Nikon D700 may have broken contact pins for battery

[raid]

I have a nice looking Nikon D700, and I have enjoyed using it for a brief time now. I may have pushed the memory card too hard into the card compartment, and now the camera does not work. I ordered a new card (not SANDISK) just to check out the possibility that it was the card brand that was not working well with the D700. Nothing works. I looked at the card compartment, but I do not see anything broken. Some people advised me to somehow straighten out any bent pins. 😕

I either get the camera repaired, or throw it away. Is it worth it? Who checks out such DSLR cameras for such an issue?

Any advice is welcomed! Thanks.

 

[Range-rover]

Hi Raid, It really depends how much it will cost to fix it, is it the battery or card reader
you mention (not Sandisk) just confused there, the D700 may be the best digital camera Nikon
has ever made. If it's in mint shape and you really love the camera get it fixed but! that
really depends on how much the repair would be, there's so many being sold on ebay it
may be better to get another one.

 

[raid]

Hi Raid, It really depends how much it will cost to fix it, is it the battery or card reader
you mention (not Sandisk) just confused there, the D700 may be the best digital camera Nikon
has ever made. If it's in mint shape and you really love the camera get it fixed but! that
really depends on how much the repair would be, there's so many being sold on ebay it
may be better to get another one.

Of course you are correct. It is the card reader!
Let me correct my post.

I have no other DSLR, and I am used to RF cameras. I was happy about having the D700 since it was a change from Leica RF cameras for a while. I like changes in photography. I may have paid $300 for it. It looks nice, but I would not call it mint.

 

[DHK]

I still don’t know how I did it, but I once took apart a d1x and removed (not all the pins are active) a severely bent pin. It still works to this day. D700 is a great camera, but you can get one that works for $300. If it were me I’d sell it on here for $50 or something to someone who has the time and interest in learning how to fix things.

 

[rfaspen]

I feel your pain. My D700 broke on me during a long-planned photo trip......on first shot. Mine appears to be a bad shutter. I put it in a box in the closet and we haven't talked since. ��

 

[willie_901]

I suggest you mount the camera on a tripod such that you can see directly into the card slot.

With a bright light and some sort of magnifying glass, you should be able to see the pins.

If you have a decent smart phone you can use the camera in live, zoom mode instead of a magnifying glass. You can take a photo and examine it on a larger computer screen. Whether or not this is practical depends on the phone camera.

You should be able to see if one or more pins are bent or broken.If one or more pins are bent, then they can be straightened carefully using a probe with the appropriate length and width (very narrow, but inflexible). On-line computer repair sites sell these types of tools.

This method requires a some care because a bent pin can break off instead of bending to become straight. You don't have unlimited straightening attempts for this reason.

I was able to rescue a memory card slot using this method. Unfortunately I can't remember if it was a D200, 300, or 700.

If pin is broken the camera is trash (repair may not make economic sense). I have no idea how difficult it is to replace the card slot. However it would require a donor body and, I suspect, significant disassembly - assembly skills.

 

[DHK]

I suggest you mount the camera on a tripod such that you can see directly into the card slot.

With a bright light and some sort of magnifying glass, you should be able to see the pins.

If you have a decent smart phone you can use the camera in live, zoom mode instead of a magnifying glass. You can take a photo and examine it on a larger computer screen. Whether or not this is practical depends on the phone camera.

You should be able to see if one or more pins are bent or broken.If one or more pins are bent, then they can be straightened carefully using a probe with the appropriate length and width (very narrow, but inflexible). On-line computer repair sites sell these types of tools.

This method requires a some care because a bent pin can break off instead of bending to become straight. You don't have unlimited straightening attempts for this reason.

I was able to rescue a memory card slot using this method. Unfortunately I can't remember if it was a D200, 300, or 700.

If pin is broken the camera is trash (repair may not make economic sense). I have no idea how difficult it is to replace the card slot. However it would require a donor body and, I suspect, significant disassembly - assembly skills.

This is a good tip - and if you have iphone, put it into video mode with flash on and you can see quite well.