For the first time as a photographer....

Tyke Tiler

Tyke Tiler

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Tomas
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I've gone and broken a piece of equipment! :bang:

One brand new SB-800 flash, one six foot drop, one river cried :'(

It worked for a little while with a rather odd looking LCD panel but as soon as I turned it off, it won't properly turn on again :|

Question is, which route to repair (if cost effective)?, I have a colleague who has had flash repairs done before and they can be silly money, 300 euro's and more.
It will cost me 45 euros for a tech at my local authorized Nikon service centre just to sniff it.
I was thinking maybe of sending it to Nikon direct instead of using an authorized Nikon repair centre, does anyone know if this is possible?

Has anyone else murdered an SB-800 and had it repaired?

Experience and or advice very welcome and very appreciated.

T.
 
Ouch! Can't help with repair costs Tomas but I have an SB-800 and four or five SB-600's, you are more than welcome to borrow one or two until you get sorted.
 
Hacker said:
Ouch! Can't help with repair costs Tomas but I have an SB-800 and four or five SB-600's, you are more than welcome to borrow one or two until you get sorted.
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That's very kind of you Colin, very kind indeed. :thumbs:
I should be okay though really, I have two SB-28's and my other SB-800 to keep me going, it kinda buggers up my 4 point lightning set up but I haven't got anything like that planned for a while, I think I can manage with three.

I'm going to call Nikon on Monday and see what they say, just thought I'd put the feelers out here first as I'm away at the mo, see if anyone's sent stuff direct to Nikon or gone through the service centre channels etc

Thanks again though Col, very kind of you mate.

T.
 
Claim on your house insurance :)
 
Toothie said:
Ouch, good luck getting it repaired, any chance you can claim on your insurance?
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Yeah I was thinking of at least trying, I'm still a bit confused with my current insurance plan to be fair though :thinking:.
I suspect they'll try to squirm their way out of paying on the grounds that I'm a plonker for dropping it.

It's the complete illustration to 'the law of the sod' because sometime this month (after my VAT bill comes in) I was upgrading to a better and more fliexible business insurance. :bonk:

Isn't it always the way.
 
That was your first breakage!? Christ you've been lucky. Hope you get it sorted fella.

I've had dealings with lens repair, and it can be silly money. I suspect with a speedlight it will be a case of buy a new one tbh, but I could be wrong...
 
Tomas Whitehouse said:
Yeah I was thinking of at least trying, I'm still a bit confused with my current insurance plan to be fair though :thinking:.
I suspect they'll try to squirm their way out of paying on the grounds that I'm a plonker for dropping it.

It's the complete illustration to 'the law of the sod' because sometime this month (after my VAT bill comes in) I was upgrading to a better and more fliexible business insurance. :bonk:

Isn't it always the way.
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If you've got specific photographer insurance, you should be well covered for breakage due to butter fingers. I've just put 2 sb-600's on mine (photoguard) as I just know that a light stand is bound to fall over one day.
 
Dangleman said:
That was your first breakage!? Christ you've been lucky. Hope you get it sorted fella.

I've had dealings with lens repair, and it can be silly money. I suspect with a speedlight it will be a case of buy a new one tbh, but I could be wrong...
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Yeah, I'm normally super geeky paranoid careful with my stuff, I still am, I think I just temporarily slipped off the wagon. :bonk:

Dangleman said:
If you've got specific photographer insurance, you should be well covered for breakage due to butter fingers. I've just put 2 sb-600's on mine (photoguard) as I just know that a light stand is bound to fall over one day.
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It's an 'extended household plan, inc items of considerable value', well, that's what it translates from Finnish. I paid an extra few hundred for it.
I'm not holding my breath though. I was saving pennies to have a better and more business related insurance plan, I registered myself as a business in January ya see, went from a freelance tax card to a registered bizz, got me an accountant and everything!
Just as I was about to sort out some better insurance, bang! typical aint it!
 
my insurance covered accidental damage (my 400d got sea in it) and they didnt quibble at all just wanted to see if they could fix it, then replaced
 
david1701 said:
my insurance covered accidental damage (my 400d got sea in it) and they didnt quibble at all just wanted to see if they could fix it, then replaced
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Wow, that's a very nice insurance company your with mate, either that or your just a super very nice bloke and they couldn't resist your charm ;)
Cheers! :thumbs:
 
