Shutter release broken!!!

[Cussy]

I always think that even if you do something really stupid you shouldn't keep it quiet just in the hope someone else doesn't do the same.

When I went to the Red Sea in January at the end of one days diving I noticed the shutter release button of my Nikon D80 had come off. Fortunately I didn't loose it, nor the little spring that lives behind it. This wasn't a problem on the trip as the shutter could still be used.

When I got back home I carefully glued the button back on and all seemed fine.

On the next dive the button fell off again. This time I did a more careful repair and also did a slight modification to the housing.

On the next dive (last Saturday) the button came off again. On Sunday I knew I planned to dive yesterday, so yet again I glued it back on. I knew I had to do something about the housing so took a really good look at it. On the end of the shutter release lever there is a conical shaped rubber bung. This wasn't pressing down centrally on the button, so I altered it slightly and re-set up the camera. I was getting a bit sick of gluing the button back on so I wanted to make sure the adjusted lever was ok. Didn't take long before the button came off again.

Yet again I glued it back on, I think you might guess where this is going....Yes, I glued the whole thing up, gluing the button half depressed. The camera could still be operated on continuous focus and would still fire, but you got no preview of the image and other functions were difficult to use.

But you might be thinking, Nikon cameras come with a 2 year warranty, so surely I'm covered? Well I bought my D80 re-conditioned and so only had a 6 month Nikon warranty, which the camera shop had made into a 12 month warranty; and guess what, the first breakage was 2 weeks over the 12 months since I bought the camera!

So I've just had to pay £95 to have someone replace my shutter release button!

Ken, you need to read this next bit! I replaced the conical rubber bungs with a flat one, this presses down slightly differently and puts pressure much more centrally on the button itself.

Oh well, looks like the reconditioned body was a false economy,

Rob

PS no replies of "what a prat", I already know!!!!

[KenByrne]

Thanks for the info. I've looked at my housing and the shutter release button seems to line up fairly centrally on the shutter release. Did you replace the conical bung with a part from the supplied maintenance kit? If so do you mean the one with the T shaped cross section or one of the small tips used on the housing buttons?

[Cussy]

Originally Posted by KenByrne

Thanks for the info. I've looked at my housing and the shutter release button seems to line up fairly centrally on the shutter release. Did you replace the conical bung with a part from the supplied maintenance kit? If so do you mean the one with the T shaped cross section or one of the small tips used on the housing buttons?

One of the housing buttons from the maintenance kit. I think the conical one had come loose and slipped down the shaft slightly, this is why it didn't line up.
Rob

[Mike W]

Recon or not - the camera should have been 100%. On my Ikelite housing the shutter release lever wasn't central to the shutter button on the camera and I had to bend the lever with a pair of pliers to make it line up properly, quite a surprise after an Oly PT housing that was absolutely spot on.

It's about low-volume aftermarlet kit, I suppose. Good though the Ikelite kit is, it's still pretty much what I always think of as American engineering - solid, functional, but not desperately high-tech.

I've no experience of aluminium housings (erxcept in my year or so of guiding int he Red Sea the only housings I ever saw flooded were ally jobbies) so I wonder how much better they are in terms of fit and finish?