Blinking "err" message on D300 Top LCD

[vivid light photography]

I have a D300 that was purchased new in March and have noticed a couple of odd

things recently. The other day I was shooting my daughters soccer with an 80-200

AFD lens in Continuouis focus and 6FPS speed. After one burst of shoots I

noticed later while previewing that one was frame was totally black. Not just

underexposed but black. Frame number and exif data was there. Also, no error

messages in the lcd and camera didn't lock up. I thought no problem, maybe just

a minor one time glitch while the file was being written or something like that. We

are dealing with complex electronic gagets here.

 

But yesterday while shooting Church Confirmation Photo's during a paid photo

shoot my camera all of a sudden locked up and would not fire. I was using my 24-

85 AFD lens with autofocus and manual metering. The image displayed but was

slightly overexposed or it seemed. I turned the camera off, removed the lens, put

the lens back on and turned the camera on. It happened again on the next shot.

So I did this again and everything worked fine for the remainder of the shoot I tried

to replicate this later at home but could not.

 

Has anyone else had this happen to there D300. I've shoot this camera with a

50mm f1.4 AFD, 85mm f1.4 AFD, 80-200 f2.8 AFD. 60mm f2.8 AFD micro, and 24-

85 f2.8-4.0 AFD with no problems until now. The lens mount isn't as tight as my

D200 was but the lenses do not move side to side any more than my D200 or

D100 did. I'm going to clean the lens contacts and bayount mounts on both the

camera and lenses with pec pads and eclipse fluid in hope that it's just oily or dirty

contacts but was looking for feedback from other D300 users with same or similer

issue.

 

Thanks.

[marc_weintraub]

Turn the aperture ring to the smallest aperture (largest number) and lock it.

 

http://www.graysofwestminster.co.uk/images/glossary/af-d_and_af-g_lens/aperture_ring_lock_200.jpg

 

Marc.

[wpahnelas]

nowhere except the subject line do i see a description of the blinking "err" message on the top LCD. the "black" image in the first graf sounds like a totally different type of problem than the lockup in the second. so it sounds like different issues on different days.

 

the blinking "err" message where F-stop usually is is aperture setting on non-G lenses. it will produce black shots if the shutter fires.

 

the second error sounds like dirty contacts. it'd have been interesting to know if a second lens would also have locked the camera.

 

i'd clean contacts and keep close tabs on weird incidents -- with a mind to reporting them to nikon if problems persist. hopefully these were only a couple of minor irriatations, rather than a pattern leading to calamity.

[Michael R Freeman]

> "Turn the aperture ring to the smallest aperture ..."

 

A blinking "Err" has nothing to do with the aperture ring ... that will *always* give a "fEE" warning. Likewise dirty lens contacts (which results in a "---" indication).

 

A blinking "Err" always indicates an electronic or shutter malfunction (see page 391 in the "Troubleshooting" section on the instruction manual). Clean your battery contacts inside the camera, and on the batteries. It can sometimes be a one time or intermittent fault caused by poor battery contact or low batteries, but if the blinking Err persists and occurs frequently, it might be an indication of something more serious, and the body should be sent to Nikon for diagnosis while it's still under warranty.

[milton]

I saw an "Err" msg before after inserting one of my memory card to the camera. Reinserting the card solved the problem.

[vivid light photography]

Ok. The first issue I mentioned were I had a completely black image is possible a fluke. I actually looked at the image after downloading and it was during my sons baseball game and not my daughters soccer. There is a very very slight lightness in the upper right corner, otherwise it is totally black. I do remember while shooting I had one of the kids walk passed me so close that he blacked out my viewfinder while I was shooting. This may be what happened even though I tried to reproduce it with my hand and I still got some exposure. Maybe the exposure was locked and just as he walked in front of me the shutter fired before the exposure readjusted. I do remember now he was so close I thought he may have hit my lens but I felt nothing.

 

The other issue during a shoot several days later was a blinking "err" message on my LCD with a locked shutter release until I turned the camera off and then on as well as removed the lens and put back on. The image was recorded and the shutter didn't jam but just wouldn't fire again. I wasn't able to reproduce it afterwards with any of my five lenses and it never happened up to that point. My battery was about 1/3 charged and I was firing two pocket wizard slaved flashes with a pocket wizard transmitter on the hotshoe. Since then I've cleaned the lens contacts and mounts on both my camera and lenses with pec pads and eclipse fluid. I also cleaned the battery contacts on both the camera and all four batteries I use. Each battery when fully charged indicates so with the battery check and each indicates that it is new. I used the first three with my D200 before I sold it since I needed them. Now I just rotate them. I'm hoping this was just a one time electronic interuption or glitch and not a future shutter mechanism problem. I've had to send both my D100 and D200 in for service in the past and don't really like doing so.

 

Thanks for the responses and more are welcome.