Did some one mention fishing?

Hey ! I have found, on a French forum (Chasseur d'images) someone who had the very same problem. He has a D300 and the same lens (70-200 VR). He found out that there was some play between the lens and the body, minimal but enough to break the link between them. Result: The body went to 1/8000s and black pictures. He solved the problem by buying the new 70-200.

I checked my camera and lens, and sure enough, I found some play too, even though it's very small. Of course it's bigger with the TC 14EII attached in between, and that could be the answer. When my shop re-opens on the 24th, I shall send the lot back to Nikon.

I do hope that this is the reason for my problem, otherwise I shall switch to angling… :o)

adamz said:
bernard, try to send it to Nikon in other country, i.e. Germany, Spain or UK - maybe they gonna fix it

That would be difficult if not impossible since the camera is now under the guarantee extension that I bought from the shop. My only hope is that the shop gives me a D300S replacement, take on the problem and fight Nikon instead of me. The shop is closed till the 24th…

My wife tried to phone Nikon in Tokyo this morning but she got an answering machine message stating that they were closed until next monday due to a bank holiday. She will call them back again ASAP.

bernard said:
Hello Niko !

I have been using various types and sizes, all formatted in the D300: Sandisk Extreme III 16 Gb, Sandisk Extreme IV 4 Gb, TakeMS 8 Gb. They all work fine but I get the same problems using any of them.

I used my 70-200 with or without the TC x1,4 with my D70 before and I never ever had any problem. I believe the fault lies in the D300 brains. The fact that I don't normally get it when I'm using my day-to-day 16-85 does not mean I would not get it if I used this lens so intensely as the 70-200. I can take 4000 pictures over a week-end, generally at 5 FPS, and take may be a hundred in single mode during an entire week-end with the 16-85. I never had time to try and test the D300 that way, and, in my opinion, Nikon had all the facts and figures, including CD's with the faulty pictures, to solve the problem. THEY should have done that but they didn't… Aaaaaargh !

Hello Niko !

I have been using various types and sizes, all formatted in the D300: Sandisk Extreme III 16 Gb, Sandisk Extreme IV 4 Gb, TakeMS 8 Gb. They all work fine but I get the same problems using any of them.

I used my 70-200 with or without the TC x1,4 with my D70 before and I never ever had any problem. I believe the fault lies in the D300 brains. The fact that I don't normally get it when I'm using my day-to-day 16-85 does not mean I would not get it if I used this lens so intensely as the 70-200. I can take 4000 pictures over a week-end, generally at 5 FPS, and take may be a hundred in single mode during an entire week-end. I never had time to try and test the D300 that way, and, in my opinion, Nikon had all the facts and figures, including CD's with the faulty pictures, to solve the problem, but they didn't… Aaaaaargh !

Hi Bernard! Good to hear from you again! I hope you're feeling much better. I've never heard of a similar problems with the D300 before. What type of memory card have you been using?

bernard, try to send it to Nikon in other country, i.e. Germany, Spain or UK - maybe they gonna fix it

I shall add that before I bought the D300 I was using the lens and TC 1,4 with a D70 and I never had any problem with this arrangement.

bernard said:
Thanks all !

Yes, I think I will start writing strong letters to the Nikon boss in France, but I will also phone Nikon Japan tomorrow and tell them what I think of Nikon France after sales service ! Nikon Japan and Nikon France may be two different entities, but when it comes to loss of customers and revenues, that usually triggers some kind of reaction.

I will keep you posted…

Thanks all !

Yes, I think I will start writing strong letters to the Nikon boss in France, but I will also phone Nikon Japan tomorrow and tell them what I think of Nikon France after sales service ! They may be two different entities, but when it comes to loss of customers and revenues, that usually triggers some kind of reaction.

I will keep you posted…

nikon france surrendered and sent it back to you.
Nikon should of replaced it after the 3rd repair for same issue.

Hope it gets sorted soon.

I can't add much to this except to say that I live in France too and wouldn't have wasted my time sending it back to Nikon France twice. They probably tried to mend it with a gallic shrug or two.

Bv may have been the better choice, but after such a farce I would be bombarding everybody - France, Holland and Japan - with calls.

Yep ! That's my plan. I even intend to phone Nikon in Tokyo because I've had enough of this, especially when I do air-to-air photos and have to pay for the gas !…

you probably live near some center of cosmic radiation!

Cant see any option besides getting nikon to replace it. send their gm nasty letters.

Hi all !
I have been off for some time due to some health issues but things are getting better progressively. I went to a few air shows lately and found that my D300 is still playing up. Here's the story…

I bought my D300 in June 2008.
In September, in Midland (Tx) I found that I was getting series of black pictures, and that the camera would stick in 1/8000s until I cut the power off. Aaaaargh !
Back home, I sent the camera to Nikon France who gave it back to me a few days later.
A few months later, same problem… I went back to Nikon with a CD full of black pictures. They kept it a bit longer this time and said the problem was solved (But they did not and would not say what it was exactly).
In July, last month, another air show, and the same problem happened again. This time I went through the shop who sold me the body and from whom I had purchased an extended guarantee. They sent the body to Nikon and the shop had to pay 223 euros for the so-called "repair".
Last week-end, I went to another air show and guess what ?… Same problem again with a few variations:
1) Only one black picture over the 1100 I took that afternoon.
2) The camera would jump from 1/320s to 1/8000s on its own and stick there until I would turn it off and on, and once I had to remove and refit the battery. It did that 4 times.
3) On 3 occasions, nothing happened when I depressed the trigger. I checked my adjustments which were all good (I use mode S and a top speed of 1/320 for propeller aircraft and 1/2000 for jets).

I contacted Nikon and asked for a body replacement but they insist on getting the body back for repair. The shop I bought the camera from is closed until the end of the month and I will have to go through them and use my guarantee extension.

The lens I use is the 70/200 2,8 VR, with or without the x 1,4 Nikon converter. I had the lens checked by Nikon and it was found perfect.
The battery is a Nikon one, the charger is Nikon, and I got the same result with various cards which I format in that body.

Any idea ???…