Is my D50 on its last legs? How do I know?

Kavika

My Nikon D50 has been giving me both the F-e-e and E-r-r messages. The book says find a service center. I want to know how long a camera lasts, how to figure out how many actuations have occurred, and whether it's worth repairing in this case.

Online research brought me to a program called Opanda IExif which is supposed to display the number of actuations when you right click on an image. But I don't see any number like that in the data that the program reveals.

Any suggestions ???

I'd also love to hear from Nikon D90 owners as that may be my next step.

Thank you!

DoctorIt

Hi Kavika, I've moved your thread to the Gear > Cameras forum, this is where we discuss gear. Although you were drawn to the Nikon in "Nikon Land", that is the flea market, for buying and selling.

thanks,

catspaw

Do you have an aperture ring on your lenses? I know if I forget to lock it, I'll get those errors a lot, and yes with my D50 (since that's the one that uses those lenses).

otherwise, describe what you are doing when you get those errors?

Regardless of 'last legs' or not, sending it in for regular maintenance is ALWAYS a good idea! After several years of hard use, lots of things can get worn down or out of alignment. Mine is in for service right now even though there's nothing specific, but I've used it a long time with tens of thousands of shots. It cost me about $11 to ship it to Nikon and they'll contact me for approval before any repairs or the such. Check their website for information on service.

Kavika

catspaw wrote:

Do you have an aperture ring on your lenses? I know if I forget to lock it, I'll get those errors a lot, and yes with my D50 (since that's the one that uses those lenses).

otherwise, describe what you are doing when you get those errors?

Regardless of 'last legs' or not, sending it in for regular maintenance is ALWAYS a good idea! After several years of hard use, lots of things can get worn down or out of alignment. Mine is in for service right now even though there's nothing specific, but I've used it a long time with tens of thousands of shots. It cost me about $11 to ship it to Nikon and they'll contact me for approval before any repairs or the such. Check their website for information on service.

No aperture ring on my one and only lens: Nikon ED AF Nikkor 28-200 3.5-5.6 G (a fabulous lens, worth the splurge way back when)

The error messages appeared after turning on the camera and taking one picture. Then they came and went as I turned the camera on and off and changed the mode ring. In the end I was able to take a number of shots, so I have no idea how serious the problem is.

catspaw

Kavika wrote:

No aperture ring on my one and only lens: Nikon ED AF Nikkor 28-200 3.5-5.6 G (a fabulous lens, worth the splurge way back when)

The error messages appeared after turning on the camera and taking one picture. Then they came and went as I turned the camera on and off and changed the mode ring. In the end I was able to take a number of shots, so I have no idea how serious the problem is.

Could your mode ring not be clicking all the way into place for the 'next' mode? That'd definitely cause err messages. At least you were able to get past it. If you CAN reproduce it, that'll definitely help Nikon if you send it in for service.

ziggy53

Kavika wrote:

My Nikon D50 has been giving me both the F-e-e and E-r-r messages. The book says find a service center. I want to know how long a camera lasts, how to figure out how many actuations have occurred, and whether it's worth repairing in this case.

Online research brought me to a program called Opanda IExif which is supposed to display the number of actuations when you right click on an image. But I don't see any number like that in the data that the program reveals.

Any suggestions ???

I'd also love to hear from Nikon D90 owners as that may be my next step.

Thank you!

Leah is giving you good advice about what can cause the errors and how to rectify.

When you use Opanda IExif, make sure you are working against a JPG fresh from the camera and before the file is processed with any software. The shutter count should be in the "Maker Notes" section of the data from IExif.

Kavika

catspaw wrote:

Could your mode ring not be clicking all the way into place for the 'next' mode? That'd definitely cause err messages. At least you were able to get past it. If you CAN reproduce it, that'll definitely help Nikon if you send it in for service.

Thanks for the input. Do you have any idea how to find out how many shots I've taken with the camera? My download of Opanda IExif has not revealed that number as predicted by users ...

Cygnus Studios

It is near the bottom on Opanda.

Will say: Total Number of S = ?????

Kavika

ziggy53 wrote:

Leah is giving you good advice about what can cause the errors and how to rectify.

When you use Opanda IExif, make sure you are working against a JPG fresh from the camera and before the file is processed with any software. The shutter count should be in the "Maker Notes" section of the data from IExif.

AH HAH MOMENT ! Used Opanda IExif to open the image, and way down the list under Maker Notes it says Total Number of Shutter Releases for Camera .... 43760



Soooo, is that number high ???

ziggy53

Kavika wrote:

AH HAH MOMENT ! Used Opanda IExif to open the image, and way down the list under Maker Notes it says Total Number of Shutter Releases for Camera .... 43760



Soooo, is that number high ???

Most estimates for the Nikon D50 shutter life are around 40-50K, so yes, that is rather high and the shutter may be approaching its design lifetime. The mirror box is another highly mechanical part of the camera and may also be close to the end of the design life. If you find that the shutter is failing and send it in, Nikon may also wish to replace the mirror box at the same time.

