Hello! I am an amateur photographer, currently living in the European country of Slovakia on a youth exchange program. Over the course of this past (brutal) winter, I may have been a bit ambitions in the conditions I trusted my D3200 to endure. I took it out on snowy days with little more than the protection of my scarf. I believe this to be what led to the sudden loss of flash function a month ago.
The flash pops up when triggered, but the shutter refuses to release while it is active. I have very little technical knowledge, but I assume some snow melted and the water shorted out a wire in the housing?
I have a couple of questions regarding this issue. But firstly, my D3200 was bought as a gift off Craigslist and no warranty now exists. So, is this an issue which your average photography shop can repair? If that is the case, is it a quick, cheap fix or something a bit more costly?
Secondly, I have wanted to make the change to an external flash, regardless, and if there is any way I could just switch over instead of paying for the above repairs, my poor student wallet would be endlessly relieved. Should the hot shoe still be able to trigger an external unit despite whatever issue there is with the built-in flash? Alternatively, are there wireless units which rely on other methods than sensing and syncing with the built-in flash that I might use?
I hope I made everything about my problem clear. I will readily clarify if not.
Thank you so much,
Andrew