Broken SB800! - help

[wendellt]

hi people

broke my sb800 during the Loreal Melbourne fashion festival launch party
my camera got knocked around quite a bit as it does at these events
the hotshoe is loose but the foot on the sb800 is even more loose sometimes it does not fire because it aint touching the hotshoe properly
I have to hold it down in place,i have had this loose hotshoe issue for a month now

Now i think this intermitent connection between flash and camera has destroyed my sb800

1. turn on, reset, batteries fully charged, 3 sets of fully charged batteries alternated, flash turns on but i can't use it does not fire, even when you press the red test button

2. i get a funny looking menu system, not the regular display
even after on off or reset

3. resetting or changing modes does not change anything
it actually shows some missing icons in the mode selection menus

see pic


note the menu system it looks strange, even if i change the f2 to f4 which is the only control that works in the menu by the way, the zzoom does not work and the flash does not fire, so i think it is broken
all other controls on the flash do not work
even the mode menu is missing some icons so i think electronically the sb800 looks broken

it's under 1 year warranty but i shoot events all the time so i will need to buy another replacement fast, get this one fixed and end up with 2 in the end, but before i purchase just thought someone may know the issue.

thanx in advance

[Oneputt]

Wendell I knew who had posted this thread as soon as I saw the topic

[gstark]

Wendell I knew who had posted this thread as soon as I saw the topic

Me too.

Wendell, there's a lot of noise in some of those photos. You need to check your exposure and make sure it's correct.

[myarhidia]

Looking at the last screenshot it seems you may have the unit in slave mode. In slave mode many options will be blank as they are not required hence the blank boxes. I dont' have the unit with me to provide instructions however one of the menu's should put in back into single/master mode.

good luck.

[wendellt]

Looking at the last screenshot it seems you may have the unit in slave mode. In slave mode many options will be blank as they are not required hence the blank boxes. I dont' have the unit with me to provide instructions however one of the menu's should put in back into single/master mode.

good luck.

i know about slave mode, it looks like it's in slave mode but the issue with this is that i can't even get out of it even after reset and mode re-select.

hopefully the issue can be ressolved

[myarhidia]

i know about slave mode, it looks like it's in slave mode but the issue with this is that i can't even get out of it even after reset and mode re-select.

Oh, O.K., then my response is I don't know sorry couldn't help.

[LOZ]

Time to sell it on eBay

[birddog114]

myarhidia,
It's broken due to the stressed test! slave or non slave mode won't be working, and it won't work even you use the jack hammer to scare it.

Wendell,
Sorry to hear that you've broken another record, It's time to get another one! repair bill of it may cost you 1/2 to 2/3 the cost of a new unit.

[birddog114]

Wendell,
Put it under an insurance claim! do you have any kind of insurance for your gears?

[wendellt]

Wendell,
Put it under an insurance claim! do you have any kind of insurance for your gears?

Birdy

I bought the thing in september last year it is still under warranty
it's going back to service for repair

in the meantime i will get another one

or move to a metz flash unit

[birddog114]

Wendell,
Put it under an insurance claim! do you have any kind of insurance for your gears?

Birdy

I bought the thing in september last year it is still under warranty
it's going back to service for repair

in the meantime i will get another one

or move to a metz flash unit

Yes, if you're going to pay the repair bill.

Order another one for your own use and have a second spare flash when it returned.

[Nnnnsic]

I thought warranty was to repair things that happened to it through no fault of your own.

[stubbsy]

Birdy

I bought the thing in september last year it is still under warranty
it's going back to service for repair

Wendell

Surely that level of damage would have to be outside the scope of a warranty repair. My understanding is the warranty covers product faults, not wear and tear. That's like smashing your car into a pole and then putting in a warranty claim with the car company

[wendellt]

it's not wear and tear, it's shoddy manufacturing
if it were quality it would last
either way i'm not paying for it to be repaired i've spent enough.

the outside looks o.k with minute scratches service people won't assumed it's been abused which it hasn't!

[Nnnnsic]

It's hardly shoddy manufacturing.

