6 replies to this topic

[Nick BN]

Hello everyone,

 

So I am a beginner who was given a D3100 from a dear friend who had upgraded long ago, putting the D3100 into retirement until she gave it to me a few months ago.

 

After a couple of hours with it, I noticed that some photos were producing weird effects at the top of some photos. These effects look like the photos have different exposures in entire sections at the top of the photo and sometimes those areas are blurry or have doubles. When I look through the viewfinder or the LV, everything looks in order. Its the pictures that have the effect. At first, I thought it was due to my lack of experience, but I asked her and she told me otherwise. This happens on maybe 60% of the photos and I am not knowledgable enough yet to understand what could be causing this. I tested the stock 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens and my friends 35mm f/1.8 lens (which she has no problems with) and the effect was still there, leading us to conclude that the problem lies within the body. I've also noticed that this happens more often in brighter environments.

 

Some photos are much more dramatic than others, some have the blurriness/double, some don't. 

These are some prime examples of how bad it can be:

Photos with blurriness/double effect in the brighter section:

These photos are much less dramatic than the others:

 

Some don't have any weird sections at all, but at this point I'm starting to believe if the photo is dark enough, it'll blend the top section with the rest of the photo.

 

Should I even bother looking into fixing this? Is there any hope for this camera? If so, is it even worth fixing? 

 

Thank you,

Nick BN

[Ron]

When this happens, is the popup flash firing?

 

--Ron

[ScottinPollock]

Looks like the shutter is getting ready to give up the ghost. How many actuations are on it?

And no, IMHO, it is probably not worth having it fixed. But if they'll give you a free estimate up front, it might be worth exploring.

[Nick BN]

When this happens, is the popup flash firing?

 

--Ron

 

Hey Ron, no the flash isn't on.

 

 

Looks like the shutter is getting ready to give up the ghost. How many actuations are on it?

And no, IMHO, it is probably not worth having it fixed. But if they'll give you a free estimate up front, it might be worth exploring.

 

Hey Scottin,

 

I'm sorry, but I don't know what "the ghost" is or what "actuations" are (or how to check that), though it sounds like you're implying that the shutter is going bad due to its age/usage.

 

Where could I go where I'd get an estimate? Are there Nikon Authorized stores that I can trust?

 

Thanks guys,

Nick BN

[Merco_61]

I am not Scott, but I can answer anyway. Giving up the ghost is a figure of speech and means dying.

 

By actuations, we mean the number of photos taken with the camera in it's lifetime. To check, just upload an unedited .jpg from the camera to this checker. It is on our sister site, Pentaxforums.com and reads Nikon .jpg files just as well as Pentax.

 

Nikon USA operate some service centres and there are others that you can find through this page. I think you have to go through one of the authorized sellers if you are not an NPS member and want to use Nikon's own facilities.

[TBonz]

I thought shutter as well when I saw the photos...Perhaps you can just call Nikon and ask the cost to replace the shutter in a D3100.  I know they have a support and service info on the Nikon USA site...

[Nick BN]

I am not Scott, but I can answer anyway. Giving up the ghost is a figure of speech and means dying.

 

By actuations, we mean the number of photos taken with the camera in it's lifetime. To check, just upload an unedited .jpg from the camera to this checker. It is on our sister site, Pentaxforums.com and reads Nikon .jpg files just as well as Pentax.

 

Nikon USA operate some service centres and there are others that you can find through this page. I think you have to go through one of the authorized sellers if you are not an NPS member and want to use Nikon's own facilities.

 

Will do, thank you for all of the resources!

 

If anyone is interested, the shutter count is in the 25,000's.

 

 

I thought shutter as well when I saw the photos...Perhaps you can just call Nikon and ask the cost to replace the shutter in a D3100.  I know they have a support and service info on the Nikon USA site...

 

 

Will do, thanks!