Hi to everyone. We are 5 weeks into our 7 week trek to Africa and it's been fabulous. Everything has worked perfectly - til now.
Have the D800 with 500mm attached. Viewfinder is so dark you can barely see thru it. (No, the cover is not closed!) R13 error message when shutter pressed, although it will release. all other lenses work fine.
Have cleaned all contacts, re-charged batteries, all connections ok.
I don't find anything in the manual about a r-13 error message.
We're in the Namib desert for 2 days, but then back to the Kagalagadi for more animals and the 500 will be critical.
Anyone have any ideas? I have also emailed the Nikon professional people.
I Don't have either the D800 or the 500mm but I think the R13 message on your display may mean the remaining shots left in your D800's buffer. On my D700 if I hold down the shutter I get R09.
Sandy, I found this read on the internet that might be an item with the D800.
I just finished a photo safari, two folk in the group had Nikon D800 bodies. We noticed that one was hitting the buffer more often than the other when we were photographing action sequences, so I put the two together to see where the difference was coming from. One camera was showing a raw buffer of 16, whilst the other was only 13 images.
Both cameras were shooting raw only, and all high-iso noise reduction, in camera noise reduction, was all switched off or disabled to max out speed. We found the difference in Auto-Iso, with the camera in either Aperture or Shutter priority, setting it to Auto-Iso lowered the buffer size to 13, going to user selected Iso settings brought the buffer size back to 16.
We also found that the camera seemed to clear its buffer quicker with a 90mb/s Sandisk CF card as opposed to a Sandisk 90mb/s SD card...
Any shooters using D800s for action shooting might find this useful.
thanks for the ideas - now that I look,the sick D800 says r-13. The other non-sick one says r-14 and works fine.
Don't understand about the buffer stuff, though - have been shooting heavily,(10,000 shots probably) but writing the images fine. using professional Lexar 1000x cards with fast write speeds.
How does the buffer have anything to do with a dark viewfinder?
Is the viewfinder dark with every lens? Wondering if the aperture blades on the lens are stuck in a stopped down position causing the dark viewfinder??
now that I look,the sick D800 says r-13. The other non-sick one says r-14 and works fine.
Sandy, check the settings between the two cameras. Sounds like one has an item turned on or off that the other does not. If the r14 one is working fine, set the r13 the same way maybe.
AUTO ISO......according to my previous post as a possible?
You should be able to look thru the 500 (with it OFF the camera) and see if the aperture blades are indeed not wide open. If they are not, it could be mechanical, or it could be electrical. It does sound like it is a lens issue, rather than a camera body issue.
Sandy, does the 500 work OK on the good camera? If so, and all other lenses work on both cameras then possibly a contact on the 500 is not linking on the r13 unit for a reason?
Again, verify settings between the two first. Also, change memory card too just as another item to try.
I'm afraid the other rproblem I'm having is that my second D800 has an 80-400 lens stuck on it. That camera\lens works fine, but can't get the lens off to try the 500 on it. I'm afraid to force it and possibly have NO working lenses.
argh.
Sandy, I misunderstood. I thought you tried the 500 on the other camera and it worked OK there. If that is not the case then the lens sounds more like an issue as Keith points out.
Is there anyone out there on the safari that has a Nikon product to try the 500 on? At this point it sounds more like a lens issue.
Sorry to hear about your gear problems on such a trip. Since I have none of the items you mention (D800, 500mm, 80-400mm) I'll just give some general suggestions.
1. I think you've got a bent mechanical connection somewhere that is interfering with the diaphragm (f-stop) between the 500 and the D00 body. Since the 80-400 is stuck on the second D800 I suspect that is related - at some point one of these lenses got whacked by the lens mount and when it was mounted on a body it bent something else. One injured lens may have caused additional injury to one of both camera bodies.
2. I would not try to separate the 80-400 from its D800 body as there is no guarantee that you could get anything back to gather in a working combination.
3. I would be very careful in trying to mount the 500 on anyone else's Nikon body at this point as it could get stuck or could damage the other body!
