Adios, My Dear Nikon D80

‘Twas 24th August 2022, a beautiful Wednesday morning. I was busy clicking away at my breakfast plate with the Nikon D80 but that one last click changes everything: a weird shutter sound played out. I checked the control panel and it was blinking with an Err message. Every time I press the shutter, the motor kept giving a weird rrrrr sound.

This is the subject I was photographing…

Believe it or not, I didn’t panic. I guess having encountered the F– message before (no lens contact) made me think this Err message will probably have a simple solution as well. Ohh how wrong was I? I tried many solutions from online sources but none worked. Initially, I was able to get the shutter motor to sound normal again but the photos were all black. Then, it just outputs the weird rrrrr sound all the time.

Nearly two weeks later on the weekend, I had the camera checked by repair shops. One told me it was a shutter issue and Nikon no longer has spare parts for this model. Another wants me to send the camera to their main branch for them to have a look first. I always knew that if ever there was a day the D80 can no longer serve me, I would get a new camera. But this can still be repaired right?

It was around that time I found out that Nikon and other DSLR manufacturers are phasing out their DSLRs and moving their focus to mirrorless cameras. I have no intention of going into that yet (so pricey). So, with a heavy heart and a tight wallet, I went and bought a new DSLR camera that weekend as well. I will blog about it soon aka next year. With this new camera, I wasn’t as ecstatic as when I bought the D80. I was still longing for the D80 and mmm seh tak to part ways with it. I was like give me a miracle while trying to repair it by myself still.

Although I already bought a new camera, I still didn’t know what to do with the D80. Despite its flaws, I loved this camera lots. I tried calling the Nikon service center and found out that Nikon Malaysia has bailed out from Malaysia’s market as of 1st January 2021 and it’s now under Futuromic Photo AV Sdn. Bhd. Futuromic too told me they no longer have spare parts for D80 unless it’s a shutter motor issue and quoted me RM350. Wow, so there’s still hope. I called another company and they said the same thing as Futuromic except this company quoted me RM400.

Still, I did not send the camera for repair right away. I kept dilly-dallying. Should I or should I not? It took me 2 months later to finally decide what to do. I decided to give it away; for use as spare parts or the giftee can even try repairing it. Either way, I’m parting with it. And, I finally have time to publish this post! 😛

Nikon D80 taken by the new DSLR.

So… Adios, my dear Nikon D80! ❤️📷❤️
You’d served me so well. I’m extremely honored and grateful to have you for the past 13 years and 7 months. You do have your flaws but I find ways to work around them. You’ve clocked 104,210 (shutter actuations/shutter count) throughout your lifetime. That means the D80 has produced 104,210 photos!!! What a feat for a camera that many shunned. With you, I was able to capture many happiest memories. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for the tremendous joy you had brought me. I bow to you! 🙇‍♀️

I’m extremely honored and grateful to you for churning out hundreds of thousands of beautiful photos for the past 13 years and 7 months.

p/s: From February 2009 to December 2022, the photos in this blog were taken by the D80 unless specified.