scott_warn

One thing to keep in mind is that in 2 years or so, Nikon's FX cameras will most likely feature around 24mp. So, using a DX format lens in the DX crop mode won't take a very big hit on image quality. If you do the math, the DX crop mode on a 24mp body works out to about 10.5mp so your Tokina 11-16 will probably do about just as well on a D400 as what you seeing right now on your D80. My advice would be to plan on keeping it.

I also would recomend the B9180. Now, about waterproofing your prints, there is a very simple answer for that. That is to LAMINATE the prints. You can purchase a basic laminating machine for 8 x 10 inch prints at almost any office supply store and they are pretty cheap. Unfortunately, a larger format laminator may be harder to find and will probably cost a bit more but you should chack at your local office supply store to see what is available for your 11 x 17 inch prints. This may not protect the print against total immersion for a long period of time (that level of protection requires more heat than most cheap laminating machines produce) but it will protect against coffee spills or drops in a puddle.

I have some questions. One is that unexposed negative films are clear. Which means that the film between frames should be clear and should reproduce as black when converted during a scan of the film. Unexposed slide films are black. Which means that the film between frames should reproduce as black during a scan of the tilm. So, how come it appears that the area outlying your image area is showing as a light grey? I ask because what should be represented as black is showing up as a very light grey and I thought that you were scanning the actual film.

 

I suspect that one of two things are going on here.

 

One is that whoever printed your film didn't have it properly registered when they made the prints. With the near total reliance on automated printing machines by most developers today that's not too surprizing. One minor fault with Mamiya TLR cameras is that the spacing between frames will vary by a small amount. Because when these cameras were made most printing was done by hand using an actual enlarger, Mamiya wasn't very concerned about exact frame spacing because the printer would adjust the position in the film carrier to center the image. Now developers are using automated machines that feed the film by an exact amount between each frame. So, if they camera doesn't match that spacing exactly, the error can stack up until you see a print like this.

 

The second issue is that the camera may not be feeding the film within Mamiya's specification and your getting some overlapping frames. It can happen. These are old cameras and there may be enough wear on one of the gears that it's occasionally "skipping" a tooth and not advancing the film consistently.

 

What you need to do is to examing your film for it's entire length. If it's been cut, lay it out on a table and place each section end to end with the matching sections. Then you'll be able to see if you have some frames that are overlapping. If you find some overlapping frames, your camera will need servicing. If you find that each frame has a minimum of 1/16 inch between frames, then the problem lies with whoever did your printing. What you will have to do is ask them to visually confrim that each frame is properly centered before making each print. Even though they are using automated printing machines I am sure that there will be some means of over-riding the film position for each print, probably a simple dial that they have to rotate forward or back while watching a monitor.

 

As for the black bar, it's much too sharply defined for the darkslide to be a cause. This plate is hinged near the film gate and swings up from the bottom. Which means that if it were not completely down it would leave a very fuzzy black bar at the TOP of your image, remember the image that is projected on the film is upside down and reversed.

Anyone remember Technicolor? One lens and a 3 way prism with color filters capturing R G B on black and white film. I wonder how long it will be before we see an HDR specific camera that uses a similar technique with ND filters replacing the color filters and 3 sensors capturing 3 seperate exposures at the same instant in time. It would be bulkier than a single sensor camera, however sennsor quality has gone way up and that might permit a hand holdable camera using something like the 4/3 sensor.

All of the screw driven AF Nikkors that do NOT have an AF/M switch will have very "loose" focusing rings. The reason for

this is quite simple, that low friction permits the use of a much less powerful focusing motor in the camera bocy. With those

lenses that have an AF/M switch, changing the lens to manual focus disengages the screw drive and also ENGAGES a

friction pad to add some damping to the focusing ring.

 

Now, in response to the original question, I would NOT recomend doing this. That added friction may cause the focusing

motor in some of Nikon's AF cameras to burn out. In addition, the added friction will also increase the rate of wear for hte

entire focusing gear train, both in the lens and the camera. So, it's a really bad idea. Instead, I would suggest that

you "overlap" your focusing finger(s) slightly with the fixed body of the lens so that the drag of your finger(s) adds a bit of

damping to the action. It may not be the most elegant solution but it does work if you do a bit of practice.