4. Confirm that the diaphragm on the 500 opens and closes easily. If it is not a "G" lens you can open and close the aperture with the ring at the mount end of the lens. Typically the lens is set to minimum aperture and locked there with the small slider. Check that the lens is set to the minimum aperture with the slider locked and look through the lens for m the rear. You should see that the aperture blade are almost completely close. Still looking from the back find the small lever that opens and closes the blades and move it with your fingertip. It should move freely against spring pressure and open the blade so you can look through the lens at maximum aperture. If this doesn't move freely then the lens needs repair.
5. Now examine the D800 with no lens attached. Switch it on and push on the Depth of Field Preview button (between the lens mount and hand grip. You should see a small lever move down when you press, and return up when you stop pressing the DOF button. This is what works the matching lever on the back of the lens.
6. If these two levers don't align correctly then the lens might stay at minimum aperture and you'll see a dark viewfinder. The same two levers on the 80-400/D800 combo may be bent as well and causing them to stick together.
One more thought. What about your TC14E (I assume you've got one to use on the 500). If so, is there any difference in how the 500 behaves with and without the TC14E mounted between lens and body? There's a mechanical coupling in the TC14E that transmits the aperture position and instruction to close to shooting aperture - it is the same lever you see on the back of the lens, en it isn't mounted. Looking at it from the lens end you should see two small Philips screws.
I'm afraid our safari is on our own - Jim has been to Africa so many times, we designed our own itinerary - so no one else to ask. I have been looking desperately for anyone else with either a 500mm or a D800 and no luck so far!
I believe Richard is correct.Something is bent and not making a connection. the damn 'roads" here are so terrible that I'm bouncing off my truck seat 4 inches every 15 seconds and even regularly hitting my head on the roof with unsuspected potholes. I'm actually surprised anything works at this point. The Nikon people have been minimally helpful about suggesting re-setting Custom banks and such, but i think I'm screwed.
I don't use a TC on the D800 - several people have found that the image quality deteriorates. It's probably that, with 38 mp, every movement is magnified, resulting in softer images.
THANKS everyone for all the good suggestions! I'm amazed at the time people took, especially Patrick, to try to help out. you guys are the BEST.
Probably no more net connections til we are home June9.
OUTCOME:
As soon as we were home and reasonably recovered, I took the camera with the 80-400 stuck on it, and the non-functional 500 in to Precision Camera Repair in Sacramento. I have used them before and am very pleased with their work and customer service. Neither they nor the Nikon consultants had heard of a lens getting stuck on a camera. Turns out the "bayonet" part was bent and would not release. They had to take the whole front of the D800 off , and replace it, to get the lens off.
As far as the 500, the aperture blades were stuck closed , probably from the combination of my zapping it (and me) on a unmarked electric fence plus all the ridiculous jiggling and jostling from the horrible roads.
I was very happy that all this, plus cleanings, cost only $1100. I was expecting twice that or more.
A sincere thanks again to everyone who helped. I'm thankful the 500 crashed near the END of our 7 weeks, rather than at the beginning. It was an amazing but grueling trip that I'd do again in a second (with a few modifications).
Discussion
17 repliesHave the D800 with 500mm attached. Viewfinder is so dark you can barely see thru it. (No, the cover is not closed!) R13 error message when shutter pressed, although it will release. all other lenses work fine.
Have cleaned all contacts, re-charged batteries, all connections ok.
I don't find anything in the manual about a r-13 error message.
We're in the Namib desert for 2 days, but then back to the Kagalagadi for more animals and the 500 will be critical.
Anyone have any ideas? I have also emailed the Nikon professional people.
Thanks for any ideas!
Sandy
Namibia
I Don't have either the D800 or the 500mm but I think the R13 message on your display may mean the remaining shots left in your D800's buffer. On my D700 if I hold down the shutter I get R09.
Can't help with the dark viewfinder, sorry.
Good luck, Gary.
I just finished a photo safari, two folk in the group had Nikon D800 bodies. We noticed that one was hitting the buffer more often than the other when we were photographing action sequences, so I put the two together to see where the difference was coming from. One camera was showing a raw buffer of 16, whilst the other was only 13 images.
