The Effective Image wrote:
BS, the grip works fine.

Why are you so convinced that it isn't the grip?  Maybe because it worked in the past.  The same could be said for the D700.  The advice that you have received so far from Nikon and in this thread seems like good advice to me.

I have not had any of these issues, but I have heard of several issues caused by 3rd party grips.

GreatMomentsPhotography wrote:
Is it 3rd party battery?  I have had issues with off brand ones and ended returning them or throwing them in the trash.

I had a D200 that did some whacky things that seemed to only take place with
a wonky 3rd party battery as well. I'd try an eliminate that variable (if you're using one) is further testing.

The Effective Image wrote:
Using a Vivitar battery grip

Drop an email to Nikon USA... Reply -- remove battery grip.


BS, the grip works fine.

Anybody else seen these issues?

Well... you should probably not expect a third party manufacturer to have perfect compatibility with a gear set they don't have dedicated test control over...

This is akin to adding some third party mods to your car, then you call its manufacturer when your car doesn't work like it should.

Bottom line, you should use it with an actual Nikon grip, and see if the problem persists. 

Same goes for third party batteries.  This is the chance you take when saving $50-100 with a... what was it, 3k SLR?

You saved 3% of the cost of your camera .

Would you actually expect Nikon to test third party battery grips for compatibility with their DSLRs at their cost? Moreover, would you do that in their position?

The Effective Image wrote:
I was shooting with a studio setup. Manual mode, fixed aperture and shutter speed, no tethering. Radio triggering the lights. I had the aperture and shutter speed locks on. Also had the shutter set up to fire ONLY when focus achieved. Using a Vivitar battery grip with 2nd battery in it, primarily to simplify shooting portrait orientation. Have used this grip for several years and over 40,000 shutter activations - no problems. Both batteries near full charge.

Things were going good, and then for about 5 frames, the shutter would fire without the camera being in focus. Hmmm, never did that before...

Later, reviewing shoot, noticed that 'created date' recorded time jumped several hours at one point. Not the same point as the focus issue. Hmmm, never did that before that I've noticed.

Drop an email to Nikon USA describing issues. Reply -- remove battery grip.
BS, the grip works fine.

Anybody else seen these issues?

How about rather than claiming the battery grip removal suggestion is BS, that you try and it see if the camera starts functioning normal.

Yes, I know, the battery grip has worked for 40,000 frames.  Well...so did the camera.  So why is the assumption then that the camera must be malfunctioning?  Why is it beyond thought that an accessory may be a contributing factor?  It's not like it's a difficult thing to even test.  Just unmount it and start firing away.  If the issue ONLY occurs with the grip...that still does not mean it IS the grip.  But could mean that it is the grip or the grip interface on the camera. 

You should also consider trying another lens and/or resetting the camera.  Update the firmware if it hasn't been done already.  Try another memory card.

Sometimes when a device behaves like it is haunted, they are difficult to troubleshoot unless it's a known issue.  Knock out the easy stuff and you'll narrow the field of potential causes.

Christopher Hartman wrote:

How about rather than claiming the battery grip removal suggestion is BS, that you try and it see if the camera starts functioning normal.

Yes, I know, the battery grip has worked for 40,000 frames.  Well...so did the camera.  So why is the assumption then that the camera must be malfunctioning?  Why is it beyond thought that an accessory may be a contributing factor?  It's not like it's a difficult thing to even test.  Just unmount it and start firing away.  If the issue ONLY occurs with the grip...that still does not mean it IS the grip.  But could mean that it is the grip or the grip interface on the camera. 

You should also consider trying another lens and/or resetting the camera.  Update the firmware if it hasn't been done already.  Try another memory card.

Sometimes when a device behaves like it is haunted, they are difficult to troubleshoot unless it's a known issue.  Knock out the easy stuff and you'll narrow the field of potential causes.

I'd echo these sentiments.

The Effective Image wrote:
Maybe it is the grip... but since it has worked properly though 40,000+ activations over a number of years, it's hard to believe it suddenly causes these issues.

My car has 168,000+ miles on it.  Around 150,000 miles I started getting a fouled spark plug.  Still runs almost great.  I just don't understand why it ran seemingly perfectly for about 150,000 and now suddenly doesn't.  How is this possible?

Come on dude, seriously?

Electronics fail.  And not necessarily due to wear and tear but bad luck.

I work in a technical support field.  I can't tell you how many times some of the stupidest suggestions have turned out to be the correct answer. Often I'll tell a customer with a tough issue, "I really doubt this is relevant to your issue, but it worked once.  How about we try..."

When it comes to computers and electronics...very little surprises me.

My computer kept shutting off...seemingly at random.  Sometimes it would run for 10 minutes or hours.  And it didn't shut off like the power went out.  Windows actually shut down. I thought the problem was Windows.  Someone told me it was likely the power supply.  What? are you stupid?  Power supply? Ok...fine.  Change power supplies.  Problem disappeared.

Honestly, from the description of your issue, I think it's the camera.

But it requires virtually NO EFFORT to test it without the grip.  So why not do it?

The Effective Image wrote:
Thanks to all the 'experts' who tried to blame the third party grip. It works perfectly.

Making a point to tell about your Vivatar battery pack, took half of your first paragraph. Without it being possible for anyone other than you having experienced exactly what happened with your setup, people were only pointing to the obvious lead you gave them, and the logical place to start. Whether or not they buy the D chip explanation is another thing!

The Effective Image wrote:
Problem solved. A variation of the problem occurred on a shoot, and I was able to track it down. A problem in a Nikon D lens! The D lens has a computer chip which talks to the camera. Apparently, the lens' computer chip goes off on its own occasionally resulting in aperture control/focusing issues. The lens is a fairly recent acquisition and thus the problem was not around for most of the 40,000+ shutter activations.

Thanks to all the 'experts' who tried to blame the third party grip. It works perfectly.

I don't remember anyone blaming the grip.

When something is not working right.  You eliminate as many variables as possible.

Does it happen with or without or doesn't matter?

The LENS is a variable.  Memory cards are variables. Battery grips are variables.  Batteries are variables. Hot shoe devices are variables.

Years ago, while using a Nikon SB-800 off camera with my D70 out in the ocean (waves were calm), it fell over into the water.  I caught before it became submerged and it never died.  Kept using it.  Days later, still worked.

I went to an event and I couldn't capture any photos.  Everything came about BLACK!!  WTF!!  Remove the flash and the camera took photos just fine.  Put flash back on but turned off.  Took photos just fine.  Flash on, BLACK!!  The flash was FIRING!! So why the black images?  I was not out of sync.  Took the flash off and enabled to act as a remote flash.  Bang, worked fine.  Put it back on the hot shoe...no bueno!!  Btw, built-in flash worked fine.

I might have blamed the camera, but since I knew the flash had taken a bath and I didn't have time to have it fixed for another shoot, I sent it off to Nikon and bought a new SB-800.  Worked fine.  Then I got my old SB-800 back after $130 repair and it worked fine.

That's my story as to how I came to own two SB-800 speed lights.

The Effective Image wrote:
Thanks to all the 'experts' who tried to blame the third party grip. It works perfectly.

Oh the irony:

The Effective Image wrote:
Maybe it is the grip... but since it has worked properly though 40,000+ activations over a number of years, it's hard to believe it suddenly causes these issues.

and your OP Title....  next time you're having focus issues, concentrate on the lens.