D700/sb900 hot shoe problem solved?

[velonoir]

Dear all, this will undoubtedly be relevant to some of you.... Given it seems to happen very frequently. Bought a d700 a wee while ago and found that the sb900 I just picked up was behaving erratically. Not firing, misfiring, strobing randomly, locking the meter out and stopping you taking a shot etc. Most people seem to have sent them to nikon to be repaired at fairly great expense if out of warranty.
It seemed to me that the flash shifted around more than I would expect in its mount and I found that by twisting the flash itself so it shifted in the mount I could force the problem to happen. Didn't seem likely this was a problem with the electronics, more likely that the contact wasn't being maintained by the mount. Used some wide pliers to carefully squeeze the mount together a touch. While it still moves a touch the mount feels more secure and importantly I have not been able to make the problem reoccur.
It was certainly surprisingly easy to bend back together and I'm surprised nikon specced an alloy which is so soft. Hopefully this has solved the issue and at least it can be done again in about a minute if the mount stretches out again (which it almost certainly will with a reasonably large flash hanging off it). Anyone else applied this solution?

 

[cambsno]

Never experienced this. Have 2 SB900s and a D700, and taken a thousand or 2 shots at a guess?

 

[velonoir]

It seems to be more prevalent among people who carry their camera around on a black rapid type strap with the flash attached... The weight hanging sideways/upside down would cause a fair amount of leverage while moving around. It's not to say you'll have the same problem but having had a look around its common enough to warrant hundreds for threads and it's own google search term.