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Nikon F100 gross underexposure fault


alastairjamieson

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<p>Hi, </p>

 

<p>I've just had 4 rolls of Velvia 100 processed from one shoot, and all are grossly underxposed by, I'd estimate,

four stops or more. Fortunately, I was using the F100 for backup/ auxillary shots to my main camera on the

occasion, a D200, so this is a major disappoinment rather than a total disaster!</p>

 

<p>Has any one had this experience with an F100, and can you suggest what the problem is (and how major/

expensive it might be to fix!)? Here are the details:</p>

 

<p>The film is exposed - but with only with the brightest objects visible, so the film was getting through the camera.

While shooting, I was getting an occasional 'err'; message, but thought it was because I'd accidentally shifted the

lens aperture ring off the locked setting necessary (i.e f22) while working very quickly.</p>

 

<p>All the shots were done on the S setting at around 1/500 of a second (i.e. with the camera setting the aperture).

This was giving me great results on the D200 with the same lighting and ISO setting, so there was plenty of light.

Also, the ISO was set to read the DX code.</p>

 

<p>Since getting the processed film back, I've checked the camera and found that:</p>

 

<UL>

<LI>the aperture mechanism appears to be working correctly (i.e. can see it stops down to expected size when I

shoot)

<LI>at slow shutter speeds at least, the shutter seems to be opening for the expected length of time (very hard to

judge fast shutter speeds with no gear to do so!)

<LI>DX code is read correctly by the camera

<LI>err message appears frequently when shooting on S setting

<LI>err message does not seem to appear when shooting on P setting

</UL>

 

<p>So, any experiences about what the problem might be with this admittedly partial information would be much

appreciated.</p>

 

<p>Thanks</p>

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How would you describe the lighting for what you were shooting? Since you were also shooting digital it may help

to post one of the D200 shots.

 

I'm in Las Vegas and just pulled out my F100 + 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D, set it to ISO 100 and 1/500 on S and got an

aperture of f/5.6. Zooming to 105mm and moving around the view from my balcony, the aperture even went to f/4.5.

It's blazingly bright out right now, too.

 

I can't explain the Err alerts, but the camera will let you shoot in S mode even if things are terribly

underexposed. f/5.6 isn't far from "bottoming out" for even fast lenses. It's my guess that the camera allowed

you to shoot the photos at shutter speeds and apertures that amounted to severe underexposure.

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"I can't explain the Err alerts" - well, I know that the owner's manual associates Err with film loading and DX problems, though I can't explain why they would randomly appear and allow you to continue shooting.

 

In case this may have actually been a DX problem, I'd suggest getting in the habit of manually setting the ISO. I started manually setting it on all my film bodies after buying an F4s, which offers no DX confirmation outside of having a flash with LCD mounted. I've never actually had a problem with a camera mis-reading the DX information, but manually setting it "eliminates the variable".

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<p>"...The film is exposed - but with only with the brightest objects visible, so the film was getting through the camera. While shooting, I was getting an occasional 'err'; message, but thought it was because I'd accidentally shifted the lens aperture ring off the locked setting necessary (i.e f22) while working very quickly."</p><p>I've never had this problem with my F100, but maybe you should have your lens checked? I've read other reports on Photo.net about lenses with loose aperture rings.</p>
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If you decide to shoot film again, you may consider a hand-held light meter (remember those old things?) and see if the camera and the light meter are close to agreement on the exposure.

 

 

 

You can e-mail Nikon USA for free and see if they will offer a estimate for checking out your F100 camera body.

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<p>Hi, Thanks for your thoughts. </p>

 

<p>Hans - Yes, it had occurred to me it might be the lab, but giving them the benefit of the doubt for now....</p>

 

<p>Eric - I was shooting on a bright clear blue sky day in full sun with an f2.8 lens, so plenty of light.</p>

 

<p>Gerald, light readings from the F100 agree with those from my D200, so I don't think it's the light meter.</p>

 

<p>I guess I'm wondering if there are any known fault(s) likely to develop in an F100 that's 5 or 6 years old, that

could cause this result?</p>

 

<p>Thanks again.</p>

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One of my two F100 bodies was purchased new in 2000, with no meter issues. I think it's fairly rare that meters go wacky on the more modern camera bodies.

 

This probably doesn't exactly explain the estimated 4 stops of under-exposure you describe, but digital ISO ratings don't seem to necessarily be in line with film ISO, as far as I'm concerned.

 

Each new digital body is going to be different, but I have a Coolpix 8400 P&S camera that shows noise at ISO 100, which worried me at first. But the CP 8400's ISO 50 setting has shutter speeds that are more in line with film-based ISO 100, or even a little faster. I only mention this in case the D200's exposures may be a bit over rated for the F100 with ISO 100 film.

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The manual shows this could be a film transport error or even low batteries if the battery indicator is at half charge. Since you have eliminated a film transport error, try replacing the batteries.

 

If the batteries are good, page 100 if the (English) F100 manual states that if "err" blinks "Release shutter again.If the warning indication remains, or this warning appears frequently, contact authorized Nikon dealer or service center."

 

Once you have eliminated the possibility of this being a DX read error, by manually setting the film speed, then it would appear that you have a malfunctioning camera. Check with Nikon and then decide whether to repair or replace the camera.

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I had the same problem. I use the custom setting that allows the aperture to be set offf the front command dial with the aperture on the lens set to the smallest setting. My stop down lever was hanging up for a fraction of a second allowing the lens to remain at the minimum aperture rather than opening to the selected aperture. This resulted in very underexposed images like yours. Try shooting with the lens wide open and, of course, the proper shutter speed and check the results. If there is no other problem the exposures should be fine. I had my camera repaired but I also had a complete CLA done so my cost was higher than just having the stop down lever repaired or repalced. I hope this helps.
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<p>Thanks again for the replies.</p>

 

<p>Dick, that sounds very much like what could be happening - will see if I can confirm that.</p>

 

<p>No exposure compensation was set.</p>

 

<p>I checked with the Lab to see if they'd had any problems that day (no). They made the useful for future

reference (if kind of obvious) point that if there was some issue with processing, it would show up in the frame

numbers along the sprocket edge.</p>

 

<p>So, looks like I'm off to the Service Centre....</p>

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After further testing it looks like the problem is one the Dick describes, with the lens remaining at minimum

aperture rather than opening to the correct aperture. The processing was fine as the numbers along the sprocket

edges are exposed correctly. Will be interesting to see if an aperture problem is one the Nikon service center

is familiar with for the F100...

 

Thank you all for your helpful replies!

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Alastair, you said: " ...the lens remaining at minimum aperture rather than opening to the correct aperture...."

 

Have a heart and look into the front of the lens: it will be a max opening when at rest, maybe at f/2.8. Once you

push the shutter button half-way, or the DOF button the opening will decrease to the desired radius for f/8. Just

a pointer: aperture = f/opening.

 

Oh, these darn fractions again ...

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Of course you're right Frank, that's my sloppy description not my poor grasp of lens operation. It stops down to minimum aperture instead of to the correct aperture (e.g. in the A Mode, I set f2.8 on the camera dial, but when I release the shutter the lens stops down to minimum aperture, instead of remaining open).
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