Nikon D40 Error Message- Press Shutter Release Again

NSXTypeR

Hmm, I guess this forum is a bit discriminatory to old time users! There are no D40s, D40x or D60s in this category!

Hello all! I've been away for the last 4 weeks or so on holiday to Hong Kong, which is why I haven't been active at all. I have now returned to NY and for the most part, my holiday for the first 3 or so weeks went by fine... until my D40 locked up. All it says is "Error. Press Shutter Release Again"

I have tried resetting the D40 through the Menu, as well as holding the two green buttons for a while. No can do.

What I'm trying to figure out is to see whether or not other members have had similar issues. My uncle's D40x also had the same issue, but went away after he pulled the battery out and waited for a good 6 months for the internal circuits to discharge completely.

I'm glad my uncle is a Nikon user, he lent me his D40x when I went to Taiwan. Even better service than Nikon Professional Services!

Hope everyone is going well, and as soon as this jet lag passes, I'll have plenty of picture a day material to put up. Also, I'll talk about the visit I made to the Langham Plaza Nikon Service Department.

Most importantly, when does the D7000 rebates end? Because at $900, that's a pretty decent price and if this error thing is going to hang around, I might as well upgrade.

NSXTypeR

Update- I have posted a photo. I can't ever get away from that error message- even if I try and go into Manual or Aperture Priority, it still sticks around.

spraynpray

It is time to let it retire peacefully NSX.

Pick up a nice D7000 cheap while you can....

donaldejose

You will love the D7000. Or you might want to consider the new D5200 which has the highest rated DX sensor at this moment.

NSXTypeR

So yeah, I have ordered a D7000. $976 at B and H.

spraynpray

Cool NSX - it will be good to see your shots and hear what you think of it. :-bd

PB_PM

I've seen D40's like that on eBay. Most of the sellers report that Nikon told them it was a dead shutter. May another D40 RIP. Enjoy your new camera!

heartyfisher

Cool NSX - it will be good to see your shots and hear what you think of it. :-bd

Yes will like your opinion of it :-)

NSXTypeR

D7000 came in the mail! Too bad class is about to start. I have to move into a new place, I have too much stuff to worry about so I'll have to wait a bit. At least I'll have plenty of time to read the manual. But first impressions it's stinkin fast. AF is fast, shutter release is fast, operation is fast. One minor nitpick- button placement is different, but that's not Nikon's fault.

Honestly, it's not as big as I expected it would be heavier yes, that's a no brainer, but it still fits in my old camera bag. That is a Lowepro Rezo 160. My grab bag always has a 18-135, a 35mm 1.8, and a small rocket air blower. It still all fits. Except for the 105 mom macro, but that never fit in my old bag anyway. My new bag should fit it all.

File sizes seem reasonable as well. I shoot mainly jpg fine and on a 16 gig card according to the camera I can fit 1600 shots, which isn't bad at all. I already also have a 32 gig card.

Long story short- unless you need it for sports shooting, there's really no reason to forgo the D7000 if you already have DX lenses, especially if you have an older generation camera. A D600 is nice, but that's almost $2000 extra. You could use that to get a 17-55 and still have change left over.

NSXTypeR

A bit of an update for anyone else with this sort of problem and a D40 style camera. Apparently it's because the gear to the shutter needs lubrication.

There's a Youtube video that describes this problem pretty well. Doesn't look to hard to fix in my opinion.

I'm in no rush to fix the D40 now that I've got my new camera, but it looks like a good side project to attempt if I'm bored one afternoon.



Edit- Another forum member sent me this link if anyone is interested.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-fix-Press-Shutter-Release-Button-Again-er/

spraynpray

+1 for masking the camera with a piece of paper if you must use a spray. I would clean the wheel then spray some appropriate lube into the lid or a clean jar and apply it with a clean toothpick or screwdriver etc. if it were me doing the job. You have to consider where the lube will wick away to next time the camera gets warm.

Msmoto

How interesting...I might suggest using something like a very thin oil...sewing machine oil, carefully placing it on the gear with a toothpick. As spraynpray suggested, avoid spraying into the camera directly. One does not know where the spray might end up. Also, use a lubricant which is compatible with plastic. Some silicone based lubricants will cause the plastic to change and a failure is almost certain with these.

spraynpray

Absolutely +1 Msmoto. That is why I didn't speak against WD40. Most mineral oils will affect plastics actually. WD40 is useless for 95% of the things people use it for but it is useful for some jobsas it is harmless on most plastics and some 'rubber' type materials.

grapevine

Just bought a used D40 as a second shooter and discovered the Error message. Tried the gear mechanism repair and upgraded the firmware. No change. Fired off an "I'm not impressed" email to the guy I bought it from who replied that it worked fine for him when he tried a manual lens on it before selling.

I had been trying it with my 35mm AF-S. I then tried a 50mm AF lens and got an error about locking the aperture ring (it was already locked). At this point, I consider throwing it at something hard and pointy. Oops.

But, ever the optimist, I decided to try an 18-55 AF-S kits lens. Bingo. No errors! Same thing for my 70-300 AF-S!

I've decided to live with this compromise and just remember what lenses will/won't work. Still doesn't explain why, but life is full of mysteries.

grapevine

Spoke too soon. Error message is hit and miss, even with the 18-55 lens,

Also, my playback button is not working. I can navigate through the images if I starting during the preview.

