posted on October 9, 2004 03:27:57 PM
IS PhotoSensitive around here anywhere??
My Nikon Coolpix has bit the dust and I need some help.
Used it Monday and Tuesday with no problems, then Wednesday morning I pick it up and it won't get an image on the monitor.
Menus show on monitor and I can hear the auto focus working. I even updated the firmware with a download from Nikon, so I know the electronics and interface are good but monitor is still blank.
Unfortunately, I had just formated both my memory cards, so I can not tell if old images will show in the monitor. All I have is a black screen.
Just for grins, I even took a few shots and downloaded them to see if it was just the monitor, but they were black too.
Don't know if it has anything to do with it or not, but I have not used the battery pack in months. I usually use the camera on a tripod with the a/c adapter. Wednesday was the first time in about 3 months that I had tried to use the battery pack. Pack had a full charge. The monitor problem seems to be the same if I am using the a/c adapter or battery pack or both.
I called the Nikon Service Center Friday and they had no suggestions, just told me to mail it in for service. Anyone have any ideas?
(The closest service center is So Photo in Jacksonville, if any of you on the east coast have had experience with them, please let me know. I was finally in the mood to post Ebay auctions and now this!)
posted on October 9, 2004 03:43:01 PM
If the lcd screen works for the menu, but not for the images you're trying to shoot, and the images you shoot are black, it sounds like the autoiris is shut, or there is a problem with the CCD. Either one will require going into the camera to fix. One way to tell for sure is to insert your memory card into a known working camera, shoot a couple pictures, and then put the card in your camera and see if the images show on the lcd.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on October 9, 2004 03:44:59 PM
Thanks Sparkx, that was what I was thinking, but I don't know anyone else in Panama City with a Nikon. Next time maybe GG and should buy the same camera so we can troubleshoot together <g>
posted on October 9, 2004 03:46:13 PM
Does anyone know if this camera has a manual reset on it somewhere? I've looked everywhere on it and can not find one.
posted on October 9, 2004 03:51:50 PM
I would remove the battery and a.c. adapter and let it set a couple hours. It should auto reset to default settings when you restore power and fire it up.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on October 9, 2004 03:58:15 PM
Yep, tied that the last few nights Sparkz, but it didn't work. Prayers haven't worked yet either... <g>>
GG, it's a Nikon Coolpix 995.
I just tried to upload a pic to the camera via the interface. Guess I don't know how to do that because it did not work. It was easy enought to upload the new firmware. Just copied the firmware from Nikon's website to my hard disk and then drag and drop to the memeory card disk icon. Tried to do that with an old pic file, but it did not work. Can you "upload" pics from your pc to your camera?
[ edited by ltray on Oct 9, 2004 03:59 PM ]
Is this happening with more than one memory card? I would expect a bad card to give an error message in the display. If it was low batteries or bad batteries you should get an error message and the camera should shut down.
Have you done a search on the web with a number of the words you would use to describe the problem and the model name and number of the camera. When my Fuji assassinated a micro drive I put in the camera name, the name of the micro drive, "troubleshooting" and "problem" and got some boards where people had the same problem. Found out it happened when the camera lost power while writing to the drive. That micro drive was truly fried! I am still having problems with the camera running down rechargeable batteries in a couple of days. I sent it back to Fuji and they say there is nothing wrong with it. Yea right!
I will be off the computer for awhile but will check back later. Hope you solve the problem but returning it may be the only way to go if you don't find answers on the web.
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on October 9, 2004 04:58:13 PM
Thanks PhotoS. Yes, searched all the boards. Found several people with the same problem, but none of them had received answers.
It costs $40 just for a service check and service center estimated $50 to $250 for repairs. I just cruised Ebay for the 995 and found several that sold for under $200, so now I am debating just buying another one or shopping for a new brand altogether.
I noticed in Wallyworld last night that the new cameras have become really affordable. I really like the 4x optical zoom on my Nikon. I may shop around for a new one.
Anyone been really impressed with the new cameras. I'd really like to keep my camera budget around $200 this time around. The coolpix was great but had more bells and whistles than I needed. My main objective is a good optical zoom for the fine details since I mainly deal in antiques and jewelry.
posted on October 10, 2004 06:37:38 AM
does anybody know of a program that can reformat a smart media card? apparantly the camera is fat12 and the media reader with I guess a windows upgrade reformatted the card. I looked on the web and found some complicated thing with a winhex editor and all this, to reformat the card, but surely I dont know what I'm doing with that... Thought I'd ask if anybody knew of maybe a shareware program that just 'does' it for you? (the card is not corrupt as it reads images from the cardreader just not in the camera.)
posted on October 10, 2004 08:38:45 AM
Photosensitive, yes I tried both my memory cards.
Neroter, the format is usually specific to the camera brand, or at least it is with my Nikon. That is why I can't just use one of Glassgirl's smart cards to check out my camera with.
What type of Camera do you have?
My camera has a format card option built into one of the in-camera menus. I can also format my card from my PC using the NikonView software that came with the camera. The Nikon uses a DSC file format I think.
posted on October 10, 2004 01:50:12 PM
Itray, Have you tried Romo Photo on Fifteenth. They are usually helpful. There is at least one person there who knows cameras backwards and forwards. I live in PC and shoot a Coolpix and wouldn't trade it for any other camera unless I wanted serious megapixels. I don't think any other camera compares in the closeup department.
posted on October 10, 2004 03:04:34 PM
LOL Getalife, I thought you were Glassgirl's other ID when she was "lurking".
Haven't gone to Romo's yet. Last week on a trip thru town I noticed that it looked like their storefront was empty and wondered if they had been damaged by the storm. I'll check it out tomorrow. GG had the same suggestion, but I had assumed they would not know much about the Nikon. The closest listed factory service dealer is in Jacksonville.
posted on October 10, 2004 05:40:55 PM
I love the Nikon CoolPix! I lost mine recently(I know my hubby says "WHO LOSES A CAMERA?" but I just got an ad in today's paper selling a 4100 for $279. It's at Staples.
posted on October 10, 2004 06:07:47 PM
You LOST it?? Who the heck loses their camera ,lol. Just kidding. It is a wonder I haven't lost mine in the mess in my garage.
I'll check out the sale, we don't have a Staples, but I can probably order online.
posted on October 11, 2004 02:59:46 AM
Hi Itray, sorry not to get back to this earlier - running around all day...I have an olympus (older one). I think I am probably just going to get a new card! This one keeps saying card error when I put it in the camera, so I cant format it in the camera at all! But it works in the card reader...thats why Im sure it got reformated. The properties states formated fat or fat32 and I pulled out the camera book, which I thought I saw it said camera is supposed to be fat12? I really think this happened with the sp2 windows upgrade -and of course, I left the card in the reader when I rebooted. I even went to the olympus web site and they're no help. -Maybe because its a older camera but I think they want to you buy new cards eventually! I should probably be looking at a new camera, and would love to get a sony - but thats not happenin right yet, so I'll just get another card and I'll be more careful about with it getting overwritten.
but I just got an ad in today's paper selling a 4100 for $279. It's at Staples. 
I should probably be looking at a new camera, and would love to get a sony - but thats not happenin right yet, so I'll just get another card and I'll be more careful about with it getting overwritten.