I passed a British Heart Foundation shop in Durham there were a number of oldish cameras in the window with a sign saying 'Make us an offer' The only one that caught my eye was a Nikon D90. Well used but in reasonably OK-ish shape externally. No strap, but with a body cap. The rest were a mish mash of instamatics and plastic 110's. I went and asked what was wrong with the D90 and the assistant didn't know but got it out of the window for me. It was not working because the battery was jammed in the housing. and was corroded and split. It wouldn't switch on, which was not surprising. I offered a tenner and walked away with it. That was 3 months ago.
I didn't touch it again until the end of September. I started by trying to remove the battery but it wouldn't shift at first so I had little to loose really so I drilled into the base of the battery and used a large screw extractor to pull it out. I tried cleaning inside the battery compartment with isopropyl alcohol in on a cotton bud and that worked - but very slowly. It took me about 5 days off and on, 1 full tub of cotton buds and a lot of fiddling to get all the crud out.
The battery contacts at the bottom were not too bad and they cleaned up easily. I still had 4 x EN-el3E batteries left over from when I got rid of my D700. There was still some life left in them and when I switched it on the camera came to life. I don't have any cropped frame lenses but my 24/120 fitted, focussed and worked as it does. I thought the screen was a bit odd, unlike any screen I have ever seen on a DSLR then I realised that it had a split image range finder. The screen range finder does correspond with the auto focus so there not a lot wrong.
Do you know if a D90 will use manual Nikon fit focus lenses? I suppose in fully manual mode it may be possible.
I did a shutter count and it came back to over 77,000, so yes it has been well used, the leatherette in the back of the body was worn smooth and lifting slightly, the camera now works it does not appear to have corrupted any of the features and happily the sensor is clean. but for a tenner I cannot complain.
I didn't touch it again until the end of September. I started by trying to remove the battery but it wouldn't shift at first so I had little to loose really so I drilled into the base of the battery and used a large screw extractor to pull it out. I tried cleaning inside the battery compartment with isopropyl alcohol in on a cotton bud and that worked - but very slowly. It took me about 5 days off and on, 1 full tub of cotton buds and a lot of fiddling to get all the crud out.
The battery contacts at the bottom were not too bad and they cleaned up easily. I still had 4 x EN-el3E batteries left over from when I got rid of my D700. There was still some life left in them and when I switched it on the camera came to life. I don't have any cropped frame lenses but my 24/120 fitted, focussed and worked as it does. I thought the screen was a bit odd, unlike any screen I have ever seen on a DSLR then I realised that it had a split image range finder. The screen range finder does correspond with the auto focus so there not a lot wrong.
Do you know if a D90 will use manual Nikon fit focus lenses? I suppose in fully manual mode it may be possible.
I did a shutter count and it came back to over 77,000, so yes it has been well used, the leatherette in the back of the body was worn smooth and lifting slightly, the camera now works it does not appear to have corrupted any of the features and happily the sensor is clean. but for a tenner I cannot complain.
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) Hence the 'kidney shape.' All connections are at the end away from where I drilled and I judged the battery was well and truly shot in other words dead as a Do-Do. Yes in hind-sight it was a little risky, but it was worth it in the end. The battery, what is left of it, is residing in the local recycling centre where they were happy to take it off my hands. It is in a bin with several thousands of others (of all types) waiting to go where dead batteries have their final resting place