I got the D70 off someone who used it for Studio use. It had 43k shutter actuations. I got it, and the e-shutter was syncing wrong, before it eventually locked up with the mirror down. I sent it to a repair shop, cancelled the repair, and the camera... somehow miraculously worked again? With none of the artifacts that I had before (black bar on the bottom of the screen indicating some timing issue with the e-shutter and mechanical shutter). I tested at speeds where the e-shutter kicks in, and signs of blooming is present, indicating the sensor can at least gate properly.

I was using my D70 for a walkaround, and got in 70-80 shots before I ran the buffer through. Suddenly, the camera shut off, and locked with the mirror up and shutter closed with little to no explanation, with a classic in-and-out of the battery not doing me any favors.
I get home, pop in a new battery, and the camera fires on with an 'Err' screen on the top LCD which cleared after one shutter actuation. The "photo" that the D70 took came out as a corrupted NEF, and can't be read on both the camera and the PC. Camera seems to operate fine afterwards, but what baffles me is that the battery only needed 10-15 minutes of charging before it was fully juiced. This seems to indicate that (alongside the corrupted NEF and the weird state the mirror was in) the camera shut off on its own for some weird reason.

I have had similar behavior with newer bodies like my D7100 and the battery was the problem as well as my old D40. In each case it was a third party battery, not a Nikon battery. The third party battery seemed to recharge really quickly as you described.

Replacing with even a mostly discharged Nikon battery and I would get an "Err" which cleared after one actuation.

You might try picking up another third party battery.

I'm using a Kingma EN-EL3E battery with a Kingma charger. I don't have access to an original Nikon battery since it came with no battery.
I'm using a Sandisk Extreme 32gb adapted with an off-the-shelf SD to CF adapter.
Any... help?

I have only had good experience with DSTE batteries for my Nikon bodies (various sizes of batteries), even when DSTE was made in the British dominion of Hong Kong).

--

tordseriksson (at) gmail.....
Owner of a handful of Nikon cameras. And a few lenses.
WSSA #456

 

[Tord S Eriksson]

If the battery charges in less the 30 mins, or even quicker the battery is most likely very close to dead or soon will die.

I had a 3rd party battery for the D300 and it did not last very long. I still have the original Enel3 for my D300 and it works fine. I have an original D50 battery that still works.

I do however also have a Grip for my D300 that works with AA batteries so if my original fails I will be able to just start using AA batteries

One of my original EN-EL15s worked for years, while my last Nikon EN-EL15 was very crappy (losing charge very fast) my DSTE batteries have always surprised me, so nowadays half of my batteries are Nikon and half are DSTE! Worst have Hähnel's been!

 

[cosmicnode]

Hello Nikon people, weird thing happened with my D70...

I got the D70 off someone who used it for Studio use. It had 43k shutter actuations. I got it, and the e-shutter was syncing wrong, before it eventually locked up with the mirror down. I sent it to a repair shop, cancelled the repair, and the camera... somehow miraculously worked again? With none of the artifacts that I had before (black bar on the bottom of the screen indicating some timing issue with the e-shutter and mechanical shutter). I tested at speeds where the e-shutter kicks in, and signs of blooming is present, indicating the sensor can at least gate properly.

I was using my D70 for a walkaround, and got in 70-80 shots before I ran the buffer through. Suddenly, the camera shut off, and locked with the mirror up and shutter closed with little to no explanation, with a classic in-and-out of the battery not doing me any favors.
I get home, pop in a new battery, and the camera fires on with an 'Err' screen on the top LCD which cleared after one shutter actuation. The "photo" that the D70 took came out as a corrupted NEF, and can't be read on both the camera and the PC. Camera seems to operate fine afterwards, but what baffles me is that the battery only needed 10-15 minutes of charging before it was fully juiced. This seems to indicate that (alongside the corrupted NEF and the weird state the mirror was in) the camera shut off on its own for some weird reason.

I'm using a Kingma EN-EL3E battery with a Kingma charger. I don't have access to an original Nikon battery since it came with no battery.
I'm using a Sandisk Extreme 32gb adapted with an off-the-shelf SD to CF adapter.
Any... help?

This could be your problem. The only time I have had problems with a camera of that vintage not working, was using a card that the camera did not like. whilst compact flash cards are no longer available you could try buying a used 4 or 8gb card by good manufacturer, I have several camera's using compact flash and even cards 15year old still work well.

 

[DeemZ]

I remedied the situation by taking the battery out of the camera when not using it, which seemed to decrease the amount of battery drain and the camera shutting off randomly. I don't think it's quite worth my time to go rummaging for some other thing when I've spent the price of the body on new 3rd party batteries (Powerextras) that didn't remedy the situation, but I'll keep this in mind when I do end up troubleshooting it again. Thanks!