There is no way I would send it back to Nikon (at my expense). I would tell the seller that it was not "of merchantable quality" and reject it, but I am in the UK where I can do that. If you paid by credit card, the card company is also liable and will re-fund you. After reading your link, seems like you may actually be better off with a good non OEM copy?

Ironheart said:
I'm still a bit baffled as to why you won't just call Nikon and see what they say. Or better yet take it to where you purchased it. At the very least they will usually offer to cover the shipping back to Nikon for repair. I'll bet you Nikon will repair under warranty no questions asked. Forget about all the Internet naysayers and go for it!

Well, because I did contact them, mate... That was the first thing I did after putting the grip back in its original packaging.

And even after sending them pictures they won't go beyond "we can't yet tell you what it's gonna cost or if it's covered by the warranty, so send it to us first and we'll charge you for the shipping".

So, since this is not my first experience with Nikon, and they systematically have been bad, I'm building a case.

And of course it will be shipped via the shop which sold it to me... they are legally responsible for that as long as the mandatory 2 year warranty is in play, in the EU.

I'm still a bit baffled as to why you won't just call Nikon and see what they say. Or better yet take it to where you purchased it. At the very least they will usually offer to cover the shipping back to Nikon for repair. I'll bet you Nikon will repair under warranty no questions asked. Forget about all the Internet naysayers and go for it!

msmoto said:
@ GhostRider117.... can you post a nice macro photo of the broken part/grip? And, how many clicks on the D7000 with the grip on it?

About 3000 clicks with the grip on.

Edit: not my picture, but exactly the same issue...
http://www.flickr.com/groups/d7000-club/discuss/72157632080808727/

One of the comments mentions Nikon agreeing to repair it under warranty... only one I've seen so far.

@ GhostRider117.... can you post a nice macro photo of the broken part/grip? And, how many clicks on the D7000 with the grip on it?

I don't have an MB-D11, but I do have the 10. It's built like a tank, so I'm surprised to hear of your problem. I don't know what jurisdiction you fall under, but I would suggest if you've only had it 4 months, take in back to the seller and demand an exchange/refund.

Well, yes, it's supposed to be under warranty (2 years mandatory warranty in EU).

Except that from what I've read about user experience on this issue is that Nikon refuses to fix it under warranty, arguing that this is not covered. Basically, they're saying that the build quality is fine and that you broke it yourself by using it instead of keeping it in the box.

So, if I have sufficient information to show that this is a recurring issue, then I can show that this is their fault, and that it should be covered by the warranty.

Isn't it under warranty? What's the need for pressure on Nikon then, have they said the wouldn't fix it?

After 4 months of light use, the joystick of my Nikon MB-D11 just broke into two halves while I was switching AF points... I've seen other reports of exactly the same issue elsewhere (incl. Amazon.com reviews).

Has anyone here had the issue? I'm building a case to put pressure on Nikon so that they repair it under warranty, as this is obviously a build quality default...

Thanks,

Are you sure you're not pressing the depth of field preview button?

Hi there!

Thanks for all the great advice. I have tested it a few different ways and have yet to experience the same issue as I did earlier. It seems that I must have been pushing a live view button or something else, as it always happened in portrait mode. I doubt it was the connections as it is brand new.

To be clear on the issue, the entire viewfinder went dark, and I had to turn the camera off and on for it to work again.

I always find that I switch modes when moving the camera to portrait simply because of the ergonomics of the camera. I like the d7000 but the dial rubs against my hand too often, or buttons accidentally get pushed. This never happens on a larger camera.

Thanks again for all your input!!

To repeat DutchNikon's comment, the viewfinder should never "go dark" unless the things happen that he mentioned

Srry, forgot 3 other possibilities..

1) If you (accidently) push the "LiveView" button, thenm the mirror also goes up, and the viewfinder is substuted by the LCD ..
2) If you (accidently) switch to "Film Mode"for taking movies, then the same thing happens as mentioned for 1) ..
3) You switched on the Mup ( mirror up) selection, then the mirror swings up at depressing the release button the first time, and a pic is taken at pressing it for the second time, in between those, the mirror stays "up"and hence the viewfinder is dark..

The first 2 easely happen when switching to "Portrait" orientation when the grip was attached to the camera due to the position of the liveview/ movie mode button/switch, because for some ppl the button presses against the forehead..

The viewfinder on all Nikon DSLRs go slightly dark when there is no battery installed. Sounds like there is a bad connection between the grip and the camera. Make sure it is on tight, and if that does not work exchange the grip for a new one.

To repeat DutchNikon's comment, the viewfinder should never "go dark" unless the things happen that he mentioned. Are you talking about the meter settings in green LCD letters underneath the field of view: Shutter Speed, F stop; exposure; ISO???

If so, the length of time metering stays active can be adjusted in settings.

Custom Settings Menu > Timers/AE Lock > Auto Meter-off Delay

Hope this helps.

Try using some contact cleaner on the grip electrical connectors. Very sparingly. Only a light touch... just make certain no corrosion or dirt is on the contacts. Intermittent problems are in many cases simply poor electrical connections.

