My Nikon D200 recently developed a very irritating fault when used in conjunction with the SB800 flash unit. The flash would fire at random and with a lowish intensity, often when the camera was moved, but sometimes when just framing a shot. Annoying for everybody in the vicinity, and me too.
A trawl around the web confirmed my suspicions. From new the flash has always been able to move very slightly in the hot shoe. Not a problem up to now and in the past I have seen others advising that the sloppy fit is not a problem. It isn't, until this intermittent flashing starts and then it appears there is no going back. The problem doesn't go away. The cause is the hotshoe itself. On other cameras the flash fits very snugly but on the D200 the pressed flanges don't, despite little springs existing underneath, stop the movement of the gun. I imagine that over time, the weight of the flash jiggling around in the hotshoe could actually increase the tolerance of the gap allowing further movement and thus start the gun shorting its contacts producing the annoying random flashing.
Well, that was my theory. What to do about it? Some solutions put forward on various forums (fora?) included adding rubber strips into the hotshoe, adding thin foil or metal shim into the hotshoe, or give up and let Nikon sort it out. Neither of the first two seemed very permanent solutions that would stand up to hard work, and both seemed very fiddly. Unless the camera is under warranty (and mine isn't) the Nikon path would be expensive.
So, in this situation, who dares wins. It seemed to me that the problem lay in the pressing of the hotshoe flanges and the fact that if they were pushed down towards the contacts by a fraction of a millimetre they would grip the flashgun properly eliminating the movement. Brute force is necessary to bend the pressing though so from this point on the cure is not for the faint of heart. I placed the camera body upright on a wooden table. Then I got a metal woodworking clamp, in my case a 12 inch Record Quickcramp and set the top fixed jaw onto the right hand flange of the hotshoe. I set the shaft of the clamp at a slight angle so that when pressure was brought to bear it would push down on the edge of the flange over the contacts. The ball and socket foot on the tightening screw compensated for the slight angle. Time to tighten. I made 3 or 4 small turns of the screw and checked the flash. It seemed a better fit. Another slight increase in pressure and then repeat the procedure on the other flange, with the clamp angled the other way of course. Check the fit.... job done. Now the flash fits snugly with no movement and I can shake the camera and gun without any stray flash being produced. The whole assembly feels much more secure.
As I say, not for the faint hearted, but the result is worth it. I figured the camera body is metal and can take a bit of pressure and that a pressing that has already been folded is more likely to distort before a casting breaks This is a pro camera after all and designed to take a few knocks. However the amount of distortion needed to effect the change is tiny, indeed barely visible, so one isn't putting the camera under sustained pressure for very long. So if you are having the same problem give this a try, but be careful. It goes without saying that this is a cure that you undertake at your own risk....
A trawl around the web confirmed my suspicions. From new the flash has always been able to move very slightly in the hot shoe. Not a problem up to now and in the past I have seen others advising that the sloppy fit is not a problem. It isn't, until this intermittent flashing starts and then it appears there is no going back. The problem doesn't go away. The cause is the hotshoe itself. On other cameras the flash fits very snugly but on the D200 the pressed flanges don't, despite little springs existing underneath, stop the movement of the gun. I imagine that over time, the weight of the flash jiggling around in the hotshoe could actually increase the tolerance of the gap allowing further movement and thus start the gun shorting its contacts producing the annoying random flashing.
Well, that was my theory. What to do about it? Some solutions put forward on various forums (fora?) included adding rubber strips into the hotshoe, adding thin foil or metal shim into the hotshoe, or give up and let Nikon sort it out. Neither of the first two seemed very permanent solutions that would stand up to hard work, and both seemed very fiddly. Unless the camera is under warranty (and mine isn't) the Nikon path would be expensive.
So, in this situation, who dares wins. It seemed to me that the problem lay in the pressing of the hotshoe flanges and the fact that if they were pushed down towards the contacts by a fraction of a millimetre they would grip the flashgun properly eliminating the movement. Brute force is necessary to bend the pressing though so from this point on the cure is not for the faint of heart. I placed the camera body upright on a wooden table. Then I got a metal woodworking clamp, in my case a 12 inch Record Quickcramp and set the top fixed jaw onto the right hand flange of the hotshoe. I set the shaft of the clamp at a slight angle so that when pressure was brought to bear it would push down on the edge of the flange over the contacts. The ball and socket foot on the tightening screw compensated for the slight angle. Time to tighten. I made 3 or 4 small turns of the screw and checked the flash. It seemed a better fit. Another slight increase in pressure and then repeat the procedure on the other flange, with the clamp angled the other way of course. Check the fit.... job done. Now the flash fits snugly with no movement and I can shake the camera and gun without any stray flash being produced. The whole assembly feels much more secure.
As I say, not for the faint hearted, but the result is worth it. I figured the camera body is metal and can take a bit of pressure and that a pressing that has already been folded is more likely to distort before a casting breaks This is a pro camera after all and designed to take a few knocks. However the amount of distortion needed to effect the change is tiny, indeed barely visible, so one isn't putting the camera under sustained pressure for very long. So if you are having the same problem give this a try, but be careful. It goes without saying that this is a cure that you undertake at your own risk....
2 comments:
I haven't tried the fix yet but you described my problem exactly - so I will keep you posted!
See my later post..... I'll be interested to hear how you get on.
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