Just a quick post to let you all know about a recurring problem I have had with my Nikon D700 caused by a combination of a BlackRapid strap and a heavy flash unit. Despite the excellent build quality both my D700s have developed a fault where the speedlight doesn't sync properly with the camera. This causes a lot of unpredictable behaviour with the flash units, including random strobing, failing to fire and overpowered shots when it does fire. The image below is a typical example on this, notice that the IR focus assist works but the SB900 didn't fire when the shutter was released.
After sending my cameras back to Nikon it turns out the culprit is a distorted hot shoe that doesn't maintain a proper connection. When I quizzed the staff over what could have caused it they couldn't give a definite answer but they suggested it may be an issue with the way the flash unit is stressed if the camera is left hanging upside down for prolonged periods. My first thought was that my camera never hangs upside down and then it struck me, when I use the BlackRapid strap and the camera is in the resting position then the full weight of my heavy SB900 is hanging from the hot shoe. Given that I can have my camera on me for eight hours or more at a wedding this might be enough to cause the problem.
I asked the Nikon helpdesk outright but they couldn't or wouldn't give me a definite answer or give me a recommendation as to if I should stop using the strap, simply stating that "…..the hot shoe issue that you refer to, on the D700, has not been announced as a known issue by Nikon….." however one of the engineers did comment that the problem was "not uncommon". This is backed up by a quick search on Google which shows I am not the first to have this issue (here, here, here, and many more if you look) and the only fix seems to be replacing the hot shoe.
All this means I am going to have to go back to the uncomfortable Nikon strap for the time being for any shoots that involve using my speedlights which is a real shame as my BlackRapid strap is far more comfortable, especially on long shoots. I have emailed Black Rapid to see if they have a comment and will let you know if they get back to me.
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