New D4 issues ...or not?

geogre

since last week i have a brand new D4... so my waiting for the D700 replacement has finally ended. although it was not an easy decision, i really love the new camera!!

but i'm (at least) surprised by 3 things, maybe other D4 owners could say something about them? that would be very nice.

1. while testing and getting used to the camera i accidentally discovered that it already had lots of dust on the sensor. that are very small particles and 90% of them appear to be on the upper side of the image, more to the left. we're talking about 50-100 tiny spots, that is more than my D700 has, that has been used for 2 years without a single sensor clean until now. so you can see it was not me (i'm very careful usually) and the cam was really brand new (with shutter count 1 on my first pic). i have read lots about this but only about the D600... where did that dust (or whatever) came from? could it be normal? i mean my D700 only has 3 or 4 visible spots that are not bothering me much after 2 years....

2. sometimes i have noticed a strange behaviour in playback mode, the camera seems to freeze somehow when reviewing images and i cannot change the image, the information or zoom in or out. usually after a few seconds it works again, sometimes only one zoom step and the the camera needs again time to think (or whatever). and once it seems to have changed the function exposure correction that i have set to the function button to bracketing although in the menu it was still set to correction in the menu. also, i've noticed that the flash correction was turned on to -0,7 without me having used that function... the function button was back to normal after turning the camera off and the on again, but i had to reset the flas correction back to 0 manually. by the way, my D700 does the exact same thing when reviewing images, that it needs sometimes time to think or whatever and just locks up. sometimes it can very annoying but i somehow got used to it. i was just really surprised to find a new 6000$ camera do the same thing... anybody else has that behaviour?

3. not so important, but still wondering.... the lower horizontal grid line is divided vertically in 4 pieces. on my camera, the right of these 4 has a very tiny little gap in the middle that is also visible as a little spot when the camera is set to DX mode. is that normal? do your cameras also have that?

thank you very much for your thoughts and information about these things that i noticed in the last week

geogre

oh... one more thing: my D700 came with a nice protection for the screen. i almost couldn't believe it, but the D4 did not. does anybody know why??? or where i could buy one? thanks

Golf007sd

@geogre: Congratulations on your new purchase and welcome to the D4 family.

1) The D4 does not have any of the D600 dust issues what so ever. I have a feeling that some thing else caused those dust spots to get on your sensor. Perhaps it got on there during the lens installation. If you are familiar with the process of cleaning a sensor, then do it...if not have it done by the someone who does or take it where you purchased it from.

2) Have never had an issue with the playback mode. Has worked perfectly from day one without any delay. Please make sure you have the latest firmware for the D4, and format your memory card on the D4 and see if these step take care of these issues for you.

3) I will assume you have the Viewfinder Grid Display turned on (hence d6). Are you seeing this threw the viewfinder?

4) The LCD display on the back is very resistant. However, if you looking at something to protect it with, this is a good solution to go with: GGS LCD Screen Protector glass for NIKON D4.

geogre

thank you for the quick answer

1) that's what i hope, too. that it maybe was just bad luck. i'm just scared that it is something like in the 600... i'll take it back to the shop and ask them to clean it, because i have never done it before (my d700 simply doesn't need it), that's why i think it has nothing to do with lens installation because i've done that hundrets of times on my d700. i simply would like the same performance as on the 700 and not having to clean (or let sb clean) every few 100 shots...

2) i'll try with a freshly formatted card again, but i suspect that doesn't change anything. i always have "lights" turned on as on my d700, and just randomly every 1 in 40 or 50 or 100 shots the camera pauses for seconds (?) when trying to zoom or switch to the next image or so. pressing the shutter release and thus ending the playback and entering playback again most of the times (but not always) solves the 'problem'. it's just a bit nasty...

3) yes, the grid in the viewfinder is turned on, and just that line segment (the lower right one) has a very small gap where you can look through. it's not much wider than the line is thick and it's exactly in the middle of that right segment. (not the part that is even more right past the right vertical line).

4) i'll have a look at that, but good to know the display is very resistant anyway...

thanks, so far.

PB_PM

Frankly if I bought a new camera body and basic things like the LCD grid lines didn't work properly, I'd take it back and exchange it for another one.

Golf007sd

@geogre: I'm sure that the camera shop will clean your sensor and give it right back to you in no time. In fact, they should be about do it within a few minutes. The process is not that long. Maybe have then look at the D700 and see if it too needs a little TLC. In fact, I would recommend a good sensor cleaning at least once a year if you have been using the body pro-activily.

Are you using an XQD memory card or one of your previously owned CF card? If you have not purchased an XQD card...get one; moreover, get the S-Series.

While at the shop, show the main Nikon Rep...hence, someone who knows his stuff, to see what you are talking about regarding the grid-lines in DX mode. I'm still unable able to see what you are seeing. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

Lastly, PB_PM is on the ball, if you have any "bad gut" feeling, have then get you a new one, open it up and inspect it right there on the spot and have then exchange it if all is good. If they will not and you still are not comfortable. Return it and get it from a company that will value your business. Don't still for anything you don't feel happy about...regardless of the cost in getting the equipment.

Keep us posted....cheers.

Elvishefer

I'm with PB_PM... if there is doubt with a new body of any kind, try another one.

