Nikon D3 DSLR: Partial teardown and attempt of repair

[TiN]

Day 5

I hope someone could help on my D800 external power supply hack, but that's not what I'm worry about right now, haha.

Looks like I figured out mirror issue, it was #262 spring which recovers mirror into view position, and small lever for light shielding for metering block.

Now hard part - assemble all that thingy's together without breaking anything else 
I bet I'll have some extra "unnecessary parts" left over 

[krivx]

An odd tip that might be helpful - if you put everything inside a clean cardboard box with the open end facing you the walls of the box will catch *most* of the oh-shit-SPROING moments where you would normally end up on the floor looking for tiny springs.

[TiN]

Test front block with fixed mirror assembly:



Test check with body assembly



Now it takes photos well, no errors or other critical issues.



Test assembly for checks. D3 body + Nikkor 50/1.4D lens



Firmware is 2.01.



All LCDs working fine, backlight working fine, no issues with that.



Updating firmware to 2.03







Firmware update went well, now it's 2.03+2.03.

Actual image from D3. Black dots are dirt on sensor.



Actual image from D3. "Extra" parts



Left to do:

* Receive battery and test with battery power
* Autofocus need adjustment, with 50/1.4D it gets too close. Likely AF unit aligment or adjustment.
* Standard AF-ON button does not work (no reaction). AF-ON on portrait side works fine.
* Refurbish rubber pads
* Clean image sensor.

[robrenz]

Very nice work there TiN 

[Vgkid]

Good job on the fix.

[TiN]

What exactly did you need to do?

Well, it took good half hour for me to figure out how it all works. It was not in proper position, and was not pulling mirror correctly, so it could not return in
up position after lock release.

* Standard AF-ON button does not work (no reaction). AF-ON on portrait side works fine.

Done, stupid me, it was a9 menu setting, button was select to wrong mode. It works well.

* Clean image sensor.

Done, now nice and clean, enough to not see anything with f/16.

* Autofocus need adjustment, with 50/1.4D it gets too close. Likely AF unit aligment or adjustment.

Done via adjusting AF finetune +3 and turning two AF module screws #295 4.5 turns counterclockwise.
It's exactly the case when need to read service manual before doing assembly. I skipped that part, and just assembled everything for "seems correct" aproach .
But AF module with its optical block have two adjustment screws #295 with very fine thread, so it adjusts distance between AF module and image plane.
Now mine 50/1.4, Sigma 150/2.8 macro and Nikkor 28-70/2.8 are spot on for focus.

By time when I got all assembled, it was already 5.00am, so I put camera on tripod near my apartment window and let it shoot timelapse, 400 photos, interval 5 minutes between each.



4K timelapse test with fixed D3.

That's one of reasons why I bought this camera, so I could leave it shooting timelapse for days, while still being able to take usual photos with my primary cam.
Maybe timelapse for my homelab during 1 month will be next? 

Still left minor fixes (soak rubber pads in acetone to get them proper size, glue them to camera body) and get copycat battery and charger from ebay, so I could use it without need of permanent 110V AC jack.
But that's it for now, not going to dismantle camera again, unless reason for.

P.S. only 6 extra screws which I don't know where to put 

[krivx]

Wow... at 4K you can almost look inside those windows...

[eKretz]

Congrats and well done.

[TerraHertz]

P.S. only 6 extra screws which I don't know where to put 

Ha ha... not too bad a score. Seriously, next time try the 'paper, pen and bluetak' method. You will have no leftovers or lost screws. It also means the whole project can be put aside for any length of time, with no 'oh god I've forgotten where it all goes!' fear.

[TiN]

'
And one more 4K vid



Anybody interested in Nikkor 17-35 fix?
I have autofocus fail again on it, so might take it apart and try fix it

[Yago]

Nice thread Tin, including the "hello there cheeky" pic of you :p
Another photog here, but I am a Canon shooter, and a poor one at that!

[TiN]

Received today new battery cover (Nikon BL-4)



All rubber pads in place already, just left to get battery and charger and it's officially closed

Total time spend around 5 evenings.

[TiN]

Well, today received 2 non-original batteries for D3.

And of course, QC is as expected for $23USD battery (which is 6 times less than genuine batt).
I mean second battery is DOA. Zero volts on power terminals.
But since seller wants item back for refund, it's not worth shipping cost, so i just take it apart to see if can fix it.

Cells have correct voltage around 4V, no blown visually parts. Two PFETs are okay, but
controller turn off one of them cutting power from output terminals.
Need to study a little how that works.

TSSOP20 chip have marking 235 1414C and logo like "M"
TSSOP10 chip have marking 8202 318PO
PFETs are AO4407A
SOT23-5 have marking C2KE and SOT23-3 just 2A

Second battery works fine in camera.

[TiN]

TSSOP20 is a Mitsumi MM1414 LiPo protection IC.

Schematics is in progres...

Anyone knows SOT23-5 SMD part with marking C2KF ?
It seems to be reset supervisor according to schematics, but could be LDO, too much caps around as for supervisor...

Photos:

[nixxon]

if you want to see the naked beauty have a look at att. pic

That naked beauty reminds me of some metal endoskeleton without the living tissue. Somewhat like the T-800 in T2.

I am utterly impressed that you managed to fix this camera and make it usable again. Those leftover screws would bug me forever though...

[TiN]

It was a dodgy PFETs.

Now second battery accepts charge, seems alright after replacements of both P-channel MOSFETs.



Also finished another timelapse, 4 days non-stop, 17 min interval

[Bp_968]

Just to help put this in perspective for the OP, I'm a professional photographer and own a D3, D4, D700, D600 and various "crop" sensor bodies.  We have put *hundreds* of thousands of clicks through the D3 since purchase and it's only been in for repair once (which was for a cleaning and to replace some minor rubber pieces on the body).  Ignoring the insane shipping and insurance costs to get it to nikons repair facility I believe our cleaning and repair bill was 300-400$.  I sent the D4 in to have a thumb-hat switch replaced (it fell out, somewhere) and it cost 450$ish along with the "free" cleaning and also some other random outside rubber replacements.  The D700 had an issue with external flash units going nuts and flashing like crazy when they were not supposed to be flashing like crazy.  That was apparently a very common issue with D700s.  That was 300-400$.

Overall, the Dx series bodies are *amazingly* robust and reliable! but cheap they are not.  Remember, the D3 was 5 grand new and the D4 was 6 grand new.

I don't know what your primary camera is, but your going to love the D3.  Those batteries pretty much last forever btw.  We have a backup battery for it but have shot 3-4k shots over 20 hours and 2 days without running out of juice. 

Weirdly and annoyingly the D4 actually came with a *smaller* battery!  No problems with it running out of juice, but it still annoys me they switched battery shapes (on a 150$ battery) and gave us less juice out of the deal.

[TiN]

Those batteries pretty much last forever btw.  We have a backup battery for it but have shot 3-4k shots over 20 hours and 2 days without running out of juice.

Well, that applies likely to genuine EN-EL4a's, not a copycat's I got
I got about 500-600 shots off copycat battery, which is ok, but they self-discharge quick.
Anyway not a big deal, as for timelapses I use modified EH-6 AC brick anyway.

Weirdly and annoyingly the D4 actually came with a *smaller* battery!

There are new safety regulations in Japan, so they cannot put so much power capacitry as before.