Both cameras were shooting raw only, and all high-iso noise reduction, in camera noise reduction, was all switched off or disabled to max out speed. We found the difference in Auto-Iso, with the camera in either Aperture or Shutter priority, setting it to Auto-Iso lowered the buffer size to 13, going to user selected Iso settings brought the buffer size back to 16.
We also found that the camera seemed to clear its buffer quicker with a 90mb/s Sandisk CF card as opposed to a Sandisk 90mb/s SD card...
Any shooters using D800s for action shooting might find this useful.
Don't understand about the buffer stuff, though - have been shooting heavily,(10,000 shots probably) but writing the images fine. using professional Lexar 1000x cards with fast write speeds.
How does the buffer have anything to do with a dark viewfinder?
Sandy
S
Sandy, check the settings between the two cameras. Sounds like one has an item turned on or off that the other does not. If the r14 one is working fine, set the r13 the same way maybe.
AUTO ISO......according to my previous post as a possible?
Again, verify settings between the two first. Also, change memory card too just as another item to try.
S
argh.
Sandy
Is there anyone out there on the safari that has a Nikon product to try the 500 on? At this point it sounds more like a lens issue.
1. I think you've got a bent mechanical connection somewhere that is interfering with the diaphragm (f-stop) between the 500 and the D00 body. Since the 80-400 is stuck on the second D800 I suspect that is related - at some point one of these lenses got whacked by the lens mount and when it was mounted on a body it bent something else. One injured lens may have caused additional injury to one of both camera bodies.
2. I would not try to separate the 80-400 from its D800 body as there is no guarantee that you could get anything back to gather in a working combination.
3. I would be very careful in trying to mount the 500 on anyone else's Nikon body at this point as it could get stuck or could damage the other body!
4. Confirm that the diaphragm on the 500 opens and closes easily. If it is not a "G" lens you can open and close the aperture with the ring at the mount end of the lens. Typically the lens is set to minimum aperture and locked there with the small slider. Check that the lens is set to the minimum aperture with the slider locked and look through the lens for m the rear. You should see that the aperture blade are almost completely close. Still looking from the back find the small lever that opens and closes the blades and move it with your fingertip. It should move freely against spring pressure and open the blade so you can look through the lens at maximum aperture. If this doesn't move freely then the lens needs repair.
5. Now examine the D800 with no lens attached. Switch it on and push on the Depth of Field Preview button (between the lens mount and hand grip. You should see a small lever move down when you press, and return up when you stop pressing the DOF button. This is what works the matching lever on the back of the lens.
6. If these two levers don't align correctly then the lens might stay at minimum aperture and you'll see a dark viewfinder. The same two levers on the 80-400/D800 combo may be bent as well and causing them to stick together.
I believe Richard is correct.Something is bent and not making a connection. the damn 'roads" here are so terrible that I'm bouncing off my truck seat 4 inches every 15 seconds and even regularly hitting my head on the roof with unsuspected potholes. I'm actually surprised anything works at this point. The Nikon people have been minimally helpful about suggesting re-setting Custom banks and such, but i think I'm screwed.
I don't use a TC on the D800 - several people have found that the image quality deteriorates. It's probably that, with 38 mp, every movement is magnified, resulting in softer images.
THANKS everyone for all the good suggestions! I'm amazed at the time people took, especially Patrick, to try to help out. you guys are the BEST.
Probably no more net connections til we are home June9.
Sandy
As soon as we were home and reasonably recovered, I took the camera with the 80-400 stuck on it, and the non-functional 500 in to Precision Camera Repair in Sacramento. I have used them before and am very pleased with their work and customer service. Neither they nor the Nikon consultants had heard of a lens getting stuck on a camera. Turns out the "bayonet" part was bent and would not release. They had to take the whole front of the D800 off , and replace it, to get the lens off.
As far as the 500, the aperture blades were stuck closed , probably from the combination of my zapping it (and me) on a unmarked electric fence plus all the ridiculous jiggling and jostling from the horrible roads.
I was very happy that all this, plus cleanings, cost only $1100. I was expecting twice that or more.
A sincere thanks again to everyone who helped. I'm thankful the 500 crashed near the END of our 7 weeks, rather than at the beginning. It was an amazing but grueling trip that I'd do again in a second (with a few modifications).
Sandy