Strange problem with Nikon 70-200 VR lens on D200

[Willy wombat]

Was shooting a wedding last week and ran into a bit of a problem.

After shooting about 40 image the fully charged battery went dead (flashing) - but it wasnt actually dead - it was still full. I turned the camera on and off for about 20 seconds, the battery came back to life (full bars) and I was able to shoot about 3-5 more images, and then it went dead again. Swapped a fresh battery. Took about ten images, then same problem.

Shooting was in both apperture priority and manual
Recording Raw + basic jpg quality
VR function turned both on and off

When i tried this lens on my other body (another D200) I shoty about 30 images (using another charged battery) and ran into the same issue. The 17-55mm wide angle I swapped onto the first problematic body continued to work fine.

Made for a very frustrating day and night! Missed plenty of images because I was contantly turning the camera on and off.

Im assuming this is actually a problem with my lens rather than a problem with the body or the batteries?

Has anyone heard of or experienced this problem before?

Appreciate any help or ideas guys.
Thanks
Steve

[Alpha_7]

Hey Steve,

I'm afraid I can't help much, but to add that Ive never heard of that kind of behaviour before, but it does sound like a lens problem. I was wondering if you tried it with VR on and then with VR off, and also, Autofocus on and then off. Just to see if it behaves any differently with those variables you can control. I can only imagine how annoying it would be to have it fail during a wedding, I'm uber paranoid any of my gear will screw up just at the crucial moment.

Good Luck!

[tommyg]

I haven't seen that particular problem, however another member on here had a problem with one of his lenses shorting out his camera. Unfortunately he didn't work out it was the lens until it had blown up both of his camera bodies!

I'd be careful with using the lens if there is an electrical issue with it, otherwise you may end up with more problems

Cheers
Tom

[Jenno]

Steve
The symptoms you describe has previously been reported as a battery issue with the D200 which was fixed via firmware 2.01
I experienced the same symptoms with my D200 early in it's life but cleaning the contacts and upgrading the firmware fixed the issue.
Try googling "dead battery syndrome D200" for assistance.

Ray

[petermmc]

Hi there,

I have a D200 and 70-200 and on one occasion encountered similar problems. All due to dirty contacts on either the lens or the camera. I cleaned both and no longer had this issue. One of my batteries also died prematurely and on its way out did some strange things such as registering as empty when fully charged.

Previous advice sounds good but if that does not work try the simple cleaning of terminals and that may help you.

All the best.

Peter Mc

[Willy wombat]

Steve
The symptoms you describe has previously been reported as a battery issue with the D200 which was fixed via firmware 2.01
I experienced the same symptoms with my D200 early in it's life but cleaning the contacts and upgrading the firmware fixed the issue.
Try googling "dead battery syndrome D200" for assistance.

Ray

Hey Jenno - thanks for that information!!

It seems that this is a prevalent issue in the D200 and D80 camp.

I also forgot to mention that it was about 42 degrees on the particular day, so this could be a heat issue too.

[Willy wombat]

There is a firmware update to support this problem. I will give it a go

http://support.nikontech.com/app/answer ... a_id/16094

[dviv]

I agree with the firmware.

The exact same thing happened with the 40D and the 85mm 1.2 on early firmware versions (of the 40D). One of the firmware upgrades stated it as a fix.

Good luck with the upgrade - let us know how it goes.

[Alpha_7]

I got stung by this on a wedding this weekend, I'll go update my firmware tonight and retest.

[Willy wombat]

The firmware has mostly solved the problem for me Craig. Its only happened to me once since then and that could have been because of a dirty connection

[aim54x]

Hope things work out for you Craig....

[team piggy]

I had the same issue, I did the firmware, sorted it out.

I also got rid of the Phottix battreries and only go genuine Nikon now.. No more issues.