Nikon D50 not taking pictures. :(

[Kermit]

My dad recently got a Rebel T5, after his D50 stopped taking pictures. 

 

I'm finally here to try and rejuvenate it with your help, if possible. (btw i've never worked with DLSRs, so bear with me)

 

Here's what happened when I picked it up:

 

1. Turned it on. (SD card was in and battery was half-charged)

2. Held down the picture-taking button halfway, and it focused. On the top display, it said ISO: r09 when i held it halfway, and ISO: 112 when no pressure was on it.

3. Took a picture, but could not get it to come up on the display (stayed black after trying to go into the picture menu. After the picture was taken, note that it also did not show up on the back display.)

4. Did not let me take any more pictures. This includes holding the button halfway and focusing. None of this worked, in addition ot the flash not popping up.

5. Took out SD card, plugged it into my Mac, and saw that the one picture I took was on there. I put the card back into the camera and I am now letting the battery charge to full. 

 

NOTE: It will not let me take pictures in Manual either, and will not let me into the D50 menu. The screen remains black.

 

What am I dealing with here? I can answer questions.

Thanks

-Kermit

[paprikman]

Any pre-story of the moment, when it stopped taking pictures?

Looks like some kind of 'firmware' failure.

[ALwin]

No clue, there can be many reasons why the camera may not work.

• camera doesn't support newer memory cards (SDXC)
• shutter is not working properly, entry level cameras like the D50 have shutters rated for around 50,000 - 100,000 actuations
• dead circuit board inside
• who knows, unless it is actually diagnosed.

r09 means that the camera's internal buffer is capable of storing 9 images before it must write the data onto the memory card

 

112 could be how many photos the camera has taken, are on the memory card, or how much space left on the memory card.

 

Cameras don't usually display error codes like computers when something goes wrong.  The only error code that I have seen on my various cameras is when I use an incompatible memory card that isn't supported.  And it just shows up as "err".

[Kermit]

Any pre-story of the moment, when it stopped taking pictures?

Looks like some kind of 'firmware' failure.

 

Stopped taking pictures around a year ago, and it hasn't been touched since. What do you mean by firmware failure?

[Kermit]

No clue, there can be many reasons why the camera may not work.

• camera doesn't support newer memory cards (SDXC)
• shutter is not working properly, entry level cameras like the D50 have shutters rated for around 50,000 - 100,000 actuations
• dead circuit board inside
• who knows, unless it is actually diagnosed.

r09 means that the camera's internal buffer is capable of storing 9 images before it must write the data onto the memory card

 

112 could be how many photos the camera has taken, are on the memory card, or how much space left on the memory card.

 

Cameras don't usually display error codes like computers when something goes wrong.  The only error code that I have seen on my various cameras is when I use an incompatible memory card that isn't supported.

 

Im using a Dane-Elec 512MB SDHC card.

[ALwin]

Stopped taking pictures around a year ago, and it hasn't been touched since. What do you mean by firmware failure?

 

Nothing, he's simply taking a wild guess.

[ALwin]

Im using a Dane-Elec 512MB SDHC card.

 

Hmm 512 MB... 112 may actually be the amount of images (are you shooting RAW or Jpeg) that will fit on the memory card.  Try testing it with another SDHC memory card if you have one.  I prefer using Sandisk or Lexar as they are very reliable and 99% of camera manufacturers support them.

 

Also, format the memory card in camera.  While I can use my computer to format the card to Fat32, I prefer in-camera formatting just to be on the safe side.

[SeanAngelo]

My dad recently got a Rebel T5, after his D50 stopped taking pictures. 

 

I'm finally here to try and rejuvenate it with your help, if possible. (btw i've never worked with DLSRs, so bear with me)

 

Here's what happened when I picked it up:

 

1. Turned it on. (SD card was in and battery was half-charged)

2. Held down the picture-taking button halfway, and it focused. On the top display, it said ISO: r09 when i held it halfway, and ISO: 112 when no pressure was on it.

3. Took a picture, but could not get it to come up on the display (stayed black after trying to go into the picture menu. After the picture was taken, note that it also did not show up on the back display.)

