From: Tom Sanders (rrtom@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon May 05 2003 - 19:20:47 EDT
So, what are you going to charge to do that for the rest of us who suffer
the same problem? (grin)
>From: Jim Betz <jimbetz@jimbetz.com>
>Reply-To: NikonCoolPix@yahoogroups.com
>To: NikonCoolPix@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [NikonCoolPix] Re: I dropped my 950 - and repaired it myself!
>Date: Mon, 05 May 2003 15:42:21 -0700
>
> I made the attached post on Friday. I had a busy weekend but
>today I decided to give-it-the-old-college-try and see what was
>going on. And besides, John Flowers said "you can fix this
>yourself" - and even has a webpage devoted to the repair of a
>'slipped' viewfinder mechanism.
>
> So I pulled out my trusty hobby phillips screwdriver set and
>sat down to go after it - with the idea that at least I could
>figure out if it was the viewfinder or not. Following John's
>step-by-step was easy and my 950 was close enough to the 990
>he wrote up that I got all of that done fairly easily.
> When the viewfinder was out of the camera and physically
>inspected it didn't seem to have any problems - and it isn't
>electronically connected to the rest of the camera so I
>suspected that the grinding rachet sound I was hearing was
>unlikely to be coming from the viewfinder. But to be certain
>I put the viewfinder to my eye - out of the camera (after
>disassembly) and saw that it was working fine. So I gave the
>camera the old "smoke test" and powered it up with the viewfinder
>out of the camera. Sure enough the noise was still there and
>the dreaded "System Error" showed up in red on the LCD (same as
>before) ... and, yes, I still had to pop the battery door open
>to get it to power off.
> If your problem is the viewfinder the camera should work
>correctly - but when you view thru the viewfinder it will be
>fuzzy or perhaps not even able to see thru it at all.
>
> At this point I was ready to send it to Nikon for their free
>estimate - but I knew it was expensive no matter what. So I
>decided 'why not give the lens assembly a try'.
> Sorry - I don't have any pics (remember my camera is what I
>was working on). But here is what I did:
>
> The 'lens half' of the Coolpix 950, 990, etc. line has 4
>main sub-assemblies inside the case. There's the flash (CAREFUL!!
>there are some HIGH voltages and relatively large capacitors
>storing that voltage here), the viewfinder, the lens, and the
>CCD and electronics (two boards).
> The first task is to separate out the sub-assemblies. (I
>won't go over the basic disassembly - John has detailed that.)
>
> 1) Remove the viewfinder per John Flowers.
>
> 2) Remove the flash by unplugging the 3 cables (two 'wire cables'
> and one ribbon cable).
>
> There are several ribbon cables. They all attach at one end
>that you can get at and usually by sort of trapping the cable
>in a connector that has a pressed in slide locking device. You
>slide the locking device out a bit and then the cable slips out.
>To put it back in you just slip the ribbon cable under the locking
>device and get it all the way in and seated and then push the
>locking device in to lock it down and make a good connection.
>
> There are also some strange 'metallic' tapes that hold stuff in
>place - be careful when removing these and they will go back where
>they were. The adhesive on them won't be as good as it was when
>your camera was built in Japan ... but it WILL hold again. I
>don't know how many times you can take it apart and put it back
>and still use the same tape.
>
> 3) Remove the two circuit boards - one of them is just sort of
> hanging there attached by its ribbon cable. The other one
> is held on by screws and the CCD is mounted to it. So be
> careful not to get dirt or finger prints on the glass!
>
> 4) Remove the lens assembly.
>
> So, in my case what wasn't working had to the be motor drive
>for the lens focus/zoom mechanism. That comes out with just two
>screws. After it is out you should be able to see the lens
>assembly and determine if it is working correctly by sliding
>the slider and seeing the lens assembly move smoothly - and
>when you look thru it you will see it focusing/zooming. So I
>remembered the location of the pin that links to the lens - and
>it didn't seem to line up. Looking carefully at the motor and
>its plastic parts I was able to determine that what had
>happened is that the 'clip' that connects the motor to the
>lens focus/zoom slider had 'jumped off'.
> So I figured out how to get it back lined up (hint - you have
>to sort of line it all up and then push on the slide pin a bit
>and it will all line up just fine), reinstalled the focusing
>motor, redid all of the stuff I did to get to that point (ie.
>re-assembled the lens half of the camera).
>
> Turned it on and VOILA! it works perfectly. I ran it thru some
>basic tests such as auto flash, focus, close-up focus, etc. and
>everything is working just as it did before. I might have even
>improved things a bit because I also cleaned up some internal
>dust in places such as the glass in front of the CCD and the
>internal surface of the lens (the one behind the part that you
>screw accessories such as filters onto).
>
> I'm a happy camper. Copious acknowledgements to John Flowers for
>his web site that gave me the courage to do this!
>
> > Message: 4
> > Date: Fri, 02 May 2003 20:34:35 -0700
> > From: Jim Betz <jimbetz@jimbetz.com>
> > Subject: I dropped my 950 ... :-(
> >
> > I dropped my 950 today. About 3 feet onto a wood floor. It was
> > in the soft case that came with the camera. When I opened the
> > case there was no physical damage - both of the doors (battery
> > door and CF card door) had popped open but were easily reclosed
> > with no apparent damage. No other visible damage. So I turned
> > the camera on. "Funny noises" - actually only one ... a continuous
> > racheting noise. I'm assuming that the auto-focus mechanism is
> > damaged in some way. And the camera wouldn't turn off - had to
> > pop the battery door open to turn it off.
> >
> > 1) Am I right that it is probably the auto focus gear slipping?
> >
> > 2) How much does this cost for Nikon to fix it for me?
> >
> > 3) Is it possible to fix it myself?
> >
>
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