Broken Nikon D40

cc-offe

Hi everyone, looking for a bit of advice in regards to my broken D40.
Basically it got water damaged and after drying it out everything works perfectly except for the flash (the screen doesn't look great, but it doesn't affect the pictures).
The flash will pop up but it won't fire and i've been told it will cost well over €100 to repair just the flash,
I would rather try to fix it myself as now that its water damaged it prob won't be long before other problems with camera start to crop up. So i'd rather just buy the part and fix it so the camera does me for another little while before having to buy a replacement.
I haven't been able to find many places that sell replacement parts online and to be honest I don't know exactly what i'm looking for, the guy on the phone said the flash board but I haven't managed to source one.
Anyone have any ideas?

Thecageyone

Not very helpful, but ... just forget about flash on the camera maybe? How often did you use it?

I never use flash, would rather try every other possible way to control light rather than use flash. I wouldn't miss it if it was gone from my cam.

cc-offe

Thanks thecageyone, yep that's my other option and really it's the non flash pics that I love the most from the d40,
the flash pics are pretty much the same quality as most digital cameras and I didn't use the flash very often at all but I have a newborn baby at home and now I'm missing out on loads of pics of her by not having th option of a working flash! The timing of these things eh?!

Thecageyone

Use natural lighting, get her close to a window and use wide apertures. What lenses have you got? A 50mm f1.8 lens on it and you'll never need flash! And you'd get 50mm [if you don't have one] very cheap, used , on adverts or on ebay. Nothing beats naturally lit baby pics

I've seen some brilliant shots taken with D40s and no flash.

Congratulations btw

Trojan00

Have you thought of buying an external flash, say the SB-400. Amazon sell them for £120 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B000KKPN5C/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&s=gateway&qid=1271421579&sr=8-1&condition=new.

At least with this you can bounce the light and you could use it if you ever upgrade to another Nikon camera.

cc-offe

I'm a complete camera novice to be honest, bought the camera last summer to take action shots of my little fella playing football outside and the pics turned out great, I only have the lens that came with it, it's a 18-55mm and my house has great early morning and afternoon lighting in the conservatory so I can still take great natural light pics, will have to have a look on ebay for lens, thanks for the tip!

I love the natural shots myself too, they are beautiful!

I was thinking about an external flash aswell, I'd like to try one on my camera before I buy, I think my brothers friend has one so I might try that.

Do you think my camera will inevitably develop more problems now that it's been damaged? It was actually baby formula which got into it, stupidly my partner turned it on before drying it and then I put it in the hot press for a few days and then he brought it in to the spray booth in work to dry it out.

Thecageyone

I had a wee Point & shoot fuji [z1] a few years back and the flash went on it after about a year. I dropped it outside on a concrete pathway and the flash never worked again. The camera is still fine otherwise though, and it's in a box somewhere in the house, was thinking of giving it to th kids to play with.

The kit lens would do the job, it just won't have as wide an aperture setting as a lens like the 50mm.

With good window light a setting of f/3.5 - f/4 [if you don't zoom you can probably maintain it at that] with an ISO of 200 - 400 should allow you to use shutter speeds around 1/40 - 1/100 depending on just how good the light is.

Is your kit lens stabilized? if so you'd get away with slower speeds up to 1/10 even hand held

magicbastarder

unless you're an electronics whiz, i'd leave well alone - those things are not designed to be user serviceable, and i would not be surprised to find that you need proprietary tools.

LoanShark

I have a Nikon D60 and my flash is gone too..
And I have been told that it would cost in the reigon of 140e+ to get fixed.


Just piggybacking on this thread,But would an external flash still work even though the built in flash doesnt work?
Because I would consider buying an external flash..Although I do get great pictures with natural light..I just would like the option of having a flash!

Nforce

magicbastarder wrote: »

unless you're an electronics whiz, i'd leave well alone - those things are not designed to be user serviceable, and i would not be surprised to find that you need proprietary tools.

+1 ..plus you can get a nasty electric shock from some of the internal components.

Slidinginfinity

Trojan00 wrote: »

Have you thought of buying an external flash, say the SB-400. Amazon sell them for £120 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B000KKPN5C/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&s=gateway&qid=1271421579&sr=8-1&condition=new.

