Help!

[chongo]

Shooting a Nikon D2xs Nikkor 20mm 2.8 (swapped lenses but this is what I stuck with) I pulled my camera from the bag this morning and noticed immediately my exposure was way off, I double checked and according to the readout in my viewfinder I was shooting a properly exposed shot.

For an example - standing outside today at 2:00PM ISO 100 - WB Cloudy - 1/4s @ f/22

This was in Manual but showed to be properly exposed in the camera's viewfinder exposure meter - the result was a completely blown out photo, all white.

The only thing I could find was the battery info menu showed the battery needed to be calibrated.

I have contacted Nikon and sent in some example photos but I have a feeling this camera is about to make a trip, I cannot find anything in the manual or online.

Anyone have any ideas? I have reset all settings and have the battery on the charger being calibrated/charged overnight.

Thanks

[Limbwalker]

Try it with a different lens. The electronics or aperture in the lens could be the culprit.

[chongo]

I guess I wasn't very clear, I have tried all my lenses and no change. I have kept the 20mm 2.8 for test shots.

[Limbwalker]

Ah, okay then. Do you have an in-camera exposure compensation that's set incorrectly?

[chongo]

Nope, I have checked, double checked, complete reset and checked again.

To give you an idea this is what the result is of the settings in the first post.

[Limbwalker]

Well, 1/4 sec. at f/22 is WAY overexposed for sure. That shot should have been about 1/30 sec. at f/22.

That's a full 3 stops off. I'd say your meter may be the problem then. Sorry.

[chongo]

That is what I feared. Any idea on a repair cost? Is it even worth repairing on such an old camera?

[chongo]

Spoke with Nikon after they reviewed the photos I sent them and they want me to send it in with a quote of 140-532 for repairs. Not sure it is worth it given the age of the camera, especially if it reaches the upper ranges of the quote.

[Limbwalker]

Man, that's awful.

Hopefully you don't have to commit to the repair if it's going to cost too much. I think I sent them a pair of binocs last year, and I had to authorize the repair before they did it. They have a pretty good repair form on their website. You pay, IIRC, $15 up front for them to look at it. But if they don't repair it, they ship it back to you.

It's worth a shot.

[yaqui]

Is your plus/minus dial set to 0? exposure compensation/bracketing dial might be accidentally set to three stops over.
Can you manually change settings to get the correct exposure.

Sunny f16 rule...

1/asa at F16

asa 100 means 1/100 of a sec at f16.

You might look up how to do a hard reset on the camera.

I have a couple of D2X cameras, and have blown through 200,000 clicks, and not a single problem. Still have them and won't upgrade till they give out.

There are so many settings on these digital cameras that can mess up your world in a hurry. It takes me five minutes to make sure both cameras are set the same to each other, yes you can save settings, but I never need or want the same thing twice.

[gemini2759]

Reset all settings to default and try again

[scotty]

First, turn the camera on, and press both the ISO and WB balance button at the same time, and hold them down for at least two seconds.

Then go to the shooting (camera icon) menu and select each of the four "shooting menu bank" in turn and select "R menu reset" again for each bank.

Do the same thing on the custom settings (pencil icon) menu.

Also, do you have a Flickr account? If so, upload a photo straight out of the camera and post a link. We can check the Exif info to see if we can spot anything.