battery/memory swap causes grief??? D7000

[leon_pugh]

<p>I thought I would post about something that has upset me quite a bit.<br /><br />I had taken a number of photos during a 3 day "vacation". A particularly important and exciting photo-opportunity was coming up, my memory was probably getting close to full so I decided to swap the ram and put in a fresh battery just to be sure I would have no problems.<br /><br />I continued to shoot another 500 images, capturing some images I will never get the chance to capture again. Some were real stunners!<br /><br />I just got home. And boy am I disappointed.<br /><br />All the images I captured previous to the swap are as expected. RAW and jpg (basic).<br /><br />After I swapped my battery and memory all the images are 1 meg jpegs!!! All 500, some real keepers, ruined because the camera swapped capture mode for some reason! Not one RAW file after the swap.<br>

Did I get clumsy and hit something I should not have before I formatted my ram or has this happened to others?<br>

<br />Nikon D7000. <br>

BTW, I was using 2x16 gigabyte SD cards, then swapped for a 16 and an 8.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>How did you have it set up to write to the cards ... RAW on one, and basic JPG on the other? When you changed the <em>size</em> of the card in one of the slots, you may have essentially reset configuration you had set up. If you were set up to write to both cards, did anything get written to both of them? Are both cards useable if you swap them around in their slots in the camera?</p>

[robert_hooper1]

<p>Was your camera turned off when you switched the battery and memory cards?</p>

[leighb]

<p>As Robert said, the camera must always be OFF before you change anything, including lenses.</p>

<p>Removing a battery may reset some options, and so will changing the size of the memory cards.</p>

<p>- Leigh</p>

 

[ariel_s1]

<p>It could be that changing shooting modes has different image quality settings as well. Take it as a good lesson at least; that's what the top LCD is for. Also, on my D200, I have a procedure wherein every time I get to a new shooting situation, I reset the camera, and then change the settings to my liking. This keeps me from shooting with some crazy white balance or metering mode from experimenting the shoot before.</p>

[JosvanEekelen]

<p>@Leigh: I don't think you're right in stating that the camera has to be off. I'm a Canon user but I would be very surprised if things were different with Nikon.<br>

The camera has a microswitch on the door of the battery compartment, effectively switching off the camera when opening the cover.<br>

The manual states that cards can be switched when the read/write led is off, indicating that the camera may be on.<br>

In the part of changing lenses in the manual there is no information about the power setting but I have been switching lensel all the time without turning the camera off. If that were an issue I would have experienced it during the past 12 years.</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>I just tried this out: I set my D7000 to shoot RAW on one card and JPEG basic on the other. With the camera on, I changed cards several times such that there was either one or no memory card in the camera at various times. However, the RAW + JEPG setting never changed. With only one card inside the camera, the D7000 would record both the RAW and JPEG images onto the same card. My D7000 was on during that entire time.</p>

<p>Not sure exactly what happened to the OP.</p>

[Ian Rance]

<p>I will say on the plus side at least you have the images. I shot some superb photos of a hot air baloon which was ascending right next to a hill I was on top of. I had the light, the right lens and the occupants waved and smiled however the film was not taken up on the spool so I have no photos at all. That really hurt.</p>

[richard__]

<p>Yes but film not advancing is easier to notice while shooting.</p>

[superinc]

<p>easy to do , hitting the qual. instead of the ISO button and scrolling the dial. Happen to me while shooting some night photography.</p>

<p>or if you go from auto,m,a,s,p to u1 and or u2.</p>

[ShunCheung]

<blockquote>

<p>easy to do , hitting the qual. instead of the ISO button and scrolling the dial. Happen to me while shooting some night photography.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Given that the ISO button is right above the QUAL (RAW/JPEG quality) button on the D7000, that could well be what happened.</p><div></div>

[robert_hooper1]

<p>The Nikon D7000 User's Manual says:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Pg. 24 "Always turn the camera off before inserting or removing batteries."</p>

<p>Pg. 29 "Always turn the camera off before inserting or removing memory cards."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Are these typographical errors in the Nikon D7000 User's Manual?</p>

[wilpenusa]

<p>I would vote for the settings dial being changed to U1 or U2. Happened to me at least once.<br /> Got to check those settings before shootings. Great Camera easily changed. Go back and check them now.<br>

One more thing on the point of lens changing I have heard that the c-mos sensor is like a magnetic dust collector when on, so turn it off to minimize dust on the high pass filter when changing lenses.</p>

[Spearhead]

<blockquote>

<p>Are these typographical errors in the Nikon D7000 User's Manual?</p>

</blockquote>

<p><br /><br>

Canon manuals say this also. However, I have never worked with any other pro that does it, I have never done it in almost ten years of shooting digital, and I have never seen it cause a problem. I suspect it's just there for legal purposes, removing one more bogus reason for people to claim the manufacturer is responsible. It's like the standard warnings in the front of a manual for anything that plugs in - it doesn't really mean anything will happen.</p>

