D3 err message with 1.7 & 500mm combo! Help! *update post 59*

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Richard Peters

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Hi all, I have a question that I wonder if someone might be able to answer.

A few weeks back I sold my D3 on eBay. It's been just over three weeks since I met the buyer in person to hand the camera over, but I've just heard back from the lady to say she is currently in Bosque, New Mexico, on a photo trip and that there is a problem with the D3.

She said that when she uses the body in combination with the Nikon 1.7x and the 500 VRII, an error message flashes up and camera refuses to focus. She tried the combo on another D3 and says it's fine on that one, so it must be the camera I sold her that is faulty. It's only when the 1.7 is introduced that the problem starts, although I'm informed she has tried the TC/Lens combo on another D3 and it works fine.

I've never had this issue or any others with it when I owned it and I certainly wouldn't have sold it with any such issue, but would of course like to try and find out what the problem could be. The camera had less than 35k clicks and was in fantastic condition, even though it was three years old.

So was wondering if anyone has experienced this type if thing before? The D3 has the 2.02 firmware, but I can't think of any other reason why this specific combo would not work?!? Dirty contacts maybe, but again seems really odd that it's just when the 1.7 is introduced that the problem arises. Otherwise it works fine.

Any help appreciated as I'd like to try and help solve the problem! Very perplexed to be honest :shrug:
 
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Martyn... said:
My 500 f4 AFS II and 1.7TC works fine on my D300, no problems auto focusing.

Possibly a dirty or sticking contact on the TC
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Doesn't make sense then. :thinking: Unless Nikon say it doesn't work to cover their arses and if it does, then good luck to you. :D


kev.
 
If Nikon says the combo doesn't work then I don't see how the purchaser can say it's a faulty purchase - surely if they say it doesn't but it does for 'you' then that's just a bonus?
 
scottthehat said:
do you know if the 2x will af on the 500mm, im believe i have seen somewhere that it does.
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That would be at f8 so would need good light, and only single point selected, never tried it myself.

Richard it may be that I always use single point focus, which may be the reason if she is set to multiple focus points.
 
Guys, I know officially Nikon say it will not autofocus but it does. Even my 600mm will AF with the 1.7x and even the new 2x, it's just slow. Hell I've even had my 600mm AF (not useably I admit) with a stacked 1.4 and 2x that have had the 'modification' to make them fit together.

The issue here is that on the D3 I sold her, the camera throws an ERR message and refuses to focus, but she tried the same combo on another D3 and it was fine. She said she has had to switch to her D300 backup when using this combo.

So it's not a simple case of 'they aren't compatible', because officially they are not but technically they are.

Although that would be the easy answer! :)


scottthehat said:
do you know if the 2x will af on the 500mm, im believe i have seen somewhere that it does.
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Yes it does, again very very slowly.
 
Thorough clean of all contacts and if that doesn't work then your choice of what to do. Personally if I sold one and someone who had taken it to Brazil told me that it didn't work when the manufacturer says it wouldn't work, I would be very dubious about seeing it as my problem.
Are there any issues when the D3 is set to manual?
 
kevshore said:
Sounds like a contact problem on the body then?

Kev.
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Thats my main thought right now. No idea why it would only show up when a TC is added - although, saying that, because officially its not compatible, maybe it makes it more susceptible to throwing up an error if there is dirt present. Sounds odd to me but hopefully it is just dirt!
 
They say certain combos are "no AF" because some Nikon bodies won't AF above f5.6.

What the list should say is that "won't AF on list 1 of bodies, will AF on list 2"

AFAIK, the D300, D700, D3, D3S and D3X all AF to f8, the other Nikon bodies only to f5.6.

The 1.7x and Nikon 500 f4 combo does work, I have used it. Sometimes the EXIF reporting details can be to cock though!

As to why she's having problems with the OP's D3... has she bent or snapped the aperture lever? Really easy to do... could be that?
 
Martyn... said:
That list differs to what I have found in practice

105VR "1.4 & 1.7TC No AF" mine does

300f4 "1.7TC No AF" mine does

200-400VR "1.7TC No AF" mine does

500 f4 "1.7TC No AF" mine does
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An explanation I read on another forum said that Nikon say lens/tc combos are incompatible if they don't produce acceptably good IQ results. That's acceptable to Nikon, by the way.