At least with this you can bounce the light and you could use it if you ever upgrade to another Nikon camera.

I would do this.
Buy a sb-400 flash then when the camera does go just buy nikon and you have a better then on board flash for the new camera and no mucking about with the cameras electronics.

even at one of Dublins dearest shops they aren't that much: http://www.connscameras.ie/nikon-sb400-speedlight-flash/4960759025456pd.html

Thecageyone

I would buy a used 50mm before the flash unit. As he said he doesn't use flash much, just likes to have the option. 50mm will give so much more. Better image quality, greater aperture range, greater shallow D.O.F, sharper close ups for portraits [one of the main things he will be doing over the next few months]

Flash uni will cost more and he may only use it a few times.

Nforce

Thecageyone wrote: »

I would buy a used 50mm before the flash unit. As he said he doesn't use flash much, just likes to have the option. 50mm will give so much more. Better image quality, greater aperture range, greater shallow D.O.F, sharper close ups for portraits [one of the main things he will be doing over the next few months]

Flash uni will cost more and he may only use it a few times.

It'll be manual focus only on the D40,though unless he got the expensive AP-S version. I'd go with an external flash too.:)

melekalikimaka

Thecageyone wrote: »

I would buy a used 50mm before the flash unit.

i'd also push for the flash, you said earlier, with a 1.8 youd never need a flash, i dont think thats correct... flash is needed alot of the time 1.8 for portraits all the time will get tiresome and has become a bit cliched, with baby pics given their nature to move around alot, focus point will be an issue

Slidinginfinity

Nforce wrote: »

It'll be manual focus only on the D40,though unless he got the expensive AP-S version. I'd go with an external flash too.:)

melekalikimaka wrote: »

i'd also push for the flash, you said earlier, with a 1.8 youd never need a flash, i dont think thats correct... flash is needed alot of the time 1.8 for portraits all the time will get tiresome and is becomes a bit cliched, with baby pics given their nature to move around alot, focus point will be an issue

Put these two together and you have what I was going to say.

Thecageyone

melekalikimaka wrote: »

i'd also push for the flash, you said earlier, with a 1.8 youd never need a flash, i dont think thats correct... flash is needed alot of the time 1.8 for portraits all the time will get tiresome and has become a bit cliched, with baby pics given their nature to move around alot, focus point will be an issue

You would never 'need' it. There's always a work around. 50mm is not just useful for portraits either, takes great landscapes at narrower apertures. It's a pretty good all round lens, bar there's no zoom. But that's same with all primes. You don't have to use a 50mm wide open for portraits either, in better light you can go to f/8 easily.

Just going on what hes posted, I doubt he'd get much use from a flash unit.

melekalikimaka

Thecageyone wrote: »

You would never 'need' it.

:rolleyes: you'll need it if you want to take a photo of more than one person in low light and have them both in focus for one...

a flash will compensate for low light alot better than stopping down ever will, for portraits that is... also the option of of camera flash lends to great potential

Thecageyone

Both are good options, the 50mm is just the cheapest. He'll decide himself ... :rolleyes: [this smilie is getting some workout today, may as well join in]

Thecageyone

Actually i wouldn't mind a flash gun for the Sony myself ... one that syncs faster than 1/160 .... on-board/built in flash is just ... horrible. Tried some quick snaps of the kids tonight using it ... and though they did come out crisp and clear, they've a horrible blatant, omni-directional flash look to them. I know you can tone it in processing, but off cam flash pictures do come out so much better.

Anyone out there has a cheap Sony-fit one let me know

pete4130

Thecageyone wrote: »

Both are good options, the 50mm is just the cheapest. He'll decide himself ... :rolleyes: [this smilie is getting some workout today, may as well join in]

It isn't the cheapest though considering the 50mm AS-F lens will be needed on the D40 and a second hand SB-600 is probably about the same price if not cheaper?

Either way, a flashgun or 50mm lens is a good investment. Both will have their benefits in different ways.

Thecageyone

I've seen AF 50mm lenses about for €80 and less , would you get a good flash gun for that?

DaireQuinlan

Thecageyone wrote: »

I've seen AF 50mm lenses about for €80 and less , would you get a good flash gun for that?