[leighb]

<blockquote>

<p>Canon manuals say this also. However, I have never worked with any other pro that does it, I have never done it in almost ten years of shooting digital, and I have never seen it cause a problem. I suspect it's just there for legal purposes...</p>

</blockquote>

<p>No, Jeff.</p>

<p>There's a very sound technical reason for turning the camera off and back on.</p>

<p>The CPU needs to go through its power-up initialization to properly characterize the memory and<br>

options as configured at that time.</p>

<p>If you make a change on the fly and don't go through that step, the CPU may think the<br>

configuration differs from its true state, and the results can be unpredictable.</p>

<p>I've designed dozens of such pieces of equipment, and I guarantee you that most<br>

designs cannot be relied on to properly re-configure while powered up.</p>

<p>I really hate it when people make assumptions about manufacturer's instructions<br>

without knowing a damned thing about the underlying technology.<br>

<br />- Leigh</p>

 

[Spearhead]

<p>The design is for hot swap. There isn't a working pro that doesn't know that, in my experience. Hate me all you want, it doesn't change how it works.</p>

<p>Interesting that I can swap memory cards and disk drives while my computer is running and the world doesn't come to an end.</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>I went back to read the OP's post again. He has posted only once on this thread so far. As far as I can tell, the OP never indicated that he did not switch off the camera when he changed memory cards and the battery. Obviously the camera would be forced to "switch off" when you take out the battery.</p>

<p>Again, I experimented around on my D7000. Leaving the camera on, I changed memory cards several times with one or no memory card in the camera. The RAW + JPEG capture mode never changed (automatically).</p>

<p>It is not clear exactly what happened. The OP could have pressed a wrong button "in the heat of the battle." We would probably never know for sure. In the future, double check the settings once in a while.</p>

[leighb]

<blockquote>

<p>Obviously the camera would be forced to "switch off" when you take out the battery.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Shun,</p>

<p>There's no reason to assume the camera would turn off if you removed the battery.<br>

In fact, with modern electronic equipment that is definitely NOT the case. </p>

<p>Battery-operated products have hold-up capacitors that power the circuitry when<br>

the battery is removed, for a short period of time, but not forever.</p>

<p>Your experiments are meaningless. Without access to the source code for the software<br>

that's running in the camera there's no way to determine what it might do.</p>

<p>- Leigh</p>

 

[ShunCheung]

<p>Leigh, it is not an assumption. When you remove the battery from the D7000, the camera turns off immediately. It is a fact.</p>

[leighb]

<p>Prove it. The display may go off, but that's meaningless.</p>

<p>Unless you have an oscilloscope monitoring the CPU clock line you <strong>do not</strong> know what it's doing.</p>

<p>The point of my previous post was that you should not run your mouth when you do not know<br /> what you're talking about. In this case you clearly do not.</p>

<p>- Leigh</p>

[sridhar_r1]

<p>The OP says 'BTW, I was using 2x16 gigabyte SD cards, then swapped for a 16 and an 8.'<br>

I am not a Nikon user.. wonder whether the dissimilar memory cards (16 & 8 GB) that were installed caused the settings to reset.</p>

 

[leighb]

<blockquote>

<p>wonder whether the dissimilar memory cards (16 & 8 GB) that were installed caused the settings to reset.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That's quite likely.</p>

<p>- Leigh</p>

 

[leon_pugh]

<p>Wow,</p>

<p>So many responses! I have been so busy the last couple of days setting up some new electronics (new computer, system back ups, Big screen tv, audio system) and have not had down time to check the thread.<br>

I set the camera to record on one card, and when it is full it starts writing to the second card. I do not have jpegs going to one and RAW to the other.<br>

I like to turn the camera off before changing lenses, battery and memory. Sometimes I forget, usually I do not (?). I can say from the times I realized I have not turned off the camera I have seen no ill effects. (so far).<br>

As there are not an overabundant response that this sort of "error" is not common (not a bug).<br>

I have to assume that I either changed a setting without knowing it, or for some reason the camera may have been on when I changed the memory. I will have to experiment to see if i can reproduce the error by not switching the camera off when changing memory.<br>

I do not know how the quality button works. I will also look into this after I finish posting this reply. It sounds like a viable possibility.<br>

Thanks to all for the feedback!</p>

<p> </p>

[leon_pugh]

<p>Again,<br>

Thanks for the feedbacK.<br>

I did a test. (I tried a different button and learned something new).<br />The simplest and most likely reason for my problem is the Quality button being pressed instead of ISO.</p>

<p> </p>