I looked that the thread that was linked to and I am frankly dumbfounded. It's hard to believe that any camera maufacturer

would rely on such a thin section to secure the baseplate to the camera. It really won't take much of a bump to cause a

crack in that extension. If one assumes that the baseplate is .8mm thick, that casting extension is probably in the range of 1

to 1.2mm in thickness. Which is just too thin, especially when you consider that cast magnesium can be somewhat brittle.

What is really stunning is that this thin section is an area where a much heavier section could have been employed, Had

Leica made that extension 4mm thick and re-designed the baseplate locking mechanism to accomidate that, this would be a

non issue. As it is now, only a complete idiot would purchase an M8. Because I can make a prediction that this is going to

be an issue for every single M8 that has been made, one small bump in the wrong direction and that casting WILL fail.

Leica is just fortunate that their current users tend to treat these cameras like jewelry, had they made a mistake like this

back when the M3 was in production Leica would be a footnote in some history of failed camera manufactureres. To be

blunt, that is just about the worst design that I have ever seen and it's just shocking that it came from a maker who once

made a Hockey Puck of a camera called the M3.

Darren, that AF with Lock On setting can be a real "Gotcha". Read the manual VERY carefully and you'll find that it's actually a DELAY that prevents the camera from focusing on a subject at a distance different from the previous image. The purpose of this setting is to prevent the camera from shifting focus if someone steps in front of your camera. The problem is that it will also prevent the camera from tracking a subject that is either, moving towards your position, or moving away from your position. My advice is that you trun it off and leave it off, you'll get much better results.

 

As for other settings, either 9 pt. Dynamic, or 21 pt. Dynamic should work very well for you with the camera set to AF-C. The only remaing question is whether the D300 will be able to drive that old screw drive lens of your fast enough to keep track with your subject. Odds are that it will since I believe that the D300 uses the same AF drive motor as the D200 and you reported no issues with that camera.

Thomas, I wouldn't worry too much about using those older lenses. That 28-105 was a pretty good lens in it's day and it will still perform well on either hte D80 or the D300. As for the 50mm f1.8, it's probably Nikon's best bargain and a damn fine lens to boot. What's a shame is that you can't stretch your budget to the D700, because you wouldn't have to deal with the crop factor. With either of the DX format cameras your going to find that you'll need something that gives you a wider perspective. If you think that you may someday want to return to the FX format, I would suggest that you look into a D80 Kit in combination with the 18-55mm VR. The 18-55VR is dirt cheap and I don't lke it's use of a plastic lens mount but you'll be quite pleased with it's optical performance.

Aidy, your revealing your youth. My grandmother had curb feelers installed on every single one of her cars. They were common when wide white wall tires were the fashion. The theory was that you would hear them scraping the curb berfore you scuffed up the white walls. What I remember most is that as a 4 years old, I found them to be absolutely fascinating and would just stoop at the wheel well and flip them to watch them spring everytime she visited.

For me, the challenge to shooting digital is that the cameras don't use film. Was a time when you chose your film based on what you would be shooting. Now, you set the camera based on what your shooting. Which means that you can choose the contrast level, the saturation level, the ISO, the tonal response curve (which is embedded in the Picture Controls for the D300) the White Balance, and finally the color space. All of which came prepackaged in that handy roll of film. Fortunately for all of us, Nikon has done a fairly good job with some the Picture Controls so, with the D300, you can treat the Picture Controls to some extent like a film selection. That simplifies matters greatly, so the major decision areas become color space, White Balance and ISO. Another very fortunate feature is that you can shoot RAW and leave the color space and White Balance decision for post processing without losing anything. So, now your down to just deciding what ISO to shoot at. Basically, by shooting RAW you using a very powerful set of training wheels that go a long way towards protecting your from failure. However, you will have to learn how to properly post process your images and a lot of that will be simple trial and error. Which is why I never modify my original, I only work on a proxy copy of the original.

 

The other area that can be challenging is the AF system and all of it's options. For the first 2 months that I had my D300 I used that AF system exactly as I had used the AF in my N8008s. That is it was set in single frame, center Area, and I used the focus/recompose methodolgy. Used that way I have found that the D300 is very near perfect, I think I only had 3 misses out of 1500 frames shot using this method. More recently I have been experimenting with the 21 point Dynamic mode in AF-C. Where I have found that the camera almost never misses. However, I still have to experiment with the 9 point, 51 point, 51 point 3D, Dynamic modes and figure out when they are a better choice. I also have to do some experimenting with the Auto Area AF and try to figure out what hidden features may be lurking within this mode. Basically, the AF system has so many features that it's going to take any new user some time to figure out what to use when.