OP is using a Nikon. Nikons lower end cameras have no focusing motor in the camera body, which means they need AFS lenses to AF. The AFS 50mm is quite expensive as it's an F/1.4. There is otoh a cheap AFS 35mm (€200 or so ?) which has a similar FOV on the crop bodies to a 50 on a ff body.

pete4130

Thecageyone wrote: »

I've seen AF 50mm lenses about for €80 and less , would you get a good flash gun for that?

Regular AF-D lenses don't AF on Nikon d40/x, D60, D3000 or D5000 bodies. Only Nikon AF-S lenses autofocus on these bodies (or Sigma HSM lenses).

The 50mm 1.4 AF-S lens is about €400 and you'd be lucky to get one used/2nd hand as its such a new lens. You'd almost get a brand new SB-900 flashgun for that price.


Edit The 50mm 1.4 AF-S isn't suitable for full frame either I don't think. If it was I'd almost be tempted to upgrade my 50mm 1.4 AF-D for the faster focusing AF-S version.

FoxT

But I would suggest the following:Built in flash units carry high voltage circuits & they are not user repairable. ( Applies to all cameras) Built in flash units are not much good anyway. (Applies to all cameras) If the rest of the camera is working the likelihood is that it will stay working for some time to come. I would consider either
1- get a lens with a wide aperture, ie f/1.8 or so. As an earlier poster said, your mileage may vary here as some nikon lenses need an AF drive in the body.

OR

2 -buy a decent nikon flash unit. Get a 2nd hand one on ebay. I use canon gear but I found an external flash is way better then the popup unit on the camera, which I almost never use.

OR

3 - consider getting a tripod. This will give you better results at lower shutter speeds, provided always that your subject is staying fairly still!

AND

3a - What worked well for me is tripod + flash + remote triggers. This is a bit technical to get working well - but you can mount your flash on the tripod & fire with the triggers to give great lighting options - and you can also use the tripod for the camera as well for landscapes & whatnot.


The least desirable option for me personally, would be to drop eu140 or so to repair the in-camera flash.

Good Luck,

-FoxT

Thecageyone

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

OP is using a Nikon. Nikons lower end cameras have no focusing motor in the camera body, which means they need AFS lenses to AF. The AFS 50mm is quite expensive as it's an F/1.4. There is otoh a cheap AFS 35mm (€200 or so ?) which has a similar FOV on the crop bodies to a 50 on a ff body.

pete4130 wrote: »

Regular AF-D lenses don't AF on Nikon d40/x, D60, D3000 or D5000 bodies. Only Nikon AF-S lenses autofocus on these bodies (or Sigma HSM lenses).

The 50mm 1.4 AF-S lens is about €400 and you'd be lucky to get one used/2nd hand as its such a new lens. You'd almost get a brand new SB-900 flashgun for that price.


Edit The 50mm 1.4 AF-S isn't suitable for full frame either I don't think. If it was I'd almost be tempted to upgrade my 50mm 1.4 AF-D for the faster focusing AF-S version.

Making more sense now. I figured 50mm lenses were cheap enough when sold as used? But didn't factor in the whole AF side. i was lucky and got a Minolta f/1.7 AF 50mm with the used Sony I bought through adverts.

makes me feel I got a hell of a bargain considering. If it is that expensive to buy 50mm for his Nikon then he probably would be better off if he can fetch a cheap flash gun.

DaireQuinlan

pete4130 wrote: »

Edit The 50mm 1.4 AF-S isn't suitable for full frame either I don't think. If it was I'd almost be tempted to upgrade my 50mm 1.4 AF-D for the faster focusing AF-S version.

It's actually fine for FF use, it's not DX. But weirdly enough the AFS version reportedly AFs more slowly than the AFD version. I'm not sure why, generally it's the other way 'round.

pete4130

I'm guessing the 50mm AFS wouldnt give the nice light falloff that the regular AF D version does because its designed for the smaller image circle. Thats one of the things I love about shooting the 50mm 14 wide open, which was another reason I decided to stick with my AF-D version (even if it was a Chinese made and not Japanese made version).

quilmore

you could get an SB400 for less than 100 euro... check adverts or ebay
great flashgun