Black images

Got three frames next to each other all like this,the exif on these says the lens was at 200mm i cant say it was or wasn't but on these three the camera has not included a lens description in the exif,also it says taken at 1/500 @ at F4 @ 100 ISO and its a F4.5 lens.
My guess is the lens not communicating correctly but with those settings outside on a bright day i would have expected to see something on the file,any thoughts please as it worked ok after this,
Lens cap was not on

Were you very close to your subject?

love the composition and lighting hahaha. sorry im sure its frustrating, even though im not sure what the issue is. and unless someone came across this very issue, I dont think anyone would know.
maybe sigma/nikon compatibility issue?

Jonathan said:

Were you very close to your subject?

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No they where flight shots

rocketman122 said:

love the composition and lighting hahaha. sorry im sure its frustrating, even though im not sure what the issue is. and unless someone came across this very issue, I dont think anyone would know.
maybe sigma/nikon compatibility issue?

Click to expand...

Not sure about the white balance though ,been using this combination for about 6 months now so i don't think a general compatibility issue,obviously i have to keep using them to give it chance to happen again,the lens is going soon i think against the new tamron or sigma 150-500,as you say its just possible some one else may have had the same.

Any chance you can attach a resized < 1000px version of both the shot before black and a black so we can view the full EXIF data? I suspect it has something to do with the lens and camera not communicating correctly, but maybe there's a clue in there?

mikew said:

No they where flight shots

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I could be a few things so before you send the camera in, you've got some investigating to do. Start with putting the camera in manual mode. Settings iso 200, f 11, 1/500 if it's sunny. Try another lens on the camera. If it's the lens, you should get a picture. If the picture is still black, then it could be a shutter problem or a sensor problem. Then, you remove the lens, bring the shutter speed to about 1/30 and while looking inside you depress the shutter. It's been related that some 5100 had the mirror stuck in the bottom, so if you don't see the mirror going up that's the problem. And you keep going until you find what (in your case) is NOT happening as it should. Then you know you either send the lens or the camera to the repair shop.

Keep us in touch so maybe we can help others that could run into the same problem.

rocketman122 said:

love the composition and lighting hahaha. sorry im sure its frustrating, even though im not sure what the issue is. and unless someone came across this very issue, I dont think anyone would know.
maybe sigma/nikon compatibility issue?

Click to expand...

I've shot thousands of photos with my D7000 and several Sigma lenses, the 150-500mm primarily, and never had an issue with the lens and camera communicating. Only issue ever was when the AF on the lens failed and needed to be repaired. Compatibility problems seem to have been more a recent issue. Regardless, seeing full exif would help.

Marcel said:

I could be a few things so before you send the camera in, you've got some investigating to do. Start with putting the camera in manual mode. Settings iso 200, f 11, 1/500 if it's sunny. Try another lens on the camera. If it's the lens, you should get a picture. If the picture is still black, then it could be a shutter problem or a sensor problem. Then, you remove the lens, bring the shutter speed to about 1/30 and while looking inside you depress the shutter. It's been related that some 5100 had the mirror stuck in the bottom, so if you don't see the mirror going up that's the problem. And you keep going until you find what (in your case) is NOT happening as it should. Then you know you either send the lens or the camera to the repair shop.

Keep us in touch so maybe we can help others that could run into the same problem.

Click to expand...

Thanks Marcel but its all working perfectly now it was just those three shots in the middle of the session,have already had other lenses on and they worked ok as well

BackdoorHippie said:

Any chance you can attach a resized < 1000px version of both the shot before black and a black so we can view the full EXIF data? I suspect it has something to do with the lens and camera not communicating correctly, but maybe there's a clue in there?

Click to expand...

Sorry Jake i thought the exif was there,because it was not a picture i used view to down size which i dont normally do i didnt realise it stripped the exif

The swan is the one before the three black shots,lucky i still have it i was having a break from deleting and made my post

mikew said:

Not sure about the white balance though ,been using this combination for about 6 months now so i don't think a general compatibility issue,obviously i have to keep using them to give it chance to happen again,the lens is going soon i think against the new tamron or sigma 150-500,as you say its just possible some one else may have had the same.

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yea, WB was off a bit haha. Good to ask others. hope you find a solution. something that happened as a one time thing? maybe the lens wasnt completely locked on the mount? maybe dirty contacts on the lens/mount?

this is just me, but every 2-3 weddings I use lint free qtips style swabs with some drops of caig deoxit gold. I also use it around the mount itself as it helps lessen the abrasion that happens over time. helps to make the lenses slip on and off much easier. I switch lenses so many times in a wedding. I also use it for the camera flash shoes and speedlight feet as well. I also use it on the ends of the batteries as well as in the battery chamber. just a little preventive treatment. my friend was having mount issues and he used some of my caig liquid and man was there a ton of black build up. I dont use much. dont rub it on much, but like sensor cleaning, IMO, it must be done.

@BDH I did have an issue years back when I first started with sigma lenses. the guy had to order a new chip/pcb board with contact attached. not sure how common it is, but I think youre right in that it seems like some error between the camera/lens.

Something else wrong i did these the same way as i normally do via elements but there doesn't appear to be any exif

Will try again have been trying to use firefox forgot i have to use chrome for gallery uploads

I can see the EXIF on the two of these.

The swan photo:

Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D7000
Lens: 120.0-400.0 mm f/4.5-5.6
Image Date: 2014-03-01 10:17:55 +0000
Focal Length: 400mm (35mm equivalent: 600mm)
Aperture: f/8.0
Exposure Time: 0.0040 s (1/250)
ISO equiv: 100
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No (enforced)
Orientation: Normal
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Copyright: MIKEWILKINSON
Software: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11.0 Windows


The Black photo:

Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D7000
Lens: 0.0 mm f/0.0
Image Date: 2014-03-01 10:27:34 +0000
Focal Length: 200mm (35mm equivalent: 300mm)
Aperture: f/4.0
Exposure Time: 0.0040 s (1/250)
ISO equiv: 100
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No (enforced)
Orientation: Normal
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Copyright: MIKEWILKINSON
Software: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11.0 Windows


As you stated, there's no lens information on the black shot. The black image is not entirely black, which has me believing that it just fired off with the lens in its rest state (smallest aperture), which is why you got a dark image since it's shooting 1/250 at f/22 and ISO 100. Here's what I got when I boosted the EV to +5 in LR (sorry - my import accidentally overwrote some of your copyright exif)



Given that it works some of the time I would check to make sure you have clean contacts on both the camera and the lens, and that the mounting ring isn't damaged in any way that would cause it to lose contact (I'm assuming the 120-400mm has a metal mounting right, right?).

Thanks Jake,yes the lens has a metal mount it has been on the camera now for about 5 months without being taken off as its my birding rig, i use the D70 or D5100 for other subjects,i think with what you have found i will just keep going and hope its just a one off hiccup,so long as it works there is no rush as i have the Sigma 3 year warranty

Even permanently attached, contacts can foul, so maybe take the lens off and have a look. Also, if the weather was cold then it's possible that even a little bit of contraction might have separated it - which could have been exacerbated by following a bird in flight. Check it and keep your fingers crossed that it's a one shot anomaly.

I actually had this happen once where I accidentally pressed in the lens release button and the lens had turned slightly, just a thought.