Tuesday, 14 July 2009

Nikon SB28 Foot Repair


I learn't a valuable lesson at the last London strobist meetup. I was walking around with my flash attached to my monopod and the strain was too much on the plastic foot of the hotshoe and it tore off. I wasn't a happy bunny, but fortunately those chaps at Nikon carry spares for the SB28 flash and within a day I had a brand new plastic part in my hand for less than a tenner. Of course I could have taken lots of photos of the repair process, but I'm a pretty impatient guy and just wanted to get on with it so I didn't document the process. But it turned out to be relatively easy. Seeing as I'm a nice guy I took it all apart again, just so I could show you how to do it.

The tools you'll need are a jeweller's screwdriver and much smaller fingers than me. If you do things in the right order it should be a pretty quick repair.

The first thing you should do is make sure that the locking ring is rotating normally. I didn't do that and ended up having to re-attach the foot so that I could get enough leverage to move the ring. If the ring is locked up you can use a pair of pliers or a wrench to get it moving again. Be careful not to use too much force or you could cause more damage

Unscrew YouNext remove the four small screws at the base of the foot. Be careful not to tug the ribbon cable when removing the foot, and you will have to work with the cable attached so be careful not to damage it.


Unscrew The Circuit BoardInside the detached foot you will see a small circuit board. This is attached with four small screws. When you unscrew these, be very careful, as the locking pin on the shoe is spring loaded and you could lose the spring and the locking pin.


Beware the locking pinWith the circuit board loose, the shoe and locking collar will come loose and you can unscrew the collar. Take note of the orientation of the parts as you unscrew them so that you know how to put them back together. You should now be able to put the new shoe onto the collar and start re-assembling. This is very fiddly indeed. Don't try and force anything and make sure you don't lose that spring-loaded locking pin.


Once you know what you are doing its a pretty simple repair to make and very inexpensive too. If you need spare parts contact the Nikon Spares department at spareparts@nikon.co.uk
Posted by Paulo Rodrigues at 09:00 Labels: , ,

19 comments:

  1. Pat Bloomfield16 July 2009 at 20:47

    That sounds nasty Paulo.

    I'm surprised you were able to just get the parts to fix it yourself. Is this a weak point with Nikon flashes?

    I've never heard of a Canon flash breaking under its own weight.

    Nice demo :o)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Paulo Rodrigues17 July 2009 at 00:51

    The flash foot is meant to be weak so that you damage the foot rather than the flash or the camera. Flapping it around on a monopod isn't exactly normal wear and tear on a flashgun.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Marlon dela Cruz18 July 2009 at 00:15

    Great tutorial mate. My SB26 suffered a similar demise. I've contacted Nikon and unfortunately, they do not stock a replacement foot for the SB26. Not to worry, I have found the parts (foot and locking nut) on eBay in USA. I'm waiting for the delivery!

    I'll do a similar DIY repair blog post as inspired by you. Lol

    ReplyDelete
  4. Marlon dela Cruz7 August 2009 at 02:09

    I've done my own repair job!

    http://www.marlondelacruz.com/blog/2009/08/nice-and-easy.html

    Thanks again mate!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lee Dann Photography3 April 2010 at 19:12

    Good tutorial, just successfully repaired my sb-28. It took me well over an hour as the shoe wouldnt screw down completely, after a lot of head scratching i worked out that the new shoe was slightly different from the original. There was a small groove on the original shoe that the repalcement didnt have so with a hot knife i adapted the shoe and it went straight on.

    I think the later sb-28's are slightly different from the earlier models. The way to tell is if you look on the side of the shoe you will see either silver or gold contacts, the later version has the gold ones and requirers the sb-28DX shoe.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Julian Machiels15 February 2012 at 13:41

    What do you mean with the silver/gold contacts? You mean the contacts at the bottom of de shoe? The ones that connect to the camera?

    Thx.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Paulo Rodrigues15 February 2012 at 14:14

    I think that he means the ones between the foot and the locking wheel on the side of the foot. The ones that connect to the camera.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Julian15 February 2012 at 15:06

      But I can't see any contacts. If you look at your pictures on this page, you can't see any contacts either.

