Whats wrong with my camera?

My pictures come out with a rectangular distortion on top on the picture, but only when I take a picture with the viewfinder. When it's on live feed it doesn't appear on the picture. I've been told it has something to do with the shutter but not sure. Can anyone help?

Sticky shutter blade? That would make sense since the shutter is already open when you're using live view. Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's anything you can do about it other than send it in. What camera are you using and what's the shutter count?

d3100 with lens it came with and 5784 count

SpittaSteez said:

d3100 with lens it came with and 5784 count

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Is it still under warranty? I agree with MrF...seems like a shutter problem to me. Bring it in to the camera shop you bought it from and have them take a look at a picture that shows the problem. they may be able to fix it right there.

It's always nice to complete your profile with things like where you're from, your camera, gear used, etc. It really helps us help you in answering any questions you might have..

SpittaSteez said:

My pictures come out with a rectangular distortion on top on the picture, but only when I take a picture with the viewfinder. When it's on live feed it doesn't appear on the picture. I've been told it has something to do with the shutter but not sure. Can anyone help?

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Its BROKE! Nikon built it, so let them fix it. Check your settings and see if you have it set to automatically clean the sensor every time you start it up.

If so, change that to clean the sensor manually.

Hope this helps.

If you're going to send it in anyway, you could try firing off 8 or 10 shots in continuous mode at the fastest shutter speed the d3100 will give you. If it's physically damaged though, that could make things worse. Of course, if it's physically damaged already, you're going to have to send it in anyway. Like Jack said, I'd try a local shop first though.

Pete, what's the issue with the sensor cleaning? Mine's set on the default (clean on shutdown I think). I might have to change that.

MrF said:

If you're going to send it in anyway, you could try firing off 8 or 10 shots in continuous mode at the fastest shutter speed the d3100 will give you. If it's physically damaged though, that could make things worse. Of course, if it's physically damaged already, you're going to have to send it in anyway. Like Jack said, I'd try a local shop first though.

Pete, what's the issue with the sensor cleaning? Mine's set on the default (clean on shutdown I think). I might have to change that.

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That's a personal thing with me.

I am not too keen on the idea of cleaning

the sensor every single time I fire it up or shut it down.

It just seems that is a heck of a lot of stress for not a lot of reason.

I clean my sensor once every couple of weeks.

I bet the mirror is out of adjustment. On Live View the mirror is folded up and out of the way so when you shoot with live view on your 3100 it makes great snaps...nothing wrong with the sensor.

I agree with the post about rapid firing it but before you do I would inspect the mirror and how it is traveling. Perhaps there is a piece of debris causing it to be unable to go through it's full range of motion.

Had the same problem with mine. Was ok for little while before that started again. Went back to jessops and have had to send back to Nikon 3 weeks ago and still not back

All of these problems with new cameras and lenses has me worried.

Unless you're doing a lot of lens changing in dusty places, it's really not necessary to clean the sensor so much. I do mine once a year. Here's a tip: when changing a lens, hold the camera so the lens is in a downward position, undo it s l o w l y from the body, so as not to create a suction that would draw in dust and dirt, and remove it. Use the same procedure in reverse and at the same speed when installing the new lens. This method has kept my sensors clean. I even used this method when using film cameras back in the day.