Nikon D300 problem

<p>I bougt a Nikon D300 with an 18mm to 85 mm zoom lens a few months ago and went for a photo shoot with a

few amateurs (like myself) and a professional photographer.<br>

I found that it bright sunlight, the pictures were washed out and no matter what I tried - exposure compensation

to underexpose, AE lock, different focusing modes, the pictures looked crap.<br>

The pro tried her hand as well - could not get it to wok - the metering appeared faulty. Has any one had this

problem before. I have beena loyal follower of Nikon - FM2, FE2, now this dighital SLR, hence was extremely

dissapointed that it happened.<br>

Any thoughts/suggestions are welcome. I have to take it to the dealer for potential repair - so early!!<br>

Also, are all D300s made in Thailand?<br /></p>

<p

>Regards,<br /><br />KP Karunakaran</p

>

<p>Sydney, Australia</p

>

<p> </

<p>16-85mm or 18-55mm Nikkor? Shouldn't matter as both will function well in bright light anyway. Try isolate if you have a problem in the lens or the camera body. Set the lens to f16 or so and press the camera DOF preview button and see if the view finder darken? If not, the aperture may be stuck and hence over expose. Check your ISO and see if it is set too high ie: >200. Did you accidentally dial in some (ie: 2 stop) exposure compensation?</p>

<p> Did you accidentally dial in some (ie: 2 stop) exposure compensation?<br>

Hi.<br>

This happended to me.My wife and I went away to a beautifull location in Scotland. Took loads of photos. When I got back home and loaded them on to my PC I was very dissapointed.Then I found that I had dialed in exposure compensation.<br>

Ray </p>

<p>Did you buy it new or used?</p>

<p>Reset your camera to it's default settings. Page 184 in your manual.<br>

If the problem persists, there is most likely a problem with the camera.</p>

<p>Can you post a sample picture? Is your camera working OK now?</p>

<p>First of all, you don't need to depend on the camera meter at all. Try to shoot a couple of "sunny 16" images while setting the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO all manually, e.g. ISO 200, f16, and 1/200 sec under sunny condition.</p>

<p>The most likely cause for this kind of problem is that the aperture diaphragm inside the lens doesn't close properly. Do you have this same problem on all lenses? The depth of field preview button is indeed a good way to check this, and of course you won't have this problem when the aperture is wide open. Therefore, I would do a test shot with the lens wide open.</p>

<p>I guess you have looked at the picture control setting. Neutral is very flat. Standard less so and Vivid is just that. Shooting in raw allows these to change after the fact. Jpg locks them in. Good luck.</p>

<p>Check the ISO. Mostly likely you (or the previous owner) had some of these (ISO, A or S) set automatically without you knowing it. I usually set the camera in the M mode, and then set the aperture and shutter speed manually. I then set the ISO to auto too allow the camera to keep the aperture and shutter speed but change the ISO, depending on the light. I got used to shooting indoors at 2.8, 1/80 and forgot to change when I shot outside under bright sun. Since the lowest default ISO is 200 (on a D90), the camera could not compensate for that, and my pictures were all overexposed, until I changed the shutter speed to 1/2000. So check all the settings, or reset it and start all over.</p>

<p>This is why I hate light meters. The range of light variation within a scene may exceed the 2 or 3 stops you can get with a compensation dial. Shoot manually and check your shots for blown highlights using the histogram. <br>

Chang and Cheung seem to have particularly good suggestions.</p>

<p>I just had one of my two D300s fail in the same way yesterday. <strong>This is a Nikon equipment problem, period.</strong> Next week it goes back to Nikon for a warranty fix, plus they can clean off the INSIDE of the rear display, which was filthy from the factory.<br>

Both Nikon and Canon are making products as cheaply as possible, and the failure rate is skyrocketing. About 1/3 of my Nikon lenses are either no good on receipt, or fail within a year or so. One half (that's correct, 50%) of my bodies have been back to Nikon for warranty repairs.<br>

Most posters don't want to believe it, but<em> the camera industry is in a race to the bottom</em>, and they are all winning. If it is made in Japan, you have a chance. Thailand, watch out. China - it's probably complete crap. Take a stereo, camera or other item made in China and break it open and look at the quality of the solder joints, etc. You will begin to get a clue. As an aside, avoid baby formula made in China.<br>

My solution is simple. Don't accept junk. Test, and aggessively return defective items. Buy extended warranties, and use them. ALWAYS assume two, not one, points of failure for critical situations. This means that when I go on an important vacation, or shoot an important event, I have three of everything that could fail.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>check the exposure metering mode, maybe it is in spot or centerweighted position</p>

<p>Thanks a lot guys - and sorry for the delayed response. I have not logged in to this site (am a new comer) for a while, but am back! It was an equipment problem - the dealer refused to acknowledge. I finally "downgraded" - replaced it with a D90 - have had no problems at all am now trying to "focus" on composition rather than electronics. I keep my metering on center weighted (not matrix) and manually focus when I can. Pictures are reasonable as I try to come to terms with digital photography (being a "free" member so far, can only upload 5 pictures - will try to do so, feel free to critique and tear to shreds!). Thanks again, KP</p>