{"id":651,"date":"2007-12-05T16:40:19","date_gmt":"2007-12-05T07:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-12-05\/651"},"modified":"2010-11-27T22:04:24","modified_gmt":"2010-11-27T13:04:24","slug":"nikon-d200-black-frame-syndrome-with-a-desktop-background-bonus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-12-05\/651","title":{"rendered":"Nikon D200 “Black Frame Syndrome” (with a desktop-background bonus)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n

I love my Nikon D200, but yesterday added a new<\/span> woe to the “Dead Battery\nSyndrome<\/a>” I experienced<\/span> a couple<\/span> of months ago: “Black Frame\nSyndrome<\/b>”<\/p>\n\n

Yesterday, Kyoto was a cold and heavily overcast, with sporadic misty\nrain. Occasionally and all too briefly, the sun would poke out in brilliant\nfashion to set the foliage momentarily on fire, so on the way back from\npicking up Anthony at preschool, I stopped<\/span> by the grounds of the old\nimperial palace, now mostly a big<\/span> park heavily laden with fall colors at\ntheir peak.<\/p>\n\n

The trees were amazing, but it was dark and dull, so it wasn't too\ninteresting photographically except for Anthony's play. At one point<\/span> we\ncame across a pleasant<\/span> scene involving a small<\/span> pond, a curved<\/span> stone bridge,\nand some overhanging trees burdened with way more than their share of\noranges and reds. I was chatting<\/span> with someone about how it would be so nice\nif the sun would just peek out a bit,<\/span> and lo and behold, for a short<\/span> time\nit did. It was gorgeous<\/span>, and I fired<\/span> off a bunch<\/span> of shots hoping to capture\nthe moment.<\/p>\n\n

The sun soon went away, and I decided to check some of the shots on the\ncamera's little screen, and was shocked to see that the previous 30+ shots\n– back past all the brilliant sun all the way to the middle of\nAnthony's play – registered as pure black, as if the shutter didn't\nopen.<\/p>\n\n

Panicked investigation ensued, including changing memory cards, changing\nlenses, formatting memory card, checking settings (although none had been\nchanged that day), removing the battery for a while,<\/span> trying different\nexposure settings.... all to no avail. Images were still showing up blank,\nall while the sun poked in and out of the clouds.<\/p>\n\n

I eventually got it working by hitting the two-button reset, something\nI'd never done and had only vaguely recalled. The little<\/span> green dots on two\nof the buttons made me take a chance<\/span> to hold them down for a while,<\/span> and\nsuddenly it started working again. (Looking now, I see it<\/span>'s on page 97 of\nthe English manual, but nothing about the description there makes me\nunderstand why this had any effect.)<\/p>\n\n

Luckily, there was still some sun... here's the first test shot I was<\/span>\nable to take after getting it to work.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 40mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f\/5.6, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a><\/span>\nTesting, Testing, is This Mic On?<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Turning my attention back to the foliage, I was in<\/span> awe of the effect the\nsun had. I wrote<\/span> the other day about photographing fall colors in\ntoo much sun<\/a>, but here, it seems that the leaves just drank it up and\nspit it out in pure, chromatic splendor.<\/p>\n\n

This next shot looking up though various layers of branches with and\nwithout leaves isn't really very interesting, but it shows a bit<\/span> of the\ndynamic nature of the weather, with some branches in the sun, and a dull<\/span>\ngray overcast above...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a><\/span>\n“It Was A Dark<\/span> and Stormy Night....”<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a><\/span>\nTaking Advantage of the Momentary Sun<\/span>\n
Portrait-Mode Vertical Desktop-Background Versions<\/b>\n\n\n1050×<\/span>1680<\/a>  ·  1200×<\/span>1920<\/a>  ·  1600×<\/span>2560<\/a><\/small>     <\/span>\n<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1000 sec, f\/1.4, ISO 1000 —\nmap & image data<\/a><\/span>\nLast Glimmer of Sun<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

My tale of woe was not over. Although the camera was taking pictures\nagain, I hadn't<\/span> realized that one effect of the reset option was to\ndowngrade the image quality from “raw” (by far the best) to “regular”\nquality JPGs. Ugh.<\/p>\n\n

I realize now that the “two-button reset” I'd used resets\nall electronic settings that you can make by pushing and twiddling buttons\non the camera itself (as opposed to via the menu system). This can be\nconvenient if you know what you're doing. At least<\/span> in this respect, I now do<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n

Even as middle-quality JPGs, I was happy<\/span> to be able to get the images\nshown above, and this next one of Anthony waving as he climbs a slide.<\/span> The foliage<\/span> in the background has been left lackluster without the sun,\nbut this daddy still likes the picture <\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 55mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a><\/span>\nWaving to Daddy<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The sun never came back, so we eventually went home. Wondering what\nmight be in the “black” files, I loaded<\/span> them into Lightroom and was\nthrilled to find them intact! The problem<\/span> was apparently something to do\nwith the camera's JPG processing engine, because although the raw data was\nfine, the two JPG versions\nembedded in the raw file<\/a> were both completely black. It's those, of\ncourse, that are used for the on-camera display.<\/p>\n\n

Here's one of the “lost” images with a desktop<\/span>-background bonus...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1000 sec, f\/5.6, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a><\/span>\nnot a\nBlack Frame<\/span>\n\n\nDesktop-Background Versions<\/b>\n\n\nStandard: 1024×<\/span>768<\/a>  ·  1440×<\/span>1080<\/a>  ·  1600×<\/span>1200<\/a><\/small>     <\/span>\nWidescreen:  1280×<\/span>800<\/a>  ·  1680×<\/span>1050<\/a>  ·  1920×<\/span>1200<\/a>  ·  2560×<\/span>1600<\/a><\/small><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Here's another...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f\/5, ISO 1000 —\nmap & image data<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Later, after the sun was long gone and I'd put my camera back to its\nnormal settings, I stepped<\/span> back and took a wide<\/span>-angle shot of the area\nthrough the many bare branches of a cherry<\/span> tree (which itself must be\nabsolutely stunning in early April, I'm sure). While I take<\/span> this shot, a\npassing<\/span> business man pauses to snap a picture<\/span> with his cell phone.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 28mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f\/3.5, ISO 1000 —\nmap & image data<\/a><\/span>\nWide-Angle View<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I'd like to say that the story ends on this still-not-understood but\nseems-to-be-fine-now note, but sadly, it happened again today. Again, the reset fixed it,\nso at least I can<\/span> recover quickly, but I wish<\/span> I didn't<\/span> have to, so I guess<\/span> I have<\/span> to contact Nikon.\n<\/p>\n\n