Whacked out D2X behavior

[les_barstow]

I was out with my

D2X over the

weekend, and when I

pulled it out of the

bag it had severe

focus problems. :(

 

Auto-focus refused

to find a focus

point, and when I

switched to manual

it seemed like the

focal plane was

completely off

top-to-bottom - I

couldn't get a

relatively flat

surface in focus

across the entire

screen. Best focus

for infinity was

almost at minimum

focal distance! I

switched lenses,

thinking the lens

might have broken,

but the same

behavior was

immediately

apparent.

 

I fired off a single

exposure using

manual focus,

aperture-priority

pointed at the

grassy ground - it

came out very

over-exposed. And

as it fired the

exposure, I thought

I heard a click...

After that first bad

exposure, everything

magically started

working right again

- focus was spot-on,

exposure was fine.

 

Has anyone else

experienced anything

like this? Is it

something I should

be worried about, or

something that

shouldn't rear its

ugly head again?

[samoksner]

That sounds pretty bad. I've never experienced that or anything similar, but it sounds like the mirror wasn't dropped back down into the right position. Although that might be a stupid suggestion, who knows.

 

Just hope it doesn't happen again.

[ShunCheung]

The mirror in your D2X could have been out of position. The AF module is at the bottom of your camera below the mirror, which is semi-translucent in the center, and there is a secondary mirror behind it to bounce the light beam down to the AF module. If the mirror position is off, so will the entire AF system.

[jonb]

My first thought was the same as Shun's. A mirror that hadn't fully returned to the down position would cause all of the above. What would worry me is: What kept it from returning fully? Is there something broken? A foreign object in the mirror box? I think I would look around in there to see if anything looked awry.

[les_barstow]

Shun, that sounds like it explains just about everything - an off-position mirror would have showed as a top-to-bottom focal plane issue on the focus screen, could have caused the exposure to be too dark (not enough light hitting the AF sensor), and would have screwed up the AF system. It also explains why a single shutter release did such a thorough job of fixing it.

 

Looks like it's time to take a peek, and possibly take the unit in for a professional cleaning.

[ShunCheung]

If it is a one-time glitch, I wouldn't be too concerned about it. If it happens again, I think it'll be time to send it in for check up, especially if the "mileage" on that D2X is getting up there.

[les_barstow]

I'm not a high-"mileage" photographer, unless it's my car odometer you're looking at. There's probably only 14,000 shutter trips on the camera. But it has been mostly in dusty Colorado and Utah environments, so it's possible a large speck of something's gotten in to the camera body.