Back to the drawing board.

NSXTypeR

Just bought a used D40 as a second shooter and discovered the Error message. Tried the gear mechanism repair and upgraded the firmware. No change. Fired off an "I'm not impressed" email to the guy I bought it from who replied that it worked fine for him when he tried a manual lens on it before selling.

I had been trying it with my 35mm AF-S. I then tried a 50mm AF lens and got an error about locking the aperture ring (it was already locked). At this point, I consider throwing it at something hard and pointy. Oops.

But, ever the optimist, I decided to try an 18-55 AF-S kits lens. Bingo. No errors! Same thing for my 70-300 AF-S!

I've decided to live with this compromise and just remember what lenses will/won't work. Still doesn't explain why, but life is full of mysteries.

Interesting to see what you do to fix it- I have yet to fix mine, as I'm enjoying my D7000 now.

But, it's always a bit of a risk to buy such an old DSLR. Hope you can get it to work again. I always wanted to try its super fast flash sync speed, but I guess I won't be able to find out until I fix it.

grapevine

There's a pattern in the error message somewhere, but I just can't pin it down. For some unknown reason, it's much more likely to occur if I'm taking a pic of something close, like the lamp on my desk. I can shoot continuous pics of the light fixture across the room, although the fps speed seems slower than what it should be. It's also interesting that, even though the error message appears, the file is being saved on the SD card. The shot is not lost.

John

I don't know if the D40 already had this feature but modern cameras such as the D800 and D4 actually have a measuring device, build into the shutter, that examines the actual shutter time and compensates accordingly.
For example:
You select 1/250 and press the shutter release. The time registered that the shutter opened for 1/240.
In your next shot is will compensate so that the shutter speed once again matches the one you requested.

If your shutter in near the end of it's life then the difference between the actual shutter speed and the requested shutter speed might be too much for it to be able to compensate.

When you photograph the light fixture with the lights on the exposure might change depending upon your composition and closeness to the lightsource. This can result in different shutter speeds; some of which might trigger the problem.

Al least that's what I would guess. I'm definately not sure about it.

If you manage to fix the D40 and feel like experimenting then you can use it for infrared photography (by using a filter).
If you really feel like experimenting you can even try to remove the IR blocking filter which is located in front of the sensor. I've never done this and there is a good chance to break the camera. But it if works you end up with a nice "IR only" camera. There are tutorials only that tell you how to do this. Might be a fun project for what was a broken camera.

mk2pop

check the aperture feeler switch on the front, mine doest work with my sigma 100-300 because of a problem with this, i just jam it in with a little bit of card if im using that lens and it works perfect

might just be missing the lens a tad every now and then

NSXTypeR

check the aperture feeler switch on the front, mine doest work with my sigma 100-300 because of a problem with this, i just jam it in with a little bit of card if im using that lens and it works perfect

might just be missing the lens a tad every now and then

See, it's not the same error as the "no lens attached" error. I used to get that every so often with the 18-135mm lens, I only needed to reattach the lens again to get it to work again. I think it was the plastic mount that wasn't too sturdy.

NSXTypeR

Well... it lives!



I took the bottom plate off and greased that red gear. And it now works. The shutter sounds very different now however, and it seems to be less smooth than before.

I'm not sure if I can go back to the D40 after the D7000, if ya know what I mean...

Now my parents are pissed off that I got the D7000 even when the D40 is functional.

Ironheart

You'll have to change your sig now :-)

NSXTypeR

Haha, I just changed it!

I was thinking about trading it in, but ahh, what the heck. It's been great for what it is. I definitely see the value of weather sealing though. There was all this dust on the inside of the bottom plate.

michael66

Okay, I might be a newbie to the whole DSLR thing and still think with my FTN ( or wife's F in my dreams : ), but what is the life expectancy of these DSLRs? Is the D40 just an inexpensive camera, so why bother taking it to Nikon for a refurb? When I outgrow the D3000, I was contemplating something along the lines of the D600. Its upwards of two grand. Not chicken feed for me. How long will it last? Will Nikon even have parts for it? My FTN still works. Granted the meter is busted, but I could get an operational model for next to nothing.

As for lubricants for plastics, might I suggest Labelle. They have three grades and a grease product. Your better hobby shops should have it.

@NSXTypeR, have you used the D40 since the lubrication? It can take a while for it to smear itself across all the teeth.

NSXTypeR

I haven't seriously used it since I've added the lubricant, I am just way too spoiled by the D7000. It does sound slightly different, maybe more rough but it seems to work. I only took a couple shots with it in demo mode.

Thanks for the suggestion on lubricants, but it's a bit late now haha.

The D600 I think is rated for 150,000 shots. The D40 wasn't even rated. When it died it had about 27,100 shots on it. I bought it in 2008.

The worst part about the D40 was that I just brought it in for a sensor cleaning at Nikon. But hey, it works and I didn't even need to go through Nikon to get it refurbished. Literally took me 30 minutes to fix it.

NSXTypeR

For those of you who do care (and there are probably very few of you ), the WD40 does work but it died on me after another couple of shots.

I'm going to have to return to it later on and see if dedicated plastic gear lube will work better.