 

So yeah, it's a bit challenging. However it's a challenge that you learn from. You can treat it like a Point and Shoot camera and get good results most of the time. But if you take the time to explore all it's features, it will make you a better photographer.

I would expect that nearly every current Nikkor zoom exhibits some varifocal behavior. Simply because nearly every one of them uses some form of internal focusing and I suspect that this make designing the cams for these lenses to maintain perfect parfocal behavior to be nearly impossible. So, ot be safe, focus the lens at the focal length that you'll be shooting at, otherwise you'll probably see some error in the focus. However, that being said, the 18-70 does track the focus very well with the change in focal length so any error in focus would probably be masked by the somewhat small maximum aperture.

Which bag? I have one I take everywhere, one that has my flashes and 35mm gear, one with my Mamiya TLR kit, and one with my 4 x 5 kit.

 

As for the take everywhere, it has the D300 with the 18-70 mounted, a 70-300 VR, a 67mm CP filter, lens cleaning microfibre cloth, D300 manual, memory chips, and a spare charged battery for the D300.

Ronald is correct, the D200 is the least expensive Nikon DSLR that will meter with the older manual focus lenses. Fortunately for you, the release of the D300, and now the D700, has really cut into the price for the D200. It would not surprize me if you could find a good used D200 for well under 1000 dollars. Which may seem expensive but it's a very good camera. However, you will find it a bit bulkier and heavier that your FM's.

 

All of the other lower cost models will require having a chip transplanted from an AF lens into the manual focus lens, which is what "chipping" a lens means. Finding someone who can do this isn't quite as easy as it sounds. To do this, you need an older AF lens with a maximum aperture identical to you lens so that it can be used as a Donor for the chip and and your lens. Waiting for that donor lens can take some time and expense so many who were once doing this have stopped because the stock of donor lenses has dried up.

Lets just break it down. BTW, the following prices came from B & H.

 

First, 70% of your work is shooting portraits. Which means that you'll want the holy trinity of protrait lenses. Which are 85mm, 105mm and 135mm focal lengths. BTW, don't be concerned about AF speed with these lenses because people sitting for a formal portrait just don't move that fast. However, all of Nikon's classic protrait lenses use rear element group focusing and I know for a fact that both the 85mm lenses are quite quick. Now for some prices.

 

the 85mm f1.8 is 400 USD, the 85mm f1.4 is 1025 USD, the 105mm f2 DC is 925 USD, and the 135 f2 DC is 1070 USD. Assuming you want giant front elements to impress your clients and want the slightly better bokeh of the 85mm f1.4, the total cost comes to 3020 USD. If your mature enough that there are things that are more important than the soft look of an 85mm f1.4 used wide open, you can cut that cost to 2395 USD. BTW, both of Nikon's 85mm lenses feature superb sharpness when stopped down to f2.8 or beyond. As for the 2 DC lenses, the sharpness is partially dependent on how the De-Focus control is adjusted. At neutral DC both lenses have an excellent reputation for sharpness.

 

Now for your wedding shooting. For that you'll need more Primes. Assuming you need 24 to 50mm coverage, that would mean a 24mm, 35mm and 50mm lenses. For the longer shots you'll have the Portrait lenses you previously purchased. Just in case you want to go really wide I'll list the cost of the 20mm f2.8 but I won't include it in the total.

 

the 20mm f2.8 is 460.00 USD, the 24mm f2.8 is 310 USD, the 35mm f2 is 320 USD, and the 50mm f1.4 is 290 USD. Total up the 24, 25, and 50mm lenses and you have a total of 920 USD.

 

So far, your Prime based system is up to either 3940 or 3315 depening on your choice at the 85mm focal length.

 

Now you need a couple of lenses for the racing pics. Those would be the 180mm f2.8 EDIF for 750 USD and the AF-S 300mm f4 for 1200 USD. For an additional total of 1950 USD.

 

So, the total amount of your Prime based system is either 5890 USD or 5265 USD.

