need help trouble shooting

[racedraper]

I was asked to help out a new model . But had troubles with my camera. The battery light kept on saying low but was not. the flash was flashing 4 to 5 times after I took the shot. no matter what I tried I can not get a sharp pics. the lens kept on focus and unfocused like it was searching . these are a few examples. I thinks its time for a upgrade. What do you think. I shoot with a D200 with a Sigma 24-70 2.8 lens with sb800 flash

[Greg McCary]

I would try a new battery first, if you haven't already. Bad batteries can make all kinds of things happen. Did you try any other lenses?

[racedraper]

I only tried the one lens. I had the vertical on it and took it off, then tried it that way. I put fresh batteries in the strobe but they kept going off by them selfs

[JTcooper]

I agree with Greg about the battery, plus try to look closely at those battery terminal too. It sometime got stain on it could be the problem.

PS: with a beautiful model and a mess up camera what a mess my friend:cryin:

[gahspidy]

Yep, agreed. I would replace the battery and clean the terminals in the camera and see what happens. Bad battery or connections will give you all kinds of crazy symptoms.

[fx101]

That has to be the battery... get a new one and see if that fixes it.

[racedraper]

Well I took your advise and cleaned the batteries , and yes they were blacked. I also bought a mono pod to help , thinking that my other problem was that I relied on the old lens which was a VR as my new sigma is not. I have a big shoot tomorrowand this will tell me if I fixed it or plan to buy the D300next month.

[fx101]

Trust me, that's not the camera. I have a D200 and at the ISO's you were shooting at performance should be near identical to the D300. FYI some third party lenses (especially Sigma VR lenses) have trouble metering with the D200. You may have this issue.

[racedraper]

well my camera kept screwing up on me. I would set the f stop to 2.8 get it dialed in perfect take two shots then my f stop would jump up to 4, 5.6 to 11 and when I try to bring in bad to 2.8 it would only go to 4.0 Im thinking the lens is the problem. I would try to just use the focus ring on manual I would get e EE code. so since the lens is only a month old I may just invest in a 70-200 nikon lens instead.

[fx101]

well my camera kept screwing up on me. I would set the f stop to 2.8 get it dialed in perfect take two shots then my f stop would jump up to 4, 5.6 to 11 and when I try to bring in bad to 2.8 it would only go to 4.0 Im thinking the lens is the problem. I would try to just use the focus ring on manual I would get e EE code. so since the lens is only a month old I may just invest in a 70-200 nikon lens instead.

If you're f-stop adjustment is acting up, I would think it's the lens. The 70-200 is a great lens- I love it. If you try out the new lens and you still have issues it'll be the camera I'm afraid.

[racedraper]

well ad me to your D.S:mad2: :mad2: . rankings.:blush2: I found out what the problem was. somehow my camera was o bracketing , this was why the F stops kept going up then down.

I fell so stupid now.:idea:

[another view]

All of those cool modes on cameras like the D200 can really help in some specific cases. However, I rarely use any of them - and I'd bet a lot of people are in the same boat.

One thing that really makes life easier is to "zero out" the camera before it goes back in the bag. Take it out of that mode (in this case auto bracketing) and set it up how you normally have it. For me, that means when I pull my D200 out it's in matrix metering, aperture priority, AF mode on "S", AF sensor in the middle, film advance on "S" (that's what we used to call it , rather than Cl or Ch). I just have to remember to practice what I preach...