I've certaily used lens/tc combinations that are "incompatible" before without problem. It also depends on whether you use a Nikon TC or 3rd party one - all TCs are not made equal :)
 
Back to the OPs point, if Nikon say it won't work and it doesn't then there's no problem right?
Who cares if it works on another tog's body?
For all you (and her) know the other photographer's body had been modded in some way.
Heck if she tried the combo on 99 other d3 bodies and it worked on them all but not on the one you sold her you still have nothing to worry about because the camera you sold was 'fit for purpose'. If other models of the same camera go beyond being 'fit for purpose' it makes no difference.
 
andephotographic said:
Back to the OPs point, if Nikon say it won't work and it doesn't then there's no problem right?
Who cares if it works on another tog's body?
For all you (and her) know the other photographer's body had been modded in some way.
Heck if she tried the combo on 99 other d3 bodies and it worked on them all but not on the one you sold her you still have nothing to worry about because the camera you sold was 'fit for purpose'. If other models of the same camera go beyond being 'fit for purpose' it makes no difference.
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Yeah I get what your saying. There is something odd going on though because all the f4 super telephotos DO work with the teleconverters. And even if that was the issue it would just not focus, but this is throwing up the ERR message too. I'm just going to tell her to send it to Nikon and see what they say.
 
Richard Peters said:
Yeah I get what your saying. There is something odd going on though because all the f4 super telephotos DO work with the teleconverters. And even if that was the issue it would just not focus, but this is throwing up the ERR message too. I'm just going to tell her to send it to Nikon and see what they say.
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Be careful with your wording - she may take it that you're accepting responsibility for it and expect you to pay for any repair bill.
 
if nikon say no the only way to cover your arse is to point that out unless you want a chargeback.
 
Richard Peters said:
Hi all, I have a question that I wonder if someone might be able to answer.

A few weeks back I sold my D3 on eBay. It's been just over three weeks since I met the buyer in person to hand the camera over, but I've just heard back from the lady to say she is currently in Bosque, New Mexico, on a photo trip and that there is a problem with the D3.
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Are you a business seller or did you you specifically offer a warranty with the camera? If not then caveat emptor applies.
 
GoNz0 said:
if nikon say no the only way to cover your arse is to point that out unless you want a chargeback.
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She paid with bank transfer, not PayPal.

Flash In The Pan said:
Are you a business seller or did you you specifically offer a warranty with the camera? If not then caveat emptor applies.
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No I'm a private seller, the auction also stated the camera was no longer under warranty as it's three years old.

I don't want it to get ugly. I would like to try and help her figure out the issue but I think if cleaning contacts won't help she will need to send the body and 1.7 to Nikon and ask why those two combined lock the camera up. When it was my camera I used it with all three Nikon TCs with no issue.

My main problem here is that the lady has had the camera for over three weeks and taken it abroad before telling me there is a problem, and in that time I don't know what has happened to it. Could have been dropped, knocked, hand luggage bag fallen off an airport chair etc. When I sold it, it was in full working order, I wouldn't have sold it otherwise, and I wouldn't have made such a big song and dance about the sale by placing a big write up with a ton of images on my blog.

I think her best bet will be to send it in to Nikon for cleaning and service, it is 3 years old after all. I would like to get to the bottom of it though because I can fully appreciate how frustrating it must be!
 
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Why didn't she test it properly with all her gear before disappearing off? If you've just bought a 3 year old camera off ebay you don't wait til you're at your destination to test it. Sounds like she's a bit of an idiot.
 
well this is a hard one, but if it were me i would state that it was checked with your tcs before and has been used lots before with no problems, so all you can suggest is cleaning all the contacts and maybe chack the firmware and reset the camerea to defaults, then if no luck to contact nikon for advice(as it has to be something simple)
 
Richard Peters said:
She paid with bank transfer, not PayPal.


No I'm a private seller, the auction also stated the camera was no longer under warranty as it's three years old.

I don't want it to get ugly. I would like to try and help her figure out the issue but I think if cleaning contacts won't help she will need to send the body and 1.7 to Nikon and ask why those two combined lock the camera up. When it was my camera I used it with all three Nikon TCs with no issue.

