D200 erratic exposures? Found the problem.

D200freak

Senior Member
I own four D200s, three in great shape and one just waiting for two parts to arrive and then it's back in service.

I'm thinking that no. 4 will be converted to wide spectrum, and use appropriate external filters so I can use it in the UV and IR ranges.

I got great bargains on my D200 fleet. I paid 150 for the first one, which needed a new ISO/QUAL/WB button/switch assembly, and in the process of finding and eventually buying a complete new top assembly for the camera for just 100 dollars, I ended up buying a second D200 in pristine condition with the box and all accessories, with just 1604 shutter clicks, for another 150 dollars. I call this camera no. 1.

And then, before that one even arrived, I scored yet ANOTHER D200, also in brand new condition, (but with more shutter clicks, I think it was about 7000) for just 75 dollars and the seller said he was having inconsistent results under some conditions. More on this later. I call this one camera no. 2.

Then I scored no. 4 for just 67 dollars, in need of just the knob that opens the CF card door. It spent its whole life in a portrait
studio so other than some wear to the bottom of the camera as it was mounted to a tripod quite often, it's also minty. Called camera 3, of course. The first one I got won't get identified as no. 4 until I finish fixing it.

I fixed the CF door knob problem on 3 quickly and put that camera on the shelf with the other two good ones, all three ready to go
at a moment's notice, each one set up with a different lens.

I was using 3 to set up an ebay auction and found even though I was taking virtually identical photos, one after the other in constant lighting, some of the pictures were darker than others and not by any small amount. This is what the seller of this camera had reported as the problem, which caused me to get it so cheaply.

To make a long story short, after some research and experimentation I found that doing a full reset on the camera solved the problem, and further experimentation points to the exposure compensation setting as the main problem.

If you're having any trouble with your D200 and erratic picture brightness, check and see if exposure compensation is turned on. Turn it off if so, then check it. If the problem persists, reset the camera. Hold down the two buttons on the top of the camera that are nearest to the two green dots and hold them until the LCD display goes blank and then comes back. (With the camera on, of course.)

I enjoy using the D200s, a lot. They're my first semi-pro grade cameras. I jumped on bargains (as I saw them to be) simply because
that's kind of what I like to do. I'll eventually end up reselling probably two of these cameras. I have a D800 on the way and need to try to recover some of the money I've spent lately.
 
I have had two friends that had problems with their cameras recently. My niece was having problems with her D5000 and was going to throw it away so I told her to ship it to me first and let me look at it. She had the Exposure compensation set on -5. So of course she was not getting any photos worth looking at. I set the camera back on 0 and went through and cleaned everything and set all the controls so that it was just a point and shoot for her. Added a lens with a longer zoom that I had laying around and shipped it back to her. She was happy. The next was a friend I was out shooting with one evening and he was having all sorts of problems getting a good exposure. He was shooting manual and we were shooting together for the first time and I noticed that he was taking 10 shots to my one and was still not getting good exposures. I asked him if I could see his camera for a minute and sure enough the Exposure compensation was set incorrectly. I set it turned it to P and took one photo of the scene he had been trying to shoot. And handed the camera back to him. It was a perfect exposure. He and I have become very close friends since then and shoot often together. I still give him a hard time about that.

Sometimes the problems people have is that they are not paying attention to the details. Always check ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed, and EXPOSURE COMPENSATION.

My big problem occasionally is that I forget that I am in Bracket and I start getting exposures that are under exposed, correct and the over exposed.
 

WayneF

Senior Member
Forgetting we set compensation last time out can bite any of us.

The camera provides this symbol:
comp1.gif


If you see that small symbol, in the viewfinder, in the top LCD, or in the Info display, then you have some form of compensation turned on. It might be Exposure Compensation or Flash Compensation (set in the camera or in the Nikon flash). But Compensation is on somewhere, and the photographer ought to know where and why. So learn to pay attention to that symbol. It's also a good idea to review the Info screen before an important session.
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
I don't yet understand bracketing, so I don't use it.

Bracketing is the process of taking 3 photos....1 underexposed, 1 properly exposed...and 1 over exposed, then combining the three in an HDR program, to make one composite image that shows the definition in a clearly defined way. High-dynamic-range imaging (HDRI or HDR) is a technique used in imaging and photography to reproduce a greater dynamic range of luminosity than is possible with standard digital imaging or photographic techniques.

My D200, when I had it, was great at doing this. Unfortunately, my D300 doesn't have the bracketing button, and I'll never understand why it was eliminated from this model.
 

adot45

Senior Member
Bracketing is the process of taking 3 photos....1 underexposed, 1 properly exposed...and 1 over exposed, then combining the three in an HDR program, to make one composite image that shows the definition in a clearly defined way. High-dynamic-range imaging (HDRI or HDR) is a technique used in imaging and photography to reproduce a greater dynamic range of luminosity than is possible with standard digital imaging or photographic techniques.

My D200, when I had it, was great at doing this. Unfortunately, my D300 doesn't have the bracketing button, and I'll never understand why it was eliminated from this model.

The information I got has the D300 on the list for auto bracketing. Up to 9 shots even.

How to Auto Bracket With a Nikon D300 | eHow

I don't have a D300 but is it possible that how you access the program is different than from the D200 and kinda hidden or something?

See page 297 in the manual too.

I don't get the double post but I can't delete #6 sorry.
 
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