Beat anything around enough times, no matter how well it's made or what it's made of, and it'll eventually break.

They're all made the same, no matter where they come from.

[birddog114]

it's not wear and tear, it's shoddy manufacturing
if it were quality it would last
either way i'm not paying for it to be repaired i've spent enough.

the outside looks o.k with minute scratches service people won't assumed it's been abused which it hasn't!

Pls. read another thread or posts about the experiences from tasadam of his D70 with an unkown bent lever, which he had to pay for the repair and services.

Yes, you can sent it back to me and I'll send it to HKG.
If there's user's faults, then you have to pay the repair bills + shipping.
Even if you don't want to repair after they inspected your SB800, you still have to pay the shipping cost + inspection and quotation of the repair job.

If there's fault found, then they will fix and return it to you.

Think deeply and it's your choice.

[wendellt]

remember thanh i bought it full price with a tax invoice
hence that means it's under warranty from maxwell or who ever the source is

doesn't matter anyway still have to buy a new one

[Alpha_7]

I have to agree with Leigh, the SB800 is built well, and in my experience is a tank compared to other flashes I've used (non-Nikon).

I don't think many people would disagree, yourself included Wendell that you kit gets given a hard and tough workout in the field. While in your eyes it might be wear and tear, others would see the treatment of your gear as bordering on abuse. Please know I'm not having a personal dig at you here Wendell, just you might find it hard to convince the repairer that it was 'just wear and tear' under normal operating conditions.

Your an artist and you push your equipment to the limit and sometimes beyond, sadly there will be a time when you have to pay the price. Whatever you do please treat that 85mm like your family jewels!

[Nnnnsic]

Wendell, you can get a full tax invoice from wherever you buy something usually.

So... if it is indeed grey and you did end up buying it at a less expensive price for non-Maxwell stock, Maxwell will look at it, giggle, and tell you they won't accept it.

If you do happen to have to send it back to Hong Kong and it's not covered as part of wear and tear, no amount of complaining about how good of a customer you are and how much you've spent will save you from the plain and simple fact that this is unlikely to be covered as your warranty.

It would be like if you somehow broke your sensor or the mirror in your D2x. Your warranty would ignore it but your insurance would cover it.

[birddog114]

remember thanh i bought it full price with a tax invoice
hence that means it's under warranty from maxwell or who ever the source is

doesn't matter anyway still have to buy a new one

Tax Invoice is the items you bought and pay GST ontop of the original selling price (Method II).

Buying and paying by method 1 means you pay GST and able to claim GST on your purchase and tax or non tax invoice, it grants the purchasers with the limited warranty, that applies to all products sourced local or overseas.

It doesn't mean both method 1 or II will grant you any repair if the product returned with no faults found or faults related to user's error.

[birddog114]

And once again, just remind you:
The SB800 you purchased and paid with HKG's price + GST (Method 1)
You didn't pay it at AU$800.00/ Maxwell's price.

[wendellt]

true and true

but your assuming a great deal here, considering my perceptual overbloated track record in regards to equipment use.

how do you know a few knocks and bumps voids warranty
I may be out in the field but that doesn't mean it gets abused, just use
and when i mean use i mean use as the cosmetics looks good
it doesn't look like an abused flash apart form the loose foot

Nikon can't guarantee 100% craftmanship on every single sb800

how do you know i just got for lack of a better description: a lemon?

[birddog114]

true and true

but your assuming a great deal here, considering my perceptual overbloated track record in regards to equipment use.

how do you know a few knocks and bumps voids warranty
I may be out in the field but that doesn't mean it gets abused, just use
and when i mean use i mean use as the cosmetics looks good
it doesn't look like an abused flash apart form the loose foot

Nikon can't guarantee 100% craftmanship on every single sb800

how do you know i just got for lack of a better description: a lemon?

Well, if Nikon is a lemon then I recommend you jumping ship to Canon

You've seen and played with the Canon 1Ds MK II at the mini meet last Saturday, haven't you? Do you like it? it built like tank.

