Nikon D90 goes to the hospital

My Nikon D90 won't hold a charge.

I was trying to prepare for a family shoot with their 2 kiddos, one of whom is tiny. The family came all decked out in cute outfits, fresh hair cuts, and were ready to smile. 

I took them outside to the location, set them up, depressed the shutter and I got this message: CHG. So I switch out the batteries and got the same message.

Well, this can't be because I charged both batteries the night before and they were working fine.

After about an hour or so it doesn't appear the batteries are charging and I'm beginning to wonder what sort of problem I have. I tell the family we'll reschedule for the day after tomorrow.

The following day I bought a new battery and charged it for hours. Put it in the camera and CHG came up again. Not a good sign.

So I took the camera to the local camera store but they couldn't be of much help except to ask for $26 to ship it off to Nikon for repairs. I watched her strip the camera completely - removing the strap, card, battery, lens cover, lens hood, etc.

I'm sure the sick feeling I had in my stomach was showing on my face because when I asked, How long will it take?

Her response was 4-6 weeks  . . .  but I'll tell them you're in a rush!

(Great idea, thank you!)

My next chore was to call the family and cancel postpone until I get the camera back in a month or more.

I guess I could have improvised with my old D70 (whose sensor is seriously in need of a professional cleaning), or the N80 (ask me how long it's been since I shot with film!), or even a point and shoot. But I knew those options weren't really viable. 

I know they say: It's not the camera, it's the person behind the camera. Well this person behind the camera definitely gets better images with my better camera. I'm not sure what that means as far as "they" are concerned, but for me, it's true and I knew it was best to wait for the camera to come back from the Nikon hospital.

The family was very understanding, though disappointed.

I, too, was feeling disappointed. 

And also mad, sad, and depressed, but most of all embarrassed.

No telling how much the repairs will cost. When the camera comes back I may be feeling something else: broke!

'til next time,

I'll be sharin!