 

Now lets take a look at the total cost of a zoom based system that covers the same range. If your not aware of it by now, Nikon's recent consumer level zoom can match or even outclass many of Nikon's older Primes in terms of image quality and their Pro level zooms are even better. About the only thing that you'll give up is a slight loss in speed and bokeh that is just slighly harsher that the 3 premium Portrait lenses.

 

So the cost for the AF-S 24-70mm f2.8 is 1700 USD and the AF-S VR 70-200mm f2.8 is 1625 USD. Thow in a TC-14E teleconverter to get you to 280mm at 410 USD and the full total for a system that covers everything you are doing is 3735 USD. Add to that the simple truth is that your lens swapping will be greatly reduced, meaning fewer oppurtunities missed due to lens changes, and you now know why so many pros are now using Zoom lenses. Because it costs less and they can concentrate on taking pictures instead of picking out, and mounting, a lens for a particular shot.

 

So, now you have everything you need to know to make your decision. If it were me, I would go with the 24-70 because it's a great wedding lens, the 70-200 f2.8 VR because it's great for longer shooting, and the 105mm f2 DC for shooting portraits. I would pass on the teleconverter because the 70-200 will crop quite well. The total for that would be 4250.

You want lenses that will work with your F2A, that's easy. The F2A uses the Nikon AI lens mounting system, It also happens

that the first and second generation of Nikon's Autofocus lenses used the AIS lens mounting system, which is a minor

derivative of the AI mount. That means that any AF Nikkor with an aperture ring will function perfectly on your F2A. It also

means that any manual focus Nikkor that uses the AI lens indexing system is also completely compatable. BTW, an easy

way to identify an AI (or AIS) mount lens is to look for 2 parallel rows of aperture numbers engraved on the aperture ring of

the lens. Also note, the AIS lenses used a linear aperture closing system which has NO effect on how an AIS lens will

function on your F2A, to that camera the AI and AIS lenses are identical.

 

In Nikon's just released catalog, the lenses that will work with you F2A are as follows.

 

First, the AF lenses just in case you want to try your hand at shooting digital and are willing to pay the cost for a Nikon

digital that retains the in camera focusing motor for the older screw drive AF Nikkors, such as the D50, D70, D80, D100,

D200, D300, D700, D1 series, D2 series, and D3 series cameras. Currently only the D40, D40x and D60 are the only

Nikon digital SLR's that won't do autofocus with the earlier AF Nikkors.

 

AF Zoom Nikkor 24-85mm f 2.8-4D

 

AF Fisheye Nikkor 16mm f2.8D

 

AF Nikkor 14mm f2.8D ED

 

AF Nikkor 20mm f2.8D

 

AF Nikkor 24mm f2.8D

 

AF Nikkor 28mm f2.8D

 

AF Nikkor 35mm f2D

 

AF Nikkor 50mm f1.8D

 

AF Nikkor 50mm f1.4D

 

AF Nikkor 85mm f1.8D

 

AF Nikkor 85mm f1.4D

 

AF DC-Nikkor 105mm f2D

 

AF DC-Nikkor 135mm f2D

 

AF Nikkor 180mm f2.8D EDIF

 

AF Micro Nikkor 200mm f4D EDIF

 

AF VR Nikkor 80-400mm f4.5-f5.6D ED

 

Now the manual focus lenses.

 

20mm f2.8

 

24mm f2.8

 

28mm f2.8

 

35mm f1.4

 

50mm f1.2

 

50mmf1.4

 

Micro Nikkor 55mm f2.8

 

Micro Nikkor 105mm f2.8

 

PC-Micro Nikkor 85mm f2.8D

 

That's a fairly long list of lenses that you can buy brand spanking new with full warranties. There is also a HUGE array of

Nikon AF lenses that were made for many years that used the older screw drive for focusing, all of which will work perfeclty

on your F2A. The key here is to look for AF Nikkor in the name, NOT AF-S Nikkor because most of the AF-S Nikkors did

not feature an aperture ring on the lens. In your case, if you want a zoom lens with moderate macro capability, I would

recomend the AF Nikkor 28-105mm f3.5-4.5D which was discontinued recently enough you may be able to find one new.

Then there is the absolutely huge array of Nikon's manual focus lenses that were made for all those many years. ANY

manual focus Nikkor will work on your F2A. The only issue with using a non AI lens on this camera is that you'll have to use

the stop down metering method unless you have the lens AI modified. I don't know what slack jawed teenager told you that

there was only one lens available for your F2A but you need to be a bit more selective about who you listen to.

