# D200--Shutter stuck open?! Help!



## D-B-J (May 28, 2011)

So i was shooting at my sisters wedding tonight (luckily not the main shooter), and in using my d200 (with battery grip and two nikon en-el3e batteries), my shutter stuck open on my about 8 times.  The only way to rectify the stuck shutter was to shut off the camera, turn it back on, and press the shutter button. And this happened regardless of which lens i was using, and the batteries were both fully charged. 

Now, the batterygrip is bought used, and one of the batteries is original.  The shutter count is roughly 45000, and the camera has NEVER done this before tonight.

In reading some stuff i found on google, many said it might be an old battery/short battery connection in the grip, and an old shutter.  

Can anyone help??   Thanks in advance!

Jake


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## Derrel (May 28, 2011)

My first thought is that the battery grip is not providing a good supply of juice, possibly due to flexing of the grip causing a less than perfect contact with the battery contacts inside the D200's battery well. One, or both of the batteries could also be getting old and infirm...

Can you remove the grip, and try to cross-check the camera solo, with each battery, to see if the problem persists? Sounds like one of the batteries might be aftermarket--which is sometimes a cause for poor fit in side the battery compartment. THere have been thousands of problems with non-maker batteries; "some" of them have had really poor,poor fit and lousy performance, while others have performed well. Part of the way an aftermarket battery performs depends on how the battery is held inside the camera; on some cameras the battery is inserted horizontally, while in others it goes in vertically, with the contacts "up", and if the battery's dimensions are not right, the force of gravity pulls the contacts on the battery away from the in-camera contacts, and the connection sucks, or is non-existant.


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## D-B-J (May 28, 2011)

Derrel said:


> My first thought is that the battery grip is not providing a good supply of juice, possibly due to flexing of the grip causing a less than perfect contact with the battery contacts inside the D200's battery well. One, or both of the batteries could also be getting old and infirm...
> 
> Can you remove the grip, and try to cross-check the camera solo, with each battery, to see if the problem persists? Sounds like one of the batteries might be aftermarket--which is sometimes a cause for poor fit in side the battery compartment. THere have been thousands of problems with non-maker batteries; "some" of them have had really poor,poor fit and lousy performance, while others have performed well. Part of the way an aftermarket battery performs depends on how the battery is held inside the camera; on some cameras the battery is inserted horizontally, while in others it goes in vertically, with the contacts "up", and if the battery's dimensions are not right, the force of gravity pulls the contacts on the battery away from the in-camera contacts, and the connection sucks, or is non-existant.



Neither batteries are aftermarket.  They are both legitimate nikon en-el3e batteries.  And i say it has to be something with the grip because i have never had a problem with either battery until i used them both in the grip.  Now, i switched them so it will draw from the opp now, just to see if that has any effect, as i will be shooting a picnic tomorrow.  We shall see.  Thank you for your reply!

Regards,
Jake


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## D-B-J (May 29, 2011)

Well it is something in the battery grip... when i loaded the camera up with individual batteries(no grip), it shot like a champ.  The minute i put the grip on, it stopped working right and freezing up within three or four actuations.  Looks like ill be calling Adorama and trying to ship it back..


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## Josh66 (May 29, 2011)

Try cleaning all of the contacts before you ship it back...


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## Derrel (May 30, 2011)

You might try six or seven thicknesses of gaffer's tape applied to the non-contact end of the battery, and see if a tighter fit in the grip provides a better supply of juice.


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## D-B-J (Jun 3, 2011)

It has to be the battery contacts.  I loaded it up with the 6 AA's and it worked fine--no shutter problems.  Once i loaded it with the two nikon batteries, the shutter would stick open three or four actuations after.  But i've decided it's time to upgrade to a d300 (the d200 is just getting outdated).

Thanks for all the help!

Regards,
Jake


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## philcampus (Nov 4, 2012)

I too have a D200 that the shutter would stick when the batteries low or just one was low. I too believe it is the grip because I roughed up the connections inside the grip case and all other connections just to make sure and all is fine so far. This seemed to handle the problem. I did the gaffer's tape as well.


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## Patrice (Nov 4, 2012)

I don't know which make of grip you have but I had two D200's with Nikon grips and had a bit a trouble with both. The Nikon grip for D200 was not one of Nikon's greatest achievements. The plastic battery tabs broke early on on one of them and the latch broke on the other. You say all is well with AA's then see what might be causing the el's to not have proper contact.


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