Blacked out viewfinder

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Boatboy24

Senior Member
Hi,

When trying to view through my viewfinder, I'm seeing nothing - just black - and the shutter won't release. From there, I'm able to switch to live mode and can see what the camera is seeing and am able to take the pic, but it is using long exposures (a second or more). I'm using the 35mm f/1.8 lens and have the aperture wide open. Light is decent, so I should be able to shoot with reasonably quick shutter speeds. ISO can be anywhere from 100-800 and get the same result. Any thoughts on why the viewfinder is blank and/or why I might be getting these 'forced' longer exposures? Oh, and exposure compensation is at 0.0. Thanks for any suggestions.

Jim
 
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Boatboy24

Senior Member
No luck. :confused: I don't think there is a 'mirror up' setting, and there is no Remote setting on the Mode Dial. This is just weird. It was working just fine on Thanksgiving when the battery died. I removed it, charged it, and have had this problem ever since.
 
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Pretzel

Senior Member
1st I'd try going into the menu and doing a reset on both the shooting menu and then the setup options.

Here's from Nikon's website if it helps:

Resetting the D3100
The D3200 and D3100 do not have a 2 button reset option. To perform a reset you need to manually choose the reset option in the Shooting Menu and the Setup menu. To do this press 'Menu', select the Shooting Menu and scroll through the options until 'Reset Shooting Options' is highlighted, press ok, highlight 'Yes' and press ok again. Repeat this for the Setup menu.
Click to expand...
 
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nickt

Senior Member
I'm not clear on something...

If the camera is turned OFF, can you see through the viewfinder? If NO, then mirror might be stuck in the up position. That is not good, you should be able to see through the viewfinder when the camera is off. I would gently tap the camera on the table before sending it off for service.

If you can see through the viewfinder when the camera is off, what happens when you turn the camera on? Give us a step by step of what happens leading up to the viewfinder going black.
 
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480sparky

Senior Member
If the camera is off, my guess is the shutter has gone ka-put. Been there, done that.

Take the lens off and look at the shutter.
 
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Boatboy24

Senior Member
nickt said:
I'm not clear on something...

If the camera is turned OFF, can you see through the viewfinder? If NO, then mirror might be stuck in the up position. That is not good, you should be able to see through the viewfinder when the camera is off. I would gently tap the camera on the table before sending it off for service.

If you can see through the viewfinder when the camera is off, what happens when you turn the camera on? Give us a step by step of what happens leading up to the viewfinder going black.
Click to expand...

All menus have been reset (shooting and setup)

I can't see through the viewfinder when the camera is off. If I turn the camera on with the lens off, it looks like the mirror is up. If, from there, I go to the menu and choose "Lock mirror up for cleaning", the mirror seems to come down, but I still don't see anything through the viewfinder.
 
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480sparky

Senior Member
Boatboy24 said:
If my shutter is 'ka-put', what does that mean? Am I looking at a new camera?
Click to expand...


At least a shutter replacement. Sometimes, when a shutter dies, it does so with the mirror locked up. Take the lens off and check to see if you can see the shutter blades.

I hope I'm wrong, but you need to find out if there's a blade loose.

Here's what mine looked like:

DSC_6751DeadShutter.jpg
 
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nickt

Senior Member
Lens off and camera turned off, you should see the mirror down. If you turn the camera on and set it up for cleaning, the mirror should go up and the shutter should open and not be visible at all. You should have clear view of the sensor in cleaning mode. Definitely bad news if you see those blades Sparky is talking about.
 
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Boatboy24

Senior Member
Fortunately, I don't think I'm seeing any blades. But honestly, I'm not sure what I'm seeing other than that. Time to scan through Google images.
 
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480sparky

Senior Member
If it looks like it's covered with glass, that means the shutter is open. That would be the highpass filter and sensor you're looking at.
 
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Boatboy24

Senior Member
OK, I don't know if it'll help, but here are a couple pics. The first is with the camera off, and in the second the camera is on and I've locked the mirror for cleaning.
IMG_2745.jpg


IMG_2748.jpg
 
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nickt

Senior Member
Is that a mirror in the first shot? it looks dull, but maybe its just how the light falls. I'm getting over my head here... I'm not not sure if the mirror has some kind of separate back plate or what, but that first shot should be a shiny mirror on a 45 deg angle. If you look up toward top of camera, you should see your focus screen. It looks kind of like a skylight on the ceiling.

The 2nd shot looks like a normal shot of the sensor.
 
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