Nikon D80 Shutter speed issue

[Ez2]

Hi

I have been using my Nikon D80 camera for quite some time now, and have had no real issues with it. However, recently I took it out to take some pictures at a family function only to find the shutter was really slow. I had a quick look at the settings, couldn't find anything out of place, but the problem persisted. I decided to look at it when I got home, rather than fiddle with the camera all night. I have been searching the internet but it seems no one has the same problem.

Here's my problem - one day, camera took photos fine in auto setting. Next, it decided to leave shutter open for longer, producing ridiculously blurry images. Here's what's tripping me up - it seems that the camera doesn't want to close the shutter unless some movement has occurred. That is to say, if I move the camera a bit while the shutter is open, it will close the shutter. The longer I stay still, the longer the shutter stays open. I have no idea what it's doing, especially because it was fine when I put it away and playing up when I pulled it out.

Another thing I have noticed is that jacking the ISO up decreases the shutter speed, but not enough to fix blurry images.

I'm not looking for a quick fix like controlling the shutter speed, I'm looking to get the camera back to the way it was - or curious if anyone else has heard of this problem, and why it's happening.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

[autofocus]

Have you tried a shot in manual mode where you set the shutter and aperture?...and if so, does the problem change?

[wulf]

What did the pictures with the slower shutter speed look like? Generally I'd expect them to be very overexposed as well as blurry from the movement. If they look reasonably exposed then one of the other parts of the "exposure triangle" (aperture and ISO) must have changed to compensate.

The fact that you have observed that you can adjust the shutter speed by adjusting the ISO, which doesn't tally with the observation that, once opened, the shutter only closes when you move, suggests to me that your problem might be in the category that is solved by understanding a little bit more about how your camera works rather than in the more expensive category that requires it to go to the repair bench.

Wulf

[Ez2]

When the camera is set with an ISO of 400 and aperture f3.5, the shutter speed automatically sets itself to around 1/30, and the photos it produces are still quite dark. The reason why I'm concerned is because it was fine with an ISO of 100 with auto aperture and shutter, producing pretty standard, clear photos. Now all of a sudden it seems to be struggling to get any light in... Have done a hard reset so all the settings are factory (which is basically what they were when it was producing decent photos) and still no difference. The only photos that aren't blurry or dark are ones taken outside on a sunny day - not even the flash seems to be bright enough (Also, flash doesn't work as much as it used to - as in, basically only works in pitch black situations as against poor lighting)... Any suggestions?

[autofocus]

is it possible that you inadvertently bumped your EV compensation down?

[Ez2]

I was thinking I may have fiddled with a setting like that, hence the hard reset, but that doesn't (seem to) affect aperture and shutter speed... Basically indoors the camera tries to use shutter speeds of 1/2 where it used to use 1/50, while the aperture and ISO settings are similar to what they were when it produced good photos. As a result, either blurry or dim photos. Is it possible a hardware issue could be the problem?
I was having a play with the flash as well - had the camera in auto mode with factory defaults, flash in auto mode, took a photo in a pitch black cupboard... The flash didn't go off, instead it automatically set for slow shutter etc. Upgraded firmware as well - no difference. Really frustrated lol, can't even seem to trick the camera into taking a good photo

[Aegea]

What mode are you shooting? As Autofocus says, try manual.

[Ez2]

This photo was taken with Hi-1 ISO (apparently 6400), f/3.5 and 1/10sec exposure.
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This photo was taken in auto mode after hard reset. Camera chose ISO 400, f/3.5 and 1/1.6sec exposure.
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These photos were taken less than 10 mins apart in the same well lit room with auto aperture and exposure, with ISO 100

http://i39.tinypic.com/nlzifq.jpg
http://i40.tinypic.com/124hfdf.jpg

As you can see, one is clear while the other one is incrediably blurry.
For the clear photo the camera used f/4.8 and exp 1/60s
For the blurry one it used f/3.5 and 1/2s exposure.

The difference? Less than 10 mins. No fiddling with settings or anything, very similar lighting situation, all auto - and the result varies incredibly. This is why I think it's a hardware issue, but does anyone know of any part that could cause this to happen?

[OsmosisStudios]

Image 1 is warm (white balance), but is otherwise okay. There's some motion blur, but it's not too bad.
Image 2 is cool (white balance), but is also suffering from motion blur. That's because nobody can hand-hold 1/1.6th of a second. There's the problem. You're going from 6400 to 400 ISO: thats 4 stops. So the camera went from 1/10th to 1/1.6, which is about right.

Image 3 and Image 4 are totally different: Image 3 has a flash, so you can't even compare the two. That said, again, the blurry one (image 4) has a shutter speed of 1/2s, which is just silly slow.

[Ez2]

I set the one that is in focus, camera chose the ridiculous settings. That's the problem. I have to adjust in extreme levels to take a picture that is, in my opinion, comparable to a 5 year old camera phone. The problem is that it struggles to do anything under artificial lighting. Flash won't work and auto focus fails half the time (won't find focus, thus won't let me take picture).

Basically, outside auto settings work correctly, as in chooses decent ISO/aperture/shutter speed are logical and photo looks good. It can get ISO 100, f/5.6 and shutter speed of 1/125s which produces a clear picture (I found some pictures that were taken outside over winter before the problem started, where camera used ISO 100, f/5.6 and 1/1250s - images were more or less just as clear).

Bring it inside, and even if the room is decently lit it just automatically sets silly numbers.

Image 3 and 4 were chosen because that's when the problem started. It went from taking photos with flash and proper ISO/aperture/shutter speeds to image 4 in less than 10 mins - same room, same lighting, same camera, same settings (Auto).


I accept that I can compensate for the camera's poor auto settings, but I am more concerned about the fact it was able to select good settings, and then just went bad. And that's why it's frustrating - it just happened. I am 95% sure it's hardware - really the only variable in the equation that I haven't tackled yet... Plus I found this lol, which seems to show similar problems - Nikon D80 Flash wont fire - Photo.net Nikon Forum

If anyone else has a similar problem, will post after I get it looked at, see if the problem is solved. Don't see it happening anytime soon though.