Introduction

A while back, I decided I wanted to get a DSLR. My phone at the time was falling apart and the camera was shot, but I quickly realised even fairly old DSLR bodies are fairly expensive, even today.

I knew I wanted a Nikon before searching and stumbled upon the D5100s. Roughly a 16 megapixel APS-C DSLR, but the price was more than I was willing to pay at the time.

I noticed auctions on eBay for D5100s were more reasonable, especially for parts/repairs. I took a risk and ended up bidding only a fiver on one with a known auto exposure (AE) error, meaning it would only shoot manual. In the end, I got it for 38 quid. More than I wanted to pay, but it was technically a (partly-)functional camera.

Nikon D5100 after performing repairs

Get the camera, buy a cheap lens. Learn quickly G type lenses will not have autofocus on the D5000s as it has no autofocus motor, but that’s fine. Take it out and shoot on it, suddenly starts working after being bashed about on the DLR, so take it across London taking photos, but a few weeks later, the error came back.

Repair Woes

Luckily, before buying the camera, I did research into AE faults and found out they can be quite easy to address.

I buy a regular set of electric screw bits and driver to find out the existence of my enemy - Japanese Industrial Screw (JIS). Looks like a Philips, but if you use Philips on a JIS screw, you will wear the screw quickly.

I realised this halfway through disassembly, one screw left on the outer body which would refuse to turn with what I had… Forcing me to put the project on hold for a while until I purchased a set of JIS screwdrivers.

Something I only briefly found out, the D5100 is not exactly repair-friendly, screws hidden everywhere, peeling back grips with great difficulty to remove all the hidden screws took some time, but then came the second obstacle, the screwdrivers were not long enough to reach the one inside the battery compartment easily, and I swear Nikon glued that thing shut. In the end, I think it was more luck than judgement that I got it apart.

The recessed battery compartment screw swallowing the screw driver

I would like to say I didn’t break anything during disassembly, but obstacle number three ensured that wasn’t the case — meet the diopter adjustment button, a thin piece of plastic with a graphic on it, with a hidden screw behind it just to make your life painful. I tried everything to get this, nothing worked, I didn’t want to spend money on another pry tool to get under it so I used sewing scissors, they are thin so I thought I could get leverage under it and flip it off… I made a hole straight through the middle of it… And now it keeps falling off and the best part is Nikon do not sell replacements and to this day, I am unable to find a replacement either unless I want to take it from another camera.

Broken diopter adjustment button

But finally, inside the camera, I see a ton of ribbon cables, tightly packed PCBs and components.

The insides of the Nikon D5100

Fortunately, I found out the ribbon cables that control metering were a simple re-seat problem and the camera worked perfectly… Well it did after trying and closing it multiple times but I fixed my D5100 with only minimal damage and that’s only cosmetic so is that a success? Eh, kinda. Will I fix another DSLR? Maybe, I have spent what a working D5100 would be once you factor in body and repair tools, may as well put them to use.