Problems w/a Nikon D80! Please help!!!

[paddington_02]

Hi, I'm looking at buying a used Nikon D80 but there is a problem with the camera when there is a hot flash attached to it. The camera will focus, the flash will activate and take the picture, but there is a msg that reads "ERR" on the top left corner of the display screen ON the camera. Now it did not do this for every picture taken with the hot flash attached. It did it every few pics. When the camera does not have a hot flash attached to it it works perfectly! The book says its an internal error and to contact an expert. The guy I'm looking at buying it from took it a to be looked at after I met with him and said they took about 200 pics with it. He said that it did show the "ERR" msg a few times but after about 50 it stopped coming up. He said the guy at the camera store said that since it hadn't been used it in about a year there could have been build up w/the lubrication on the shutter and maybe it just needed to be loosed (done by taking pics). I called and spoke with the guy he saw and he said that was his opinion. I talked to another place and they said that was silly. They said they have seen hundreds of Nikons and never seen anything like it and no matter how good of a deal it was they wouldn't buy it. This was followed by letting me know they offer a one yr warrenty on all of their used camers. Someone else at the same location said maybe the prongs where the flash attaches to the camera needs a good cleaning. I dont know what to do! Can anyone help??? It's a good deal but I don't want to get messed over in the deal!!! Thanks so much!

 

[orb9220]

Is it a Nikon flash like SB-600? or older Nikon SB-26? or Third party flash?
You are locking flash on the hotshoe? Check hotshoe contacts & flash prongs on flash see anything suspect?
Try another flash and see if problem persists.

No it's not a great deal if having unidentified problems with it. As see D80 used at the $350-$450 mark now.

Would pass until I could identify the Exact! problem of flash & Hotshoe or Internal Camera problem.
.

 

[djacobox372]

I wouldn't buy, unless you're getting a screaming deal. For some perspective on price, I have a perfectly working D80 for sale on ebay right now for $297. It's a high-mileage body (60k clicks), but there's nothing wrong with it.