4. Did not let me take any more pictures. This includes holding the button halfway and focusing. None of this worked, in addition ot the flash not popping up.

5. Took out SD card, plugged it into my Mac, and saw that the one picture I took was on there. I put the card back into the camera and I am now letting the battery charge to full. 

 

NOTE: It will not let me take pictures in Manual either, and will not let me into the D50 menu. The screen remains black.

 

What am I dealing with here? I can answer questions.

Thanks

-Kermit

lcd could be dead. i suspect the sd card is fine since you can take a picture and view it on your mac.

 

its your lcd thats the problem i think

[ALwin]

lcd could be dead. i suspect the sd card is fine since you can take a picture and view it on your mac.

 

its your lcd thats the problem i think

 

If the LCD was dead, it would be easy to tell.  Just see if the camera menu can be displayed.

 

As for the pop-up flash not opening, that would be some sort of mechanical failure as Nikon on-camera flash opens even if the camera is turned off.  It's a spring loaded mechanical switch.

[paprikman]

Stopped taking pictures around a year ago, and it hasn't been touched since. What do you mean by firmware failure?

Like there is a software failure, not hadrware's.

Did you try another SD card?

I would also try taking a picture without stick and manualy via remote control.

Also, how many shots have you done with it? You can check it by opening properties of latest shot in IrfanView (you need some addon, just download all addons pack, it's not heavy).

[ALwin]

Like there is a software failure, not hadrware's.

Did you try another SD card?

I would also try taking a picture without stick and manualy via remote control.

Also, how many shots have you done with it? You can check it by opening properties of latest shot in IrfanView (you need some addon, just download all addons pack, it's not heavy).

 

Camera firmware is stored on a solid state chip, if there is a firmware failure it will happen during the upgrade process and not during usage.

 

@OP, take the camera to a camera store (I don't mean any electronics shop that sells cameras) and have someone look at it. But anyway, repair costs may amount to the same as buying a new entry level DSLR.

[.spider.]

Cameras don't usually display error codes like computers when something goes wrong.  The only error code that I have seen on my various cameras is when I use an incompatible memory card that isn't supported.

Error codes are very common

http://www.canon.co.uk/support/consumer_products/product_ranges/cameras/eos/error_codes/

[SeanAngelo]

If the LCD was dead, it would be easy to tell.  Just see if the camera menu can be displayed.

 

As for the pop-up flash not opening, that would be some sort of mechanical failure as Nikon on-camera flash opens even if the camera is turned off.  It's a spring loaded mechanical switch.

learn to read the damn topic. the picture cant be displayed on the lcd so it means he cant get the camera menu to come up either.

 

L2READ

[ALwin]

learn to read the damn topic. the picture cant be displayed on the lcd so it means he cant get the camera menu to come up either.

 

L2READ

 

Did I say that the LCD wasn't dead, I said it is an easy thing to test.  But actually it's not easy to test because the LCD could still be working properly and something else inside might not that affects even the display.

 

Learn to understand English.

 

Even if the LCD was dead, the camera can be capable of taking photos.  I once messed up on an IR modification of one of my old D90s, damaged the LCD display connector cable when putting it back together, yet I was able to still take photos.  However the OP isn't able to take any more photos after the first shot, so the LCD may still be working but something else inside might not that prevents the camera from taking photos and not displaying anything on the LCD.

 

This is why I don't make fucking guesses about what can be wrong, because there can be many factors involved.  The OP's camera is not in my hand for me to test, take it apart and diagnose problems.  The OP should take it to an NPS certified camera store, to at least get someone there to do some proper tests or send it back to Nikon to check.  However being a very old model, Nikon may not have the spare parts to repair it and the cost of repair may cost the same (or more) as buying a new camera.

[Kermit]

@SeanAngelo

@.spider.

@ALwin

 

I fixed it, just by switching from AE-lock to AF-lock, and changing the ISO to 1200 (nothing else worked)

 

After turning the camera on and off about 10 times, the ISO settings worked again, and everything is working fine

 

No mechanical failures,  but thanks for the replies!