Nikon D40x Error. Press Shutter Release Button Again

by Klaus Graefensteiner 5. April 2010 04:48

Pragmatic camera repair

My wife's camera stopped working. After exactly 2 years and about 20,000 shutter releases the shutter mechanics finally jammed and the LCD display issued the following error message when trying to take a picture: “Error. Press Shutter Release Button Again”. First I googled the error and found the following discussion thread on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/groups/d40slr/discuss/72157622417755279/. “Cool!”, I said, I can fix this problem myself and I opened the camera with my Wiha screw driver. (Here is how the Nikon D40x looks inside http://www.flickr.com/photos/johncayr/3969534234/). I pushed some of the gears and closed the camera again. It started working for a couple of pictures and the error came back. Time for Plan B.

Figure 1: Instant photo of my Nikon D40x DSLR taken with my IPhone

Plan B

Plan A was the cheap do-it-yourself approach. Plan B is the other extreme. Ask the professionals at the Nikon Repair center to do it. Here is the summary of my experience:

How long did it take?

I mailed the camera on Friday evening and got it back exactly 10 days later, on a Tuesday. This makes 6 business days, including standard Fedex Ground shipping.

How much did it cost?

Fedex Ground shipping with $500 insurance was: $11.29

Nikon Repair charged: $159.22

I paid a total of $170.51 to get the camera fixed

What did they do with the camera?

According to the repair Invoice and a note that they add to my camera, they performed the following operations:

Service Repair Rank B2
Repair System Error
Clean Image Sensor
Replace shutter mechanism
Perform image test
General check and clean
Replace SQ base plate
Checked autofocus operation
Upgraded the firmware version to 1.01 (Better EN-EL9 battery performance)
6 month warranty on the shutter system

Additional comments?

I was quite satisfied with the speediness of Nikon’s repair service. Also I liked the fact that their website gave me detailed tracking information about the camera repair. I definitively will start with Plan B next time.