Nikon N80 Troubleshooting

No matter what you do, you can't get your Nikon N80 to turn on.

You may have the power switch stuck on the off setting which inhibits the cameras ability to turn on and function properly. Check to see if any foreign material, such as sand, lint, dirt etc., is stuck in between the power switch and the camera and remove any foreign object as carefully as possible with a thin object ie. a paper clip. If there are no objects impeding the power switches movement, read on.

A drained or bad battery is more often than not the culprit when electronic devices fail to power on. If this is the case, simply make sure the camera is off and slide the battery plate latch in its directed motion. After removing and placing new batteries make sure the batteries are in the proper + and - chambers and facing the correct way. After placing the batteries in the appropriate position, put the battery plate over the chambers and click back into place. Now the power switch can be placed on the "on" setting and the camera should function properly.

There's a blinking ERR message on the LCD and in the viewfinder and the camera won't work.

If the viewfinder and LCD is displaying an ERR message and there's a low battery message on the LCD this means that the batteries were exhausted during film rewind. To fix this problem, turn off the camera, replace the batteries correctly, and turn the camera back on. The ERR and low battery messages should disappear.

The film may not be loaded properly so the viewfinder and LCD are displaying an ERR message and an E message. To fix this issue, open the film compartment and check if the film is placed over the transport sprockets correctly. If the film is already wound and the film compartment is opened, a couple frames may have light damage but the rest of the film roll will be fine. If the viewfinder and LCD displays and ERR message and a DX message on the LCD then that means that non-DX-coded film is loaded and the camera film speed is set to DX. Set the film speed manually and the ERR and DX messages should go away.

If the viewfinder and LCD both show an ERR message and the film is loaded correctly and the battery is full, then the lens may not be attached properly. To solve this problem, remove the lens and make sure the mounting indexes on the lens and camera are aligned, then turn the lens counterclockwise until it locks into place. The ERR messages should go away if this was the issue.

The camera is turned on but is unable to zoom in or zoom out.

The main reason for a camera's inability to zoom in or out is a basic camera error. This means that for whatever the reason the zoom function is just not working because there was an error when it was turned on. All that is needed to be done to fix this issue is to turn off the camera and then turn it back on again. By doing so, the zoom should start working again.

If the camera's zoom function still will not work after turning the camera off and back on then it could be that the zoom button is jammed. In this case, try turning the zoom button very gently. If the button is unable to be turned, the best option would be to replace the zoom button.

The LCD screen is blank.

If the power switch is turned on and the LCD is blank, the batteries may be dead. Turn the power switch to off and replace the batteries correctly. If this is the issue then the LCD should respond when the camera is turned back on.

If the camera has power issues even when the batteries are fully charged, the batteries may be bad. Try replacing the batteries with new ones and see if they hold power better. If the camera is using a battery grip, try replacing the grip with CR123 batteries. These should resolve the power issue.

Flash will not go off when taking a picture.

If the battery power of the camera is too low than sometimes the flash will not work. Charge the battery fully before using again. The flash function should begin working again after this.

A common issue why the flash is not working is that the flash lens is not enabled. The flash lens is on the top of the camera. It is usually closed unless you manually open it. You have to make sure to press the flash lock-release button to open up the flash lens. The flash lock-release button will be located below the flash lens to the right. The flash should begin to work again.

If all the other solutions did not help fix the flash then the flash bulb may be damaged or broken. The only solution to fixing a broken flash bulb is to replace it with a new one.