Canon will treat you well with all knocks and bumps, even you smash it into piece.

[losfp]

Hah! I too knew whose thread this was as soon as I read the title

I guess the only way you'll find out is to bring it in and see what they think. If the unit looks good, and they're not regulars at dslrusers you could be in luck.

I do get worried about my own SB-800 though. I tend to pick the camera up by the flash, just without thinking about it - and it doesn't feel 100% secure that way.

[Nnnnsic]

It doesn't void the warranty at all.

Your warranty is valid... just not for what has broken your SB800.

If the flash ceased working for a reason like the PCB failing they'd fix the PCB or replace it and leave your other problems unrepaired, most likely.

Likewise, if you broke the sensor of the D2x, cosmetically it'd look great, but your warranty still wouldn't cover it.

We're not talking about cosmetics here. We're talking about mechanics and in this situation if you broke your SB800 through whatever form and its not "wear & tear", they won't repair it for free.

And while Nikon cant guarantee 100% craftsmanship, you can neither guarantee that through your own use of this product, you haven't caused its failure through your own use or abuse.

It's a two-way street here.

[wendellt]

ha ha birddog your a funny man

i'm pissed but at the end of the day it's life nothing lasts forever

the sb800 is built with plastic even rotating the head makes me feel like it's going to break, compare this to the 28-70 f2.8 which is actually built like a tank

anyway not jumping ship yet

[birddog114]

Wendell,
Have you got any type cover (insurance) for your gears? at home? on the road? in transit?

[birddog114]

ha ha birddog your a funny man

i'm pissed but at the end of the day it's life nothing lasts forever

the sb800 is built with plastic even rotating the head makes me feel like it's going to break, compare this to the 28-70 f2.8 which is actually built like a tank

anyway not jumping ship yet

I never seen any other modern flash units built by other material than plastic.
Even the 28-70 is in transit to you and I don't want to hear it's smashed into the wall with broken glass.

[wendellt]

Birdy just for the body

Leigh your right but again your assuming a great deal
you should be a lawyer

[birddog114]

Birdy just for the body

You should take out more cover for your gears, you have around $20K worth of gear in your hand, you should think it seriously.

[radar]

Hi Wendell,

sorry about your sb800.

In the end, it will come down to Nikon or their repairer in HKG to decide if it is a warranty repair or a matter of "wear and tear". If it is warranty, great for you because they will repair it and it won't cost you as Birddog said above. Also as Birddog says:

you can sent it back to me and I'll send it to HKG.
If there's user's faults, then you have to pay the repair bills + shipping.
Even if you don't want to repair after they inspected your SB800, you still have to pay the shipping cost + inspection and quotation of the repair job.

Good luck in your decision. You could always phone or visit Maxwell and find out how much it would cost you to get it repaired here, to give you an idea, but that will probably cost you as well.

Cheers,

André

[birddog114]

Maxwell will charge a premium for inspection and providing a quotation for repair, if you happy to let Maxwell reapairs it then they'll take off that premium and give you a bill at the end.

[wendellt]

has anyone thought about the display and the fact the problem is more electronic rather than mechanical

this is a case of the electrronics failing not from abuse but from fabrication
or some ROM issue

look it's in slave mode but it wont get out of flave mode

a flash doesnt do that after you banged the thing, it's a selective failure.

[birddog114]

Wendell,
The flash hotshoe has few pair of wiring to its PCB of the SB800, if the flash shoe was broken, the wiring may be short somewhere and that make the unit unusable or uncontrollable, or it might be something else in between the flash shoe and its internal PCB, components.

[birddog114]

And the only thing can tell you more about it by send it to Maxwell and let Maxwell have their independent opinion (you'll have to pay a bill for Maxwell).

[Nnnnsic]

Lose / lose scenario here.

You're not an expert on what could be wrong inside the SB800 so the option you have is sending it to someone and possibly resulting in a bill of some amount.

[Alpha_7]

Birdy just for the body

You should take out more cover for your gears, you have around $20K worth of gear in your hand, you should think it seriously.

