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H3D quirks

jlm

Workshop Member
shooting art work on the wall, manual focus, manual exposure, synch cord to stobes

on a couple of occasions, I have had the camera stall with a "not ready" message or a "busy" message on the grip screen. can't take a shot. had to re-boot by removing battery, which had full charge, btw.
also, trying to use the focus indicators doesn't always work, in that both arrows will light but i am clearly out of focus. I hold a piece of newsprint centered on the painting for proper contrast
any ideas? camera has latest firmware

thanks
 

fotografz

Well-known member
shooting art work on the wall, manual focus, manual exposure, synch cord to stobes

on a couple of occasions, I have had the camera stall with a "not ready" message or a "busy" message on the grip screen. can't take a shot. had to re-boot by removing battery, which had full charge, btw.
also, trying to use the focus indicators doesn't always work, in that both arrows will light but i am clearly out of focus. I hold a piece of newsprint centered on the painting for proper contrast
any ideas? camera has latest firmware

thanks
Tethered capture? If so, tethered to what computer?

When shooting tethered the biggest fault is usually with the FW feed cord so it's the first place to look. I rolled my chair over one and the camera started some intermittent shenanigans. New cord, and all was well.

Second can be using the front FW port on a desktop computer ... which can get jinky ... use the rear one.

Third can be a faulty FW port on the camera. Check closely if it is loose.

What I've also found is that all of the backs I've used are power sensitive. A huge drain on an inadequate power source can cause hiccups.

If not tethered, how fast are you shooting and to what card?

Check the battery level while the camera is on. If it reads low even though you may have charged it a long time, try resetting the battery grip gauge.

Focus: are the two arrows lighting up and flashing? Or do they light up steady? If flashing it means they can't achieve focus ... to close, or not able to determine focus.

Clean all the gold contacts on the back, camera and lens with a cloth ... check if one or more of them are not level with the others ... which would require a repair.

-Marc
 

jlm

Workshop Member
thanks marc;
not tethered and not shooting fast
4 gig Sandisc extreme 4

indicators were not flashing, focus is usually me ;(

will clean all contacts

will have a look at re-setting the battery grip gauge...not sure what that means
 

fotografz

Well-known member
thanks marc;
not tethered and not shooting fast
4 gig Sandisc extreme 4

indicators were not flashing, focus is usually me ;(

will clean all contacts

will have a look at re-setting the battery grip gauge...not sure what that means
This has happened to me a couple of times, mostly with the H3D. Don't know if this will solve your issue, but it is good info anyway:

1. Upgrade the camera to latest firmware ... if it's done already then ...
2. Charge the battery to full capacity (charge between 6-12 hours, ignore the early flashing light of the charger)
3. Without attaching the fully charged battery, press the red ON/OFF button on the camera (to totally discharge all voltage in the camera).
4. While pressing the "Menu" and the "Flash" button at the same time, attach the battery to the camera. If you hear a beeping sound, the re-programming of the battery is successful, otherwise repeat steps 3-4 until the sound is heard.
5. Camera and battery are now in sync and ready for use.

-Marc
 

jlm

Workshop Member
tried that with no beeps heard...
battery charged overnight
with no bt in camera, pressed red camera button, held it down for a few seconds
pressed flash and menu while attaching battery
nothing heard, turned on camera, all seems OK

tried this several times
 

P. Chong

Well-known member
This sometimes happens to my H3d too...in fact everytime the battery is removed to be charged. When returned to the camera, the first time almost never powers up...remove battery, reinstall...and almost always it powers up properly. Strange.
 

fotografz

Well-known member
tried that with no beeps heard...
battery charged overnight
with no bt in camera, pressed red camera button, held it down for a few seconds
pressed flash and menu while attaching battery
nothing heard, turned on camera, all seems OK

tried this several times
Hmmm, I just checked my H4D/40 with the battery gauge sync that was already accurate, and it still rapidly beeped signifying it still reset it to 100% even though it was already right.

The only time I ever had it not beep was when the grip battery was dying (causing hiccups while shooting) ... and it did die completely not to long afterwards.

Do you have a second grip battery? Try the same reset if you, do and see if it beeps.

-Marc
 

jlm

Workshop Member
i have an old battery and a new one, but mixed them up when testing, so I don't know which one was charged overnight and used for the test (I did try to test the second battery. but while charged up, it was not fully charged.) overnight I will charge the new one and re-try
 

fotografz

Well-known member
i have an old battery and a new one, but mixed them up when testing, so I don't know which one was charged overnight and used for the test (I did try to test the second battery. but while charged up, it was not fully charged.) overnight I will charge the new one and re-try
I know the problem ... did the same thing and couldn't figure out which was which.

If one beeps and the other doesn't, put a little x on the base and see if it's the one mounted when the camera acts up.

Still don't know it that was the source of the hiccups you experienced, but I suspect it may be.

-Marc
 
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