Nikon D70 mirror return problem — “Err” message

September 2004 I bought a Nikon D70. Techincally, it’s been a great camera and had done a superb job for the 3500+ photos I’ve shot with it. However, I’ve had a problem where the mirror fails to return to the “down” position after taking an exposure. The LCD flashes the message “Err” when this happens, which, according to the manual, means some internal error has happened. It suggests that if the problem persists it must be sent in for repair. Fortunately, almost all of the time this happens, the exposure is taken correctly with the minor exception that the EXIF information shows the wrong date and time. A subsequent release of the shutter recycles it and returns the mirror to the normal position.

I’ve read that this can be caused by a battery that is nearing the end of its charge. However, on my last photo shoot, where I really needed the camera, and I had just recharged both of my batteries — it naturally decided to act up on a nearly continuous basis. Go figure.

I had committed myself to sending it in for repair, which Nikon USA quoted a maximum cost of $271 if it required a, “major repair”. However, I thought it’d be worth doing a firmware upgrade just to see if it would help.

After the upgrade, I went out and shot 50+ photos in similar conditions, using an SB600 flash while shooting RAW, and didn’t have a single hiccup! The only difference was that temerature was 15-20 degrees cooler. At this point, I’ll keep shooting and see what happens and post updates here.

Update 12/12/2006: Since upgrading the firmware, I’ve only had the mirror hang once or twice. I’m currently on picture 4592 — over 1K exposures since my original frustration. I think this is a very “livable” error rate and I’m happy to report that it hasn’t needed to go to the shop (*knock* *knock* *knock* on the wooden table).