Could be a loose connection or a bad grip. I had this happen with an after market grip on my D700, the mirror would stick because there was something wrong with the grip.

You should try it with a battery in both camera and grip and see how it fares. I believe there is a setting to tell the camera which battery to use first, so if you put one battery in the camera and another in the grip, then tell the camera to use the grip first, you won't have to charge the battery in camera very often.

Are you sure you do not push any of the buttons on the grip, or camera ?

The Viewfinder should only go dark when :
- The mirror goes up, because you take a picture
- The aperture closes because you push a preview button ( normally the middle button on the right side of the lens mount..)
- Something moves through the field of view
- You look into the viewfinder on an angle.

But the D7000 ( or any other nikon dslr) does not ahave an electronic viewfinder, so it does not go dark in any other situation i can think of...

I recently purchased an mb-d11 purely for the added weight for my d7000..it really doesn't do much else :) anywho, I noticed while I was out shooting, the d7000's viewfinder would randomly go dark. I'd have to shut off the power and restart to get it going again. Simple fix, but annoying.

The battery was in the grip chamber. The d7000 chamber was empty. A genuine enel15 was used.

Any idea what it is? I never had this problem before adding the grip. Perhaps I'll try the battery in the camera chamber and see if theres a problem there. Just wanted to avoid taking off the grip every time to change the battery.

One of the elements of safety when charging these batteries that the D7000/D800 battery charger/battery has is a temperature cutoff. So Nikon is monitoring the battery temperature during charging to maintain a safe level, and this is with the battery externally charged. My reasoning is the heat generated by charging a battery in the body would retain more heat and thus increase risk of heat related problems.

The most efficient/quickest way to charge these lithium batteries is to use the external charger using the maximum current that generates the safest heat levels.

Lithium batteries are a little different in their charging profile compared to NiMH and NiCad in that instead of a constant steady current flow until cutoff voltage is attained, the lithium battery's charger senses how depleted the battery is to begin with. The more depleted the battery is, the more current is applied by the charger. As the battery gets more charged, the amount of current applied starts to diminish to the point where it's near fully charged the charger will trickle in a small amount of current until fully charged.

What this equates to is that if you have a fully discharged battery it will take much less time for it to go from 0 to 50% than a battery that is at 50% going to 100%. That last ~10% takes a lot longer to proportionally to get in.

Also, add in Japan battery safety standards and I'm guessing they are extra cautious with in-body lithium battery charging. The larger the battery, the more heat generated during charging. Hence small point and shoots that don't have as large batteries won't get as hot. Cell phones have their batteries closer to the exterior of the body so can dissipate heat more easily than a DSLR with the battery located farther from the body exterior.

giganova said:
Design flaw, in my opinion.

In this day and age, I agree that you'd have thought Nikon would have been able to design a way to plug into an external charger while the darn things are still inside the camera/grip. Even my lowly cell phone works just fine like that.

Putting my consumer hat on, is someone going to suggest that it's all down to the battery technology? Maybe local laws in Japan? Perhaps adding the approx three components to the body is too hard? Would it add more than $4 to production costs to put a wall-wart in the box that plugs into the body? I'd be OK paying another $10 on my $1k camera body for it...

Most other consumer tech company that has products you pick up and carry about with you seems to be able to do it? Certainly every cell phone company, laptop computer maker and also that huge behemoth Apple... Why not Nikon?

The answer is to use the battery in the grip first and make the one in the camera your back up ...re charge it when it drops to 90% . I use a 4200 mah LiFe battery in the grip and that does not need to be removed to charge it you just plug in the charger and wait for the light to go green $40 appr0x

Thanks for the clarification. Design flaw, in my opinion. I guess I will make the battery grip my primary battery and stick two recharchable batteries in it.

@giganova - the only option for You to not remove the grip is to take the in-camera better out and use only the one in the battery grip, sorry no other solutions

Hi all --

I have a D7000 with the MB-D11 battery grip. How can I charge the battery that is inside the camera without taking it out? I am sick that I always have to remove the battery grip first to get access to the in-camera battery.

Thanks!

I purchase a non Nikon battery pack on eBay (link-delite in Hong Kong),it worked well , my D90 one does too.

I will try the above test later ,but I had no battery problems..

The problem I had ,was the battery door clip hing broke ,I still cant get a replacement clip from the sellers, and too fiddly to repair myself ...

As with my D80 D90 and now this D7000, a spare battery in the pocket and Im taking well over 3-4 thousand shots (D7000 airshow shots).
Mostly continuous shooting, I can fill a SD card(s) real fast .

I found the battery pack to be bulky and heavy and not for me ..

Good for tripod portrait shooting, but I don't do that style of Photography much now .

Its been mentioned that Nikon battery packs are a poorly fitting as is the after market units ...
My non genuine is a bit loose, compared with Nikon's (from the Camera Shop,)it also was a poor fit ,but now it spends its days in its packaging box ...

Its a bit late and I don't get time to get here often so,, Happy New Year everybody