My main problem here is that the lady has had the camera for over three weeks and taken it abroad before telling me there is a problem, and in that time I don't know what has happened to it. Could have been dropped, knocked, hand luggage bag fallen off an airport chair etc. When I sold it, it was in full working order, I wouldn't have sold it otherwise, and I wouldn't have made such a big song and dance about the sale by placing a big write up with a ton of images on my blog.

I think her best bet will be to send it in to Nikon for cleaning and service, it is 3 years old after all. I would like to get to the bottom of it though because I can fully appreciate how frustrating it must be!
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As frustrating as it is, it's not really your problem and what would be a lot more frustrating would be having the camera returned to you and having to try and sell it again while the old transaction sits in your feedback profile and makes any possible buyers who check you out think that there might be a fault with the camera.
I would point her in the direction of some documentation of Nikon saying it won't work and leave well alone.
 
I think the sensible thing to do is back off and tell here that it's not something that you can help with.
I can see this going pear shaped for you if you try to help. She is likely to turn your generousity around and claim it's an admission of fault. When technically it isn't.
I's quite possible that the other body she tried it on is set to f4 and that's why it worked.
Walk away in a polite manner, knowing that you haven't done any wrong.

Kev
 
Just an update:

After recieving texts from the lady on Friday night telling me there was a problem, I then got an email from her yesterday afternoon once she was back in the UK.

She said that whilst she appreciates I was offering a suggestion for the problem (dirty contacts) she 'isn't happy to start poking around trying to fix it, or send it in for anyone else to do so' and that she isn't happy she couldn't use a camera she just spent over £2k on, on a holiday of a lifetime. She said she purchased the camera in faith it worked, and asked if I would refund.

I have replied to say I understand it must be frustrating, but she must also appreciate that from my point of view the camera was fully functional when I sold it, I was happy to meet in person to hand it over (I even encourage her to take it out the box and give it a once over when we did) and that she has now owned it for more than two weeks AND taken it thousands of miles to new Mexico, and during all this time it could have been knocked, dropped etc all of which could of caused the problem that she says has developed.

I also reminded her that whilst I understand she may not want to send a £2k camera in to be looked at, that it is three years old and was no longer under warranty as stated in the auction.

I suggested that as the problem seems to be easy to replicate, by adding the 1.7x to the camera that Nikon should be able to advise, and that her best course of action is speaking to them and maybe sending the camera and her TC in and asking why it locks up when you combine the two.



The way I currently see it, if she decides to insist I sold her a faulty camera (which I didn't), then she has to accept that I am well within my right to insist she could have damaged it. In which case, we are at a stalemate and the reality of that would mean for whatever reason the camera and TC just won't work together. And if that is due to a fault developing with the camera since she owned it, I can't be held responsibe for that and that it would just be very very unfortunate timing.

If she had contacted me the next day and said the camera is dead, I would have been a little concerned as to why but I would have been far more more sympathetic, but for a couple of weeks to go by and fly away with it, it's just not right to ask for a refund.

The bottom line is I am not happy to sell a perfectly working camera, then weeks later, after it's been taken abroad and used, accept it back because the new owner says it's developed a fault.

I recently purchased a second hand D3s from this forum, and if a serious problem occurs with it, I'd be very annoyed but I wouldn't ask for a refund. I purchased second hand in a private sale to save cash and know full well that comes with a risk. And you know what the first thing I did when i got it home, I took some test shots to make sure it was all ok. I assume she did the same, you wouldn't buy a second hand camera then not even take a test shot for two weeks and only use it for the first time when you fly off on the trip of a lifetime. I don't buy that.

I'm hoping it doesn't get too ugly, but I don't feel I'm the bad guy in this situation. I'll just await her reply now and hope it doesn't turn nasty!
 
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Cheeky mare wanted use of your camera while she was on holiday! I'd tell her to take a running jump. She should have checked it before leaving.

It is a 3 year old camera. If you buy second hand from a private seller you have virtually zero comeback. I'd just tell her it worked perfectly when you sent it. If she wants to take it up with the courier and accuse them of dropping it then she's entitled to do that. Or she can sue the airline and accuse them of dropping it :)
 
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