Also, check to make sure the firmware is current. It's possible your new camera isn't new.

spraynpray

Yup, that isn't a 10 cent camera, it should work. Have you tried a reset?

geogre

thanks for your thoughts! since it's a one hour drive for me to the shop i'll only be able to go there next week, so i really appreciate 'talking' to you guys

don't get me wrong, i LOVE this camera, everything - especially the images of course (except for the dustspots) - is amazingly perfect. even the grid display 'works', i just wanted to know if this little tiny gap in the line is 'normal', if it's there in any D4 ?? i have taken a picture of it, but i couldn't figure out by now how to upload it here. i can only describe it. i mean the horizontal line that also marks the lower edge of the DX frame. it is divided into 4. the right of these four has a small part of the line missing exactly in the middle (in FX) in DX, there is kind of a tiny bright spot in the same place.

i'm sorry, but my 'guts' are just not used to spending that much money...

at least, i have found out one thing. you are going to laugh, but that's ok. i was wondering about some functions that did change 4 or 5 times without any reason? it was like 3 times that the flash compensation was turned on, an one time that bracketing was on without me having selected it.
i remembered that my D700 did the same thing, but only with the white balance changing from one moment to the next without the light changing at all, and one time the quality changed from RAW to TIFF (and i noticed it after 100 shots, being quite angry about it).
yesterday, i saw the pattern... it must have been me; all these functions are located where part of my left hand is when shooting in vertical mode, the flash on the D4 and the WB on the D700 being even a bit closer to the hand than the Bracketing on the D4 and the Qual on the D700. so, it was me. sorry i don't know how i did it, it may even have been having a part of the strap between hand and camera or whatever, but it's the only logical explanation. i bet there is nothing wrong on that part with the camera )

since i posted this, i used a different CF-card, freshly formatted and could not at all redo this pausing behaviour in playback mode. since also the D700 does this in the exact same way... could it be one of my cards?? somehow i think it can not be the D4, because it otherwise works flawlessly and i cannot reproduce the behaviour, even not with the previous card back in... strange. @golf007sd: no i have not bought any XQDs (being shocked a little by the price...). is there any other advantage than being able to shoot even longer bursts at 10 f/s?

so the only things that are left are...

- the dust, more than 100 spots in the upper left quadrant. that is really nasty and unexpected in a new and expensive camera, but if they get it cleaned and it doesn't come back, that's fine for me.
- the question about this tiny break in the grid-line
- maybe (?) these lags sometimes (don't know how often and when) when reviewing images (maybe a card thing?)
- another thing i noticed: i'm used to shooting a D700 with an EN EL 4a. 1000 images are no problem and i'm used to not even be thinking about the battery. with the D4 i have shot 900 frames so far, and my 3rd (!!!) battery is just getting empty. sure, i'm playing around using the screen and checking functions a lot more, trying live-view (never used it on the 700) and filming and stuff. but after EVERYTHING has gotten better on the D4 compared to the D700, it seems like the battery has defenitly not...

geogre

oh, i forgot: @elvishefer: i checked the firmware, and it seems to be current (1.05, 1.03, 1.006), so it is a new camera.

Msmoto

My D4 accumulated about 70 spots in 10,000 clicks...easily removed with the Peter Gregg method. Image review when shooting in camera HDR or RAW can sometimes be slow. Dust sometimes will show up on the prism view, but this was removed by a simply blowing of air.

And, if you look at some of the other threads, you will see some of us press the buttons when we do not intend to....like me....LOL

I am surprised that your new camera has dust. Was it completely fresh out of the box? Check the image number and make certain.

geogre

i have just ordered a rocket blower to try what that can do, i never had any cleaning tools until now. from all the test shots i made i found only one that was about shot #100 that was made with the 105/2,8 on f16. so it should also show the dust spots at least a bit. but i cannot see them at all. since i deleted most of the other test images and most of the ones i kept were shot wide open (no visible dust there), it seems like the spots were not there from the beginning. but i cannot at all imagine what could have happened! i have changed lenses on my d700 hundreds of times and the d700 has A LOT fewer spots. the d4 has them all cumulated in the upper left quadrant. and as you can imagine i was more than careful and fast with changing lenses... i have also ordered a lens with led's to inspect the sensor. only with my eyes i can see nothing at all. anyway, @msmoto: yes, i checked that, my first pic was dsc_001 with shutter count 1 in exif.

since i'm shooting raw only and i'm using 60mb/s sandisk cf-cards, the sometimes (very rare) slow behaviour could have something to do with that?

could anybody who has a d4 please look at the lower horizontal grid line and could you look for that tiny little gap in the middle of the right of the 4 segments of that line? does anybody has this too? could it be that theres some small whatever (?) running through that line to make the focus fields flash red if needed? i have no idea how the viewfinder display works at all... thanks for any feedback on this

geogre

i have taken a picture of what i mean (that's pretty bad quality, but one can see what i'm talking about), but it does not seem possible to upload it here directly. i can only include a link to an image, right? don't know where else i could upload the pictures...

geogre

oops. i accidentally clicked on accept beside your answer and now the thread is marked as accepted. i only did it because the website always displayed a little "click on accept or reject" window.... anyway - still hoping for others to look for this little gap.....????

Benji2505

All I can tell you is to send it to Nikon Service and have them take care of it. I just got mine back and it took less than 1 week, shipping included. The missing pixel on your viewfinder screen is probably a production issue with the viewfinder screen - overall it is not war decisive but I can feel the pain with a new camera. The power consumption seems little high, but it probably depends on how many entertainment features you have turned on. I get about 2,000 shots out of one charge.

geogre

thanks for your feedback! you are right, the little gap is not war decisive at all, but since this is my first camera in this price range i may be a bit oversensitive.... i'll bring it to the shop and have them have a look at the camera and see if they just clean it or send it to nikon or whatever. unfortunately i clicked on 'answer accepted' a bit above, so this thread is marked as answered and maybe nobody reads it... so i'm going to post the question about the gridline once more. i'm still hoping it may be normal?!

Benji2505

send it to Nikon and tell them to exchange the viewfinder glass and then have them clean the whole shutterbox. It will be for free. A new camera in that price range should be flawless.