D800 kills Speedlights: I have a D800 that I used to take macro photos at work with a SB-400 flash and a SC-29 extension cable. It worked erratically for a few shots then went dead.

jkoar Loc: The Gunks, NY

I have a D800 that I used to take macro photos at work with a SB-400 flash and a SC-29 extension cable. It worked erratically for a few shots then went dead. The next day I put my new SB-700 that worked previously on the D800 and it no longer works. Both units will not power up. Bad cable, bad D800, anyone have this experience?

As an aside, sometimes the D800 goes into the weeds for about 30 seconds after taking a picture. The picture views OK and this happens erratically.

Nikons stock is down!

RichardSM Loc: Back in Texas

And another reason to get current with CANON.

Sorry I could not help my self hehe!
Looks like it needs a trip to NIKKON to find out what went wrong, best of luck?

jkoar wrote:

I have a D800 that I used to take macro photos at ... (show quote)

nakkh Loc: San Mateo, Ca

jkoar wrote:

I have a D800 that I used to take macro photos at ... (show quote)

For the 1st part I've not seen this.

For the 2nd, Only time I've ever seen erratic behavior is when the camera gets too hot.
One thing to also try is swap out your memory card if you have a spare to see if there are perhaps errors writing to the card.

EDIT: What kind of card are you using? CF, SD or both?
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3335631

catfish252

Neither flash will power up on or off camera now or only when connected with the SC-29 cable, if it's only when the cable is attached try commander mode with the D800 and see what happens. If the D800 is experiencing weird problems then I would imagine the power supply or main board in the camera may be suspect. Worth a call to Nikon come Monday. (1-800-645-6687) 9AM-8PM EST, Monday through Friday.

MtnMan Loc: ID

jkoar wrote:

I have a D800 that I used to take macro photos at ... (show quote)

My SB 700 works flawlessly on my D800.

Most likely you have something set; e.g. long exposure noise reduction, causing the camera to seem go away for a while. It also happens if you use Mirror Up and don't press the shutter a second time...but it then fires by itself after about 30 seconds.

jkoar Loc: The Gunks, NY

Thanks for the input. When I put the SB-700 on the D800, the display came on for a second then went out. The flash will not power on either on or off the camera ... dead! I think the call to Nikon is in order. I wonder if the SC-29 cable damaged the D800 since this is the new device in the equation. I used the SB-400 [now dead] many times on both cameras. The SB-700 is new and powered up fine and test flashed.

nakkh The card in the D800 is a 32GB SanDisk Extreme Plus SD. Yes, I did format it. I also have 16GB SanDisk Extreme Plus CF that I use for movies.

RichardSM Canon makes wonderful cameras also and I suspect they have their spurious problems too.

catfish252 The cable worked for about 8 shots with the SB-400 then went flakey and the flash died.

mtnman I don't think it is user error since all these things worked up to a point. Thank you all for your support.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

jkoar wrote:

I have a D800 that I used to take macro photos at ... (show quote)

Is your SC-29 a Nikon brand or a knock-off? I would very much suspect the cable. Counterfeits are also rampant and I would never buy any Nikon, Canon or Sony accessory off of Ebay or Amazon, the majority of "brand name" accessories sold on those sites are counterfeits or knock-offs. You seldom get what you pay for.
Have you mounted the flash units in the hotshoe to test function or are they now completely dead? The hotshoe would be the FIRST test of any flash problem diagnosis.
If your D800 ceases function for a period of time after shots it is highly likely that you have either High ISO Noise Reduction or Long Exposure Noise Reduction turned on. Turn them both off in your menus and you will probably not experience those delays anymore.

jkoar Loc: The Gunks, NY

MT Shooter wrote:

Is your SC-29 a Nikon brand or a knock-off? I woul... (show quote)

The Nikon SC-29 was new out of the box from Adorama as was the SB-400.

The D800 and SB-700 were new from Best Buy and have their coverage as well.

Both noise reductions are and were off.

Putting the SB-700 on the hot shoe is what killed it. It test flashed OK before mounting it.

Thank you for the suggestions. I greatly appreciate it. I think the faulty cable started all the problems as you seem to. I will talk to Nikon tomorrow. Not sure which warranties to use.....

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

jkoar wrote:

I will talk to Nikon tomorrow. Not sure which warranties to use.....

That's what nice about it all being Nikon. If one part were non-Nikon, they could blame your problem on that. Whatever the problem, you're covered.

jkoar Loc: The Gunks, NY

jerryc41 wrote:

That's what nice about it all being Nikon. If one part were non-Nikon, they could blame your problem on that. Whatever the problem, you're covered.

Thanks Jerry.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

jkoar wrote:

The Nikon SC-29 was new out of the box from Adoram... (show quote)

The D800 will definitely need to go to Nikon for warranty work, I would send the SB-700 to as it sounds like they are both under warranty. If the SB-400 and SC-29 are still under their warranty I would also include them with a LONG letter of explanation as to the timeline and results as you have outlined here. There seems to be some sort of voltage problem. I have to wonder if your pop-up flash unit works on the D800?

wildman Loc: Bluffton, SC

catfish252 wrote:

Neither flash will power up on or off camera now or only when connected with the SC-29 cable, if it's only when the cable is attached try commander mode with the D800 and see what happens. If the D800 is experiencing weird problems then I would imagine the power supply or main board in the camera may be suspect. Worth a call to Nikon come Monday. (1-800-645-6687) 9AM-8PM EST, Monday through Friday.

If NEITHER flash will power up on or OFF the camera, the problem is with the flash units! I have an 800 I use with Nikon's Speedlight system and have not experienced any problems.

Off the cuff I'd say battery problems or capacitor problems. Hard to believe you'd have capacitor problems in two devices though!

wm

jkoar Loc: The Gunks, NY

Looks like the whole shebang is going to Nikon with a long letter and phone call. Thanks for all the advice. Right in the middle of foliage season!

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

jkoar wrote:

I have a D800 that I used to take macro photos at ... (show quote)

Electronics get weird some times. This may be a long shot but take the batteries out of each device for a period of time, charge them and re-install.

jkoar Loc: The Gunks, NY

Tried that too joer. I am an electrical engineer by degree. I think the faulty cable damaged the hot shoe on the camera then it killed the 400 and then the 700. Thanks for the reply. I wanted to know if this was a known problem before I called Nikon.

I really appreciate all the responses from this web site. All of you are very helpful!