 

PS, I added the rabbit ear coupling prong to all of my AF Nikkors specifically so that I could use them on my older Non AI

F2sb's and they work just great, the only issue is that most of these lense have near zero drag on the focusing ring so you

can't focus the lens and let go of the focusing ring, they will shift if you just breath on them. Best practice when using an

AF lens for manual focusing is to position your finger so that it overlaps the body of the lens so your finger pressure can

provide some damping to the action. However, the AF Nikkor 180mm f2.8D EDIF is very well damped for manual focusing

and is stunning on film. I just don't shoot much film anymore because the D300 is so much fun and it's pretty stunning in it's

own right.

In addition, what was your setting for custom setting a4, the AF with Lock On? Usage of this setting can slow down the AF acquisition when the camera is set for AF-C.

 

In addition the AF areas in the D3 are very small, probably the smallest that have been used in a DSLR. Which means that they are VERY SELECTIVE and you do have to pay attention to making sure that your not aiming the selected AF area at something that is lacking of sufficient detail or contrast, such as a young childs cheek.

Actually, many of my lenses were purchased before there was an internet available for researching a choice. Oddly enough, I seem to have had bad luck in regards to 50mm f1.4 lenses. Way back in 1973 I purchased a Demo of hte Canon F-1 with a 50mm f1.4 FD that featured an air bubble of at least 3/16 inches in diameter in the front element. Needless to say the lens flared terribly. Currently I have an Af 50mm 1.4 Nikkor that would best be described as a semi soft focus lens, it doesn't exhibit any real sharpness until stopped down to f8. Fortunately, I also have an AI converted 50mm f2 Nikkor-H that's fantastic at f2.8 and smaller.

 

Recently I have been moving from Prime to Zooms. Blame that on the 18-70 that came with my D70. I really wanted to buy just the D70 body only but the only thing avalable was the Kit. That was a revelation, that 18-70 still amazes me at times with it's sharpness and contrast. This year I decided to do some supplementing and upgrading. So last fall I purchased the 70-300 VR which I did research. Then a D300 and a 12-24mm Sigma DG specifically for it's extraordinarily low distortion results (which are completely true). Anyhow, everything that I had read concerning the 70-300 VR indicated that it's just so-so at 300mm. Which is true when it's used at an aperture of f8 or larger. However, July 4 was a splendid sunny day and I decided to try the 70-300 at smaller apertures. Set the ISO to 800, the shutter speed to 1/750 and the apertures were ranging between f11 and f16, the following was shot at f13. Turns out the 70-300 VR is quite good at f13 at 300mm.

 

The pic that will go to the Mother and Daddy.

 

http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/7515354-lg.jpg

 

and a 100% peep of the image before curve tweaking and light noise reduction.

 

http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/7515364-lg.jpg

Michael, did you progressively update the firmware or did you go straight to the 1.03 version. If you bypassed the upgrade to 1.02, that is probably the cause of your problem. BTW, the 1.02 upgrade only updates the B side, the A side remains at 1.01. The good news is that the camera will still accept a firmware update so you may be able to do the 1.02 update. However, before attempting this, I would suggest that you contact Nikon and ask how to proceed. Because it is possible that having the 1.03 update installed on the A side and trying to install 1.02 on the B side may totally disable the camera.

It's not just an issue with the D300, I had that happen once with my D70 about 3 years ago. The good news is that after I got home, I put the D70 in continuous, manual exposure at 1/250, with the lens cap on and proceeded to really give the shutter a workout. My intention was to push it into total failure because it was still under warranty at the time. However, after about 500 exposures it stopped with the intermittent failures and starting ticking over smoothly. Since then, the D70 has been completely problem free. I think that if you check, the manuals for every Nikon since the F80 describe the flashing ERR message as a shutter problem and give bascially the same recomendation. Which is to remove the battery, replace it, and try and clear the problem by repeated activation of the shutter. If that doesn't solve the problem, they then recomend sending the camera in for repair. So, it's been a potential issue with Nikon cameras for quite a few years, not something that is isolated to just the D300.

John, Nikon does a lousy job of keeping there web sites up to date. However, they just released their full lens catalog in the PDF format and the AH-5 is listed there. Here is the link.

