Intermittent Problem with Nikon D3 -

[tate_jackson]

<p>My Nikon D3 is produing some odd pictures. I don't knwo how to describe the problem, so Ihave posted some examples below.</p>

<p>Any Idea what the problem is and how I fix it? This just started happening about 4000 shutter clicks ago. The odd thing is the picture thumb nails look fine, but when I open these picture files, this is what I see displayed on the screen. The camera is set to Jpeg Fine and I am viewing them on Picasa 3.</p>

<p> </p>

[michael_bradtke]

<p>That looks lite a write error to me. Fix it by sending it back to Nikon. If you email there Tech support you can send them the file and they can help you to figure out if it is something you can fix or if it needs to go to them.</p>

<p>Michael</p>

[mike_halliwell]

<p>Do RAW captures look the same? ie is it a <strong>card</strong> WRITE error or a JPEG <strong>creation</strong> error? Can you DOWNLOAD via cable or try tethering to see where the problem lies?</p>

[luke_kaven]

<p>If this has been happening mainly with one CF card, and not with others, I'd consider that a likely cause, and as a precaution, I'd replace it. Does this happen when you shoot RAW as well? If so, does the RAW file show the corruption too?</p>

[wpahnelas]

<p>one question: if you write images simultaneously to both card slots, does this ever happen on <em>both </em>cards?</p>

[elliot1]

<p>Your shutter may be failing. Mine D3 displayed some odd images prior to it failing completely.</p>

[evilsivan]

I had a similar-looking problem with some images and I think that they were just bad transfers from the card or a bad RAW to jpeg conversion done in ACR perhaps.

 

see this thread

http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00XMRy

[tate_jackson]

<p>Thanks for all the great responses. Since I have only had the camera for a month, I'm going to send it back to the used camera dealer I bought it from. I have a 60 day warranty.</p>

<p>Thanks again.</p>

[tom_boston1]

<p>60 day warranty or 60 day return?</p>

<p>Exif information reads 1/8000, f/2.8 at ISO 400 (requested ISO 3200).</p>

<p>@Elliot - What kind of weird images did you get before the shutter failed? I'd expect bad shutters to show things like random shadows caused by loose blades. However, the exif also does show 137,999 clicks which is a fair amount of use.</p>

<p>The one time (maybe twice) I've seen this sort of thing with my own gear, I attributed the problem to the memory card.</p>

<p>So before going through the hassle of returning the camera for a repair, I'd make an attempt to reproduce the problem with a different memory card, as well using the dual memory slots.</p>

<p>What brand, size, and speed card are you using?</p>

 

[tate_jackson]

<p>Well folks, it turns out it was a memory card problem. I decided to try the camera one more time before sending back to the dealer. I had no problems. Then I noticed that I was not using the same cards that were in the camera when I had the problems. I tried those cards and the problem replicated its self. I changed out the cards again, and the problem went away.<br>

Again, thanks for all the great advice.</p>

[tom_boston1]

<p>Since you have a memory card that fails, could you try one good card and one bad card in backup mode (writing to both cards)? Presumably, you'll get one card with good files and a second card with corrupted files, which is one of the points of using dual slots. :-)</p>

 

[elliot1]

<p>Tate, glad it was an easy fix and the card rather than the camera.</p>

<p>Tom, I don't remember exactly as it was a while ago but I think I got a few oddly exposed frames at first. I know I eventually started to get all black frames. I immediately set the camera in for service and it was the shutter. I had only 80k on the shutter.</p>