Can I just second this, Wendell if photography is going to be your livelyhood or atleast part of your income, I'd definitely be insuring more thne the body. Well actually I've insure all my kits, because if any of it got stolen, etc I'd be skinned alive if I went to replace it out of my hip pocket.

[wendellt]

craig it ain't my main income
it's my moonlighting job, after work and on weekends
insuring the body alone is enough, i can replace sb800's but not another d2x body

[Alpha_7]

craig it ain't my main income
it's my moonlighting job, after work and on weekends
insuring the body alone is enough, i can replace sb800's but not another d2x body

Fair enough mate, the D2X is a big investment, inversely for me I've got more $$ tied up in lens, flash, tripod then the actual body. But they are all worth insuring for me, but we are all in different positions.

[birddog114]

Hey! what's about your 70-200VR? 28/70? 85/1.4?
Are they cheap to replace if something goes wrong?
The Sb800 is just around $500.00, it's not seriously to think about but all your lenses, it worth to pay a premium to cover them.

[Paul]

I insure all my gear, even if I had a D2X I would still insure everthing to the eyeballs.
When your spending and investing big bucks there's no short cuts in this game.
The thought of spending another $500 on a SB-800 if I broke it horrifies me..

[DaveB]

I hate to think what the premiums would be for Wendell if the insurance agent read these boards!

[johndec]

Sorry to read about your misfortune Wendell, but I wasn't overly suprised that "The Torture Tester" had struck again.

If you're not careful your rank may be changed from "Senior Member" to:
"The Torture Tester" or
"Hurricane Wendell" or
"The Terminator" or whatever the evil minds that run this joint may come up with..

[gstark]

how do you know a few knocks and bumps voids warranty

That one is oh so simple.

Warranties always specifical;ly exclude abuse.

Any evidence of physical damage on the outside of a product will always void a waranty, becauser as soon as there is some damage evident on the outside, all bets are off: one simply doesn't (and cannot) know what other proximate damage may have been caused by the knocks that caused the physical damage and thus it is never covered.

Again, the warranty covers a manufacturing defect, and whether there was a defect or not, physical damage can mask and exaccerbate this.

Or even provoke it.

[gstark]

the sb800 is built with plastic even rotating the head makes me feel like it's going to break,

My 20-odd year old Metz is made of plastic.

And it still works perfectly.

My 17 year old Nikon SB24 is also made of plastic; it too works perfectly.

And it looks a hwll of a lot like my plastic SB-800, which feels as solid as a rock, and of which rotating the head feels like a perfectly well designed and purposeful action.

Leigh has dropped my FTn. I have dropped a custom flash bracket containing ...

1 x F801
1 FE2
1 x 60 CT1

All wired together and tethered to the flash's power unit on my shoulder.

After I put them down on a table, leaving the power unit on my shoulder.

And then walked away from them.

Ker-ash!

And it all still worked then,

As it all still does today. I've certainly abused some gear in my time, but I am able to recognise that there's a difference between normal usage, and abuse.

And I'm the first to accept that i abuse most of the stuff I own; you should see the mis-treatment my '77 P-Bass gets.


Wendell, have you ever, perchance, considered handling these items with some degree of care?

[kipper]

Ahh, I always enjoy a bit of comic relief

At the end of the day Wendell this does sound like excessive use outside the bounds of the warranty. I've snapped something inside my SC-28 flash cord (can hear something wrattling around) that causes the flash to move a bit when it's in the shoe. I'll need to do a bit of handy man work to it to fix it and look at ways to fixing the SB-800 so that it doesn't cause a leverage point on the SC-28 hotshoe and the SB-800 hotshoe. I think my damage came when my tripod fell over, think the flash was on it at the time.

[kipper]

Update on my SC-28. It appears that internally the screws that hold down the hotshoe had worked loose and one had fallen out and was floating around inside. Fixed now. They should of also put lithium grease or some sort of lube on the fixing screws into the unit as they were so tight that I almost stripped heads on them Put a bit of lube on them and they went back in like a breaze.