 

http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/lineup/lens/pdf/nikkor_lenses_36p.pdf

 

The only question now is how long will it be before you can actually get your hands on one? I think we both know that Nikon isn't very good at keeping every product they list in their catalog available to dealers. However, the PC 85 has been out for a few years so it may not be a new addition and you may be able to find one of these adapters if you call around.

Nikon has a Tripod mounting adapter AH-5 for the PC Micro Nikkor 85mm f2.8D in their current catalog. From the look of it, it should be just the ticket for what you want to do. Basiclly, it's a spacer so that the tilt and shift features of the PC lens can be used without interference between the camera body and the tripod.

I think that there are several issues going on with this image. The first is the use of ACR. Frankly, I believe that Adobe still has some catching up to do in regards to the files from the D300. I would suggest that you try using Capture NX on your image and see the difference for yourself.

 

BTW, ACR will ignore the following settings during the conversion. First, the AD-L will be ignored, I believe that is a tag that triggers NX to process the image using the setting in the camera. So, the good news is that your noise was not due to the use of AD-L. The second issue is that any Noise Reduction you have set in the camera is also done by NX during the conversion. That means that ACR imported your image without any noise reduction. The third issue is the underexposure that you had to correct for. Anytime you underexpose an image using a digital camera, increased noise is a sure result. I also have to ask if you did any sharpening to your image. If you did, this will drastically increase the noise of the image if it's done prior to applying some noise reduction.

 

My advice is that you either consider using NX if you want to keep on shooting RAW, or consider taking pictures like this using JPG.

 

I will let you in on a little secret here, the JPG "engine" in the D300 is simply superb. It is so good that about the only time that I now shoot RAW is if the lighting is really funky. I'll grant that shooting JPG doesn't provide the "cushion" that shooting RAW permits but, if your careful about getting everything correct, you can shoot JPG and produce images that are capable of producing results that are essentially identical to what can be done shooting RAW. So, you may find it worthwhile spending some time experimenting with shooting JPG and learn how the camera responds well enough that you can shoot JPG and not spend all that time converting and post processing images shot in RAW. As for my tips for shooting JPG, basically I set the camera so that it "tinkers" with the image the least amount possible. Specifically, I leave the High ISO Noise Reduction set to OFF, as well as the AD-L. These are items that can be corrected in NX with a much higher degree of control than the in camera settings. I also have my Sharpening in the camera set to level 2. Which is fairly low but the images respond so well to Unsharp Mask that I just don't see any reason to risk the increase in noise that a higher setting would cause. I am also very careful about exposure and white balance because shooting JPG will not permit the flexibility for correction that shooting RAW permits. My point here is that if your very careful, you can shoot JPG without any deficit.

It's completely normal and it's done for a very good reason. Almost all solid materials expand when heated and shrink when cold. One exception to this is ice, which has a larger volume when frozen than the same mass of liquid water, which is why ice floats. There may be some other materials that exhibit similar behavoir but typical materials used in lenses will generally expand when they get hotter. So, any lens will grow in length when it's warmed up, and a longer lens will focus at a closer distance. In addition, lenses such as yours, have a very complex design which are much more sensitive to temperature induced changes than a simple prime. So, while a growth in length of a few ten thousandths of an inch won't effect the infinity focus of a simple prime, it could have a drastic effect on a very complex lens design. Add to that the shape of each glass element in a lens may change it's shape slightly with temperature and you have a situation where a lens with many elements has a larger total amount of "shape changing" going on than a simple prime. So, lens designers are intentionally designing in a cushion in order to insure that the lens will still focus to infinity even in Death Valley on the hottest day of the century. So, what you are seeing is completely normal and I would expect that any modern zoom lens you look at closely will have some cushion beyond infinity. You'll also probably see some cushion on long focal length primes, such as the Nikkor 500mm f4.

Take it to your repairman and have it fixed, it won't be very costly and it's actually pretty simple. Most likely your lens was dropped at some point and the aperture ring has been bent into an egg shape. Back when this lens was made the aperture rings were made with aluminum and rather easy to bend.

I would suggest that you get out a magnifying glass and look at both sides of the circuit

card for a solder connection with some wire strands still sticking out. I heve yet so see

a solder connection break without leaving some trace of the connecting wires still at the

break. So, all you have to do is find the point of your break and you have your answer.