1

I have a 14-years old Nikon D50 (approx. 13,000 shots) and it started to taking white pictures only, sometimes I can see something (example below). After some time the pictures were OK. So I took it some trip to make photos and it was making nice pictures again. But then suddenly again only white photos. Sometimes they are not entirely white, but mostly yes. I tried different settings, M,P,A, fully-automatic, landscape but nothing helped. I tried two different lenses.

When I switched to burst mode and set the program "Sports", the first photo is white but then it can shoot like more than 10 normal photos.

What can be the mistake?

enter image description here

user3624251
  • 131
  • 1
  • 5
  • 1
    When you shoot in burst mode, does it sound like it takes longer for the camera to take the first frame than each of the others? – Michael C Sep 24 '20 at 13:19
  • @MichaelC I don't think so. At least I could not here a big difference. The first picture is white, than cca three pictures are OK and then again comes the white one. – user3624251 Sep 24 '20 at 18:57
  • Have you tried resetting the camera to default settings (factory reset, or equivalent)? – xiota Sep 24 '20 at 19:26
  • @xiota I tried resetting, but it changed nothing. It still makes white photos. – user3624251 Sep 24 '20 at 21:05
  • 3
    @user3624251 It looks like an over-exposure problem. More info about the exact settings you've tried would be helpful: exposure compensation, ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. If all settings are correct, then you're looking at software or hardware. Software is usually adressed with factory reset and firmware updates. Hardware could be related to the lens, a flash unit, the shutter, the sensor, or something else. It's pretty time consuming to diagnose remotely. Consider having someone look at it in person. – xiota Sep 24 '20 at 21:29
  • While it may "only" have 13000 shots taken, it's still a 14-year old camera and I'd honestly wonder if there's simply an intermittent hardware fault - 14 years is not a bad innings for a system like this). Double check bracketing is turned on (don't assume reset will really reset everything). – StephenG - Help Ukraine Sep 24 '20 at 22:18
  • Look at the settings the camera is using-ISO, shutter speed, and f/stop. It sounds like you are way off, so are they close to what they ought to be? Compare with another camera in similar light. We have problems like this when people have set the camera to overexpose by several stops. Have you done that? – Ross Millikan Sep 25 '20 at 02:07
  • @RossMillikan I tried a lot of things as suggested above but usually I get only white pictures. But when I switched to burst mode and set the program "Sports", the first photo is white but then it can shoot like more than 10 normal photos. I don't know how much can a repair cost. – user3624251 Sep 25 '20 at 11:19
  • 1
    @user3624251 Any repair of a D50 is probably going to cost more than a D50 is worth. – Michael C Sep 25 '20 at 12:09
  • 3
    @RossMillikan If the OP is shooting in a full Auto mode like "Sports" then all of the frames in a burst should be relatively close to each other in terms of exposure. It sounds like the shutter is sticking open on the first frame, then operating properly on subsequent frames. – Michael C Sep 25 '20 at 12:11
  • How does the curtain look like? – Hermann Klecker Sep 28 '20 at 07:21
  • @HermannKlecker how can I check the curtain? – user3624251 Sep 28 '20 at 10:56

1 Answers1

5

It looks like the shutter is not functioning correctly. If the shutter gets stuck at some point while it is closing, you'll get some kind of image in the area of the sensor where the shutter was working properly, then white for the rest, with light spilling over into the darker area. That's exactly what your image looks like.

You need to send your Nikon in for repair, either to Nikon or a place that can service Nikons.

the_limey
  • 538
  • 2
  • 7