      Delete
    2. Paulo Rodrigues15 February 2012 at 16:40

      I don't have a flash in front of me at the moment but I'll take a picture when I get home. But perhaps your contacts are being obscurred by the locking wheel?

      I think I can just make out the contact on the image in the link below

      http://mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonf4/flash/SB28/sb28midwest4.jpg

      Delete
  8. Anonymous23 June 2012 at 17:06

    Paul...I've just repaired my SB-28 hot shoe mount according to your instructions and PRESTO!!! It's fixed and working. Got to have a steady hand especially when lining up those spring loaded pins, so I recommend giving up drinking for atleast two days prior to attempting this! Nikon repair here in the states, wanted $129.99 to repair the flash. My part cost me $4.95 (free shipping thru Ebay) and I fixed it myself. Thanks so much for your step by step directions! Now, if you'll excuse me, I must get back to drinking again!!! Cheers 'ol chap......Ronbo2737@Verizon.net

    ReplyDelete
  9. Unknown10 March 2013 at 12:51

    Just as Lee 3 said in 2010 you need to make a cut with a hot Xknife and groove between the two larger chambers, just below where the two spring loaded contacts reside. San Diego Camera Solution, still has the part for a whopping $4.95, with shipping $7.00 I still use my SB28 as a off camera flash, so the repair was very nice to find. I know that this is much later than the previous posts, however I thought that others would like to find that even in 2013 you can still get parts for this old workhorse.
    waterburyphoto.tumblr.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. L Brown4 July 2013 at 20:32

    Thank you for the tutorial, and thank you Waterbury for suggestion San Diego Camera solution. I was still able to get a foot from them. Yes, I admit I did break the ribbon (it is VERY easy to do) but didn't matter to me as I only use it off camera with a Pocket Wizard.

    ReplyDelete
  11. L Brown5 July 2013 at 19:56

    Now the rest of the story. There was much delay getting my replacement foot shipped. As an apology, the lady at Camera Solution offered to send me 2 feet. I asked her not to; I only needed one, and they are basically irreplaceable. She should keep them to make available to others. When the order arrived there were 3 (!) feet. I suppose I could sell them on e-bay, but I'd rather give them away to someone (actually sometwo) who can't find them anywhere. If this fits you, click on my name to go to my web site, get my contact e-mail and send me your address. I'll ask for postage ($2-3 I suppose). Please one to a person for your own broken SB28, not for resale.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jye14 October 2013 at 15:09

      Hi, Mr. Brown,

      I couldn't believe my eyes today when I unscrewed my SB28 from my trusty old N8008s and noticed a plastic debris fell on the ground. The bottom of the flash shoe has broken off in two places. I am wondering if you still have an additional foot that you can send me? I live in Taiwan and the local Nikon dealer told me the spare parts is no longer available. I have a niece who live in the Bay area in California so if you still have an extra one and can send it to her, she can bring it back to me next time she visits Taiwan.

      Thanks a lot!!

      Jye

      Delete
    2. Paulo Rodrigues14 October 2013 at 16:02

      Hi Jye, You can get them off ebay cheap enough

      Delete
    3. Jye14 October 2013 at 16:32

      Will try that first then. Thanks for sharing this repair tip. I am sure it is very helpful for a lot of nikon users.

      Cheers!!

      Jye

      Delete
  12. Jye16 October 2013 at 04:52

    Hi folks,
    Just looked around on ebay and is this item the spare part you guys are referring to? So these 4 contacts and the locking pin at the bottom of the flash foot will come off from the old foot and then be reattached to the new part. Is that right?

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/2X-FLASH-FOOT-HOT-SHOE-PART-RING-4-NIKON-SB-28-SB28-/121188254856?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c37620488

    Thanks!!

    Jye

    ReplyDelete
  13. Paulo Rodrigues16 October 2013 at 07:23

    Yes, that's how its done.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Morgan11 January 2014 at 10:05

    Anyone an idea where to get one of those ebay flashfoots for the 28DX version?
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete

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