If the shutter is needing repair it may be better to think about a new body as I think the D50 is pretty well devalued and repairs may not be economically prudent.

Kavika

ziggy53 wrote:

Most estimates for the Nikon D50 shutter life are around 40-50K, so yes, that is rather high and the shutter may be approaching its design lifetime. The mirror box is another highly mechanical part of the camera and may also be close to the end of the design life. If you find that the shutter is failing and send it in, Nikon may also wish to replace the mirror box at the same time.

If the shutter is needing repair it may be better to think about a new body as I think the D50 is pretty well devalued and repairs may not be economically prudent.

Thanks Ziggy. I'd like to get a new body myself ... last week I had surgery for a detached retina. Nothing like needles and freezing cryo therapy tools in your eye to make one yearn for a new body!

catspaw

Kavika wrote:

Thanks Ziggy. I'd like to get a new body myself ... last week I had surgery for a detached retina. Nothing like needles and freezing cryo therapy tools in your eye to make one yearn for a new body!

psssssst. Best buy online is still doing the D200s for $599.

just saying

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7633313&st=d200&type=product&id=1130987191339

Kavika

catspaw wrote:

psssssst. Best buy online is still doing the D200s for $599.

just saying

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7633313&st=d200&type=product&id=1130987191339

Leah, I read Ken Rockwell's page on best cameras, and he praises the D40 then jumps to the D90. Any opinion on those vs the D200? I've only used the D50. Thanks in advance.

catspaw

Kavika wrote:

Leah, I read Ken Rockwell's page on best cameras, and he praises the D40 then jumps to the D90. Any opinion on those vs the D200? I've only used the D50. Thanks in advance.

Not really since my D200 is arriving today However, Thom does EXCELLENT detailed reviews. check them out at bythom.com

D200: http://bythom.com/d200review.htm

You can read his D90 one for comparison on specs too:
http://bythom.com/nikond90review.htm

good luck either way!!

Kavika

I'll be interested to hear how you like you D200. I've read a number of slightly negative reviews on it at DP Review, here:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read_opinions.asp?prodkey=nikon_d200

The criticism that really stopped me in my tracks related to visible noise at ISO 100 !!!!!!!!!

catspaw wrote:

Not really since my D200 is arriving today However, Thom does EXCELLENT detailed reviews. check them out at bythom.com

D200: http://bythom.com/d200review.htm

You can read his D90 one for comparison on specs too:
http://bythom.com/nikond90review.htm

good luck either way!!

ziggy53

Kavika wrote:

I'll be interested to hear how you like you D200. I've read a number of slightly negative reviews on it at DP Review, here:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read_opinions.asp?prodkey=nikon_d200

The criticism that really stopped me in my tracks related to visible noise at ISO 100 !!!!!!!!!

The reality is that the Nikon D200 is a very competent and responsive older CCD based camera. It does have visible noise at ISO 1600 and beyond and I do not recommend it for high-ISO applications.

Any camera can be forced to produce ISO 100 shadow noise if seriously underexposed and you really need to rely more on the professional reviewers in this regard.

The Nikon D300 and D90 do have better imagers for high-ISO if that's your major concern. Of course, the Nikon D3 and D700 and even the D3x blow those cameras away with even more competent high-ISO performance.

The Nikon D200 is a very sturdy and responsive camera and works nicely at normal ISOs and should be considered a value for its positive qualities, unless you absolutely need those qualities provided by the more modern counterparts.

Kavika

ziggy53 wrote:

The reality is that the Nikon D200 is a very competent and responsive older CCD based camera. It does have visible noise at ISO 1600 and beyond and I do not recommend it for high-ISO applications.

Any camera can be forced to produce ISO 100 shadow noise if seriously underexposed and you really need to rely more on the professional reviewers in this regard.

The Nikon D300 and D90 do have better imagers for high-ISO if that's your major concern. Of course, the Nikon D3 and D700 and even the D3x blow those cameras away with even more competent high-ISO performance.

The Nikon D200 is a very sturdy and responsive camera and works nicely at normal ISOs and should be considered a value for its positive qualities, unless you absolutely need those qualities provided by the more modern counterparts.

Thanks for your help with the IExif stuff. Okay now, is 43760 actuations a high number for my D50? How do I find that kind of information? Thanks again.

ziggy53

Kavika wrote:

Thanks for your help with the IExif stuff. Okay now, is 43760 actuations a high number for my D50? How do I find that kind of information? Thanks again.

Nikon has never made a formal announcement of the life expectancy of the D70 or D50 but it is generally presumed to be 40-50K actuations. If you Google for "D50 shutter life" or "D50 shutter rating" or "D50 shutter actuations" you will find much discussion but no official rating. At any rate there is no hard and fast number, only an estimate when given.

It is my opinion that yes, your camera is probably far into the expected life of the mechanical components.

As I mentioned before, if the shutter is near the end of its life, the mirror box may also be needing replacement. The combination of these 2 replacements may be close to the current value of the camera.

If you really think that the shutter is near failure you may be better off just replacing the camera, either with a used D50 with a lower shutter count or with another model altogether.