Tomas Whitehouse said:
It's an 'extended household plan, inc items of considerable value'
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Tomas i have an extended household plan, i do list camera equipment on there though, i think mine is up to about £4000 i know i upped it recently so it may be a bit more, i think it's well worth you you having a punt at it, but just don't tell them you use it in your work (although i'm sure you know that) mine is insured for accidental damage, lost or stolen worldwide, at the end of the day they can only say no, good luck with it :thumbs:
 
Hacker said:
Ouch! Can't help with repair costs Tomas but I have an SB-800 and four or five SB-600's, you are more than welcome to borrow one or two until you get sorted.
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TP spirit again :thumbs: well done Colin:clap:
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Try sealing it in a ziplock bag with a silica gel pack for a few days....
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Sounds interesting Graham, will it bring me luck, fortune, glory and hairs on my chest?
I'm going to try that while I'm calling the bloodsucking con artists insurance company :thumbs:


TG. said:
Tomas i have an extended household plan, i do list camera equipment on there though, i think mine is up to about £4000 i know i upped it recently so it may be a bit more, i think it's well worth you you having a punt at it, but just don't tell them you use it in your work (although i'm sure you know that) mine is insured for accidental damage, lost or stolen worldwide, at the end of the day they can only say no, good luck with it :thumbs:
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Thanks Tel, indeed I'm going to claim I was using under personal use as opposed to a job :thumbs:

Dangermouse1964 said:
TP spirit again :thumbs: well done Colin:clap:
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It's great aint'it! TP FTW!
 
Does it not want to turn on at all, or does it turn on but not flash, or what?

the reason I ask is that I was wondering if there was any chance that it would still work as a flash commander, even though it might not work as a flash? I've only got a D50 see, so I can't do off camera flash without an add-on commander, and if it could work as a semi-su-800 I might have offered to take it off your hands ;)

I've wondered about buying one of those cables, but they seem expensive enough that the money might be better saved for a better camera which supports wireless flash.

dave
 
fyonn said:
Does it not want to turn on at all, or does it turn on but not flash, or what?....
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It differed mate, I tried turning it on around three times, the first time it turned on but the LCD was black then it turned itself off, I tried again and then the LCD was ok but the green backlight didn't work, I tried a test flash and then it turned itself off and the for the last attempt nothing worked. I decided to stop fiddlin and since then haven't.

I wouldn't be comfortable selling it on in it's condition, I'll see what the insurance company says on Monday. Cheers for the offer though :thumbs:
 
STOP!

Don't even try to turn it on! Most equipment can survive a quick dunk if you treat it right after. Take the batteries out, open every hatch etc and put it somewhere warm and dry for a few days (airing cupboard?) then stick it in a bag with some silica gel bags in for a few more days. After that open it all up as much as you can and inspect for rust and cleanliness.

Only then stick the batteries back in and try it - you never know you might get lucky. I once did with a laptop I dropped in a pudddle. Its not the water that causes problems per say.

Chris
 
dogyakker said:
STOP!

Don't even try to turn it on! Most equipment can survive a quick dunk if you treat it right after. Take the batteries out, open every hatch etc and put it somewhere warm and dry for a few days (airing cupboard?) then stick it in a bag with some silica gel bags in for a few more days. After that open it all up as much as you can and inspect for rust and cleanliness.

Only then stick the batteries back in and try it - you never know you might get lucky. I once did with a laptop I dropped in a pudddle. Its not the water that causes problems per say.

Chris
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Cheers for that Chris, I tried turning it on few times and them decided that fiddling wasn't a good idea, also I dropped it on a hard floor and not in any water.
It's impact damage as opposed to water damage. The 'one river cried' comment was referring to my feelings after I had dropped it, like Justin Trousersnake 'Cry Me A River' :D

I take it the silica trick is just for dips in the drink?
 
Tomas Whitehouse said:
I wouldn't be comfortable selling it on in it's condition, I'll see what the insurance company says on Monday. Cheers for the offer though :thumbs:
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dont worry about it, I was:

a) trying to show that while it might be kinda broken, there might be some use for the remains possibly

and

b) I was being cheap ;)

I don't know if the SB-800 commands other flashes via pre-flashes or some IR trickery maybe. looking at the SU-800 it does it all via IR I think, and I thought that maybe if it was just the flash-head that was broken, the commander function might still work via IR.

I'd still do it via the insurance, but it might be worth trying to keep the old broken bits just in case someone might be able to fix them, or get some kind of use :)

alternatively it might just be completely up the spout and only good for the bin :)

dave
 
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