What happened to my Nikon?

[jesse_thompson]

<p>What happened to my Nikon? <br /> <br /> I was just shooting away today, when all of a sudden my Nikon D50 froze in the middle of the burst. It happened so fast I don't remember seeing any error message on the top LCD. It did sound like the mirror locked up and that the shutter stayed open. Then every thing went back to normal. But when I got the photos up on my LCD I noticed a photo that was all pink, blue and yellow. (see attached photo) I shot another 100 photos and they turned out fine. <br /> Is this a warning of what's to come? Just a glitch? I have looked all over google and have found nothing. I have owned this camera for about a year and it has about 40000 shutter auctions. <br /> Thanks</p><div></div>

[leicaglow]

<p>Maybe a problem with the card? Have you tried reformatting?</p>

[jesse_thompson]

Thanks. I format my card every time I put it in the camera. Plus all of the other 300+ photos were fine.

[phototransformations]

<p>Sounds to me like the mirror got stuck, or the shutter got stuck, and then unstuck itself. I had this happen with an old film camera, where the mirror occasionally locked. I suspect that lubricant dries out, or that dust or grit gets into a lubricated joint and blocks it. There may be a way to apply small amounts of lubricant to fix this problem -- I fixed a stuck zoom lens on a Fuji point and shoot with Silicone lubricant, and it's still working fine -- but you'd have to know where to look. Maybe somewhere on the web there's an exploded diagram of your camera. You might try the Nikon Repair mailing listserv (or maybe it's a Yahoo group). </p>

[wpahnelas]

<p>unless it happens again in the near future, i wouldn't stress over it. cameras can do odd things from time to time. that's quite a snap, by the way....</p>

[boris_miljevic]

<p>I dont know did you solve your problem, but i had a same thing with my D300.<br>

In fast burst my SanDisk card is not fast enough to store that amount of data, so every 5 or 6 images i have similar problem...<br>

With faster SanDisk i dont have that kind of a problem...</p><div></div>

[wogears]

<p>You obviously hit the 'Create Abstract Art' menu option by accident. Does sound like you overran the memory buffer, and your SD card couldn't keep up. I wouldn't worry unless it happens with short bursts, or on a regular basis.</p>

[dave_wilson1]

<p>Maybe a little power glitch, battery out or poor contact for a milisecond.</p>

[jesse_thompson]

<p>Thanks, looks like I need to go shopping for some faster cards.</p>

[photo5]

<p>Boris, I have Sandisk Ultra II CF cards and they can keep up with my D300 without any trouble. You must have a very old or very cheap Sandisk CF card.</p>

[theresa_skutt]

<p>I'd make sure I had a back up camera at every shoot (you should, anywaY) just in case it doesn't un-stick itself next time! Scary!</p>

[boris_miljevic]

<p>Dave, I have SanDisk Extreme III and IV cards.<br>

And this is what happens when D300 is in CH mode with Extreme III card, every time.<br>

With SanDisk Extreme IV card, there is no such a problem...</p>

<p>I have no problems in S or CL mode, just with CH and SD Extreme III card...</p>

[brooks_lester]

<p>I don't think it's a shutter issue - the D50 does not have a mechanical shutter, it has an "electronic" shutter which is really just the sensor "turning on and off". During exposure, the mirror flips up, the sensor gathers the image, and the mirror closes. That's why the D50 has a 1/500 sec flash sync; there is no mechanical shutter to slow things down. Your problem looks like a digital processing or storage error; even if the D50 had a mechanical shutter, an shutter issue would like like an optical phenomenon, not a digital one, as yours does.</p>