What should I look for?

[Mikeyb90]

I have a used camera being delivered today (d7100). What should I look for to make sure everything works correctly? I am able to return it within 2 weeks so I want to make sure I check everything I can before that.
Thanks!

 

[tirediron]

Read the instruction manual so that you know how to change: shutter speed; aperture; ISO; exposure-mode; focus mode; metering mode and frame-rate. Ensure that the camera will produce correctly exposed images with various combinations and changes to all of those. Make sure the camera is clean (primarily inside; the mirror chamber, viewfinder, etc) and that all of the controls "feel" right. Chances are, if it powers up and takes a shot in 'Auto' it's good, but I would spend a couple of hours learning and testing to be doubly sure.

 

[Solarflare]

Unfortunately a camera is a very complex tool.

Unfortunately theres a good chance something is wrong with the camera and you'll miss it.

For example the D750 was around for a long time and only now Nikon has announced that HSS(*) doesnt work with some of them. Fortunately my own D750 wasnt affected. A camera without HSS isnt really my cup of tea, thats absolutely a musthave feature for me, thats one of the reasons why my first DSLR, a D5100, was quickly replaced.


(*) HSS = High Speed Sync, the ability to shoot shutter speeds above the flash sync speed.

The issue is for flash to work traditionally, the whole sensor has to be completely unblocked for exposure, otherwise parts of the picture wouldnt be exposed to the flash and parts of the picture would thus be dark. This only happends up to a certain shutter speed - the flash sync speed, typically something like 1/250 sec, for a socalled focal plane shutter that has an opening and a closing curtain.

For faster shutter speeds, the opening curtain is still moving while the closing curtain is already closing, resulting in an increasingly smaller slit of light traveling over the sensor. The solution is to have HSS - the flash no longer flashes once, but flashes light at a high frequency, typically 50 kHz, during the whole time of the opening and closing curtains are moving.

Compact cameras and medium format cameras often have a central shutter instead of a focal plane shutter. This shutter is placed at the aperture, the smallest part of the light path. This means ALL shutter speeds will have a point at which the sensor is fully exposed to the light and HSS is not necessary. The disadvantage is the lens is more complex, since it also contains a shutter mechanism, the lens is useless once the shutter breaks (optics basically doesnt age, but the shutter does), and the shutter speeds reachable are not as high. For lenses which cannot be changed these disadvantages do not matter, and for medium (and large) format focal plane shutters are getting increasingly cumbersome.

.... ooops, that was a lot of text for a small explanation ...

 

[Mikeyb90]

Read the instruction manual so that you know how to change: shutter speed; aperture; ISO; exposure-mode; focus mode; metering mode and frame-rate. Ensure that the camera will produce correctly exposed images with various combinations and changes to all of those. Make sure the camera is clean (primarily inside; the mirror chamber, viewfinder, etc) and that all of the controls "feel" right. Chances are, if it powers up and takes a shot in 'Auto' it's good, but I would spend a couple of hours learning and testing to be doubly sure.

Thank you! I figured it would be an either it works or it doesn't sort of thing. When I bought my d40x everything seemed fine until I took LE shots with a wider DOF and it had burnt pixels all over the place.

 

[Mikeyb90]

Unfortunately a camera is a very complex tool.

Unfortunately theres a good chance something is wrong with the camera and you'll miss it.

For example the D750 was around for a long time and only now Nikon has announced that HSS(*) doesnt work with some of them. Fortunately my own D750 wasnt affected. A camera without HSS isnt really my cup of tea, thats absolutely a musthave feature for me, thats one of the reasons why my first DSLR, a D5100, was quickly replaced.


(*) HSS = High Speed Sync, the ability to shoot shutter speeds above the flash sync speed.

The issue is for flash to work traditionally, the whole sensor has to be completely unblocked for exposure, otherwise parts of the picture wouldnt be exposed to the flash and parts of the picture would thus be dark. This only happends up to a certain shutter speed - the flash sync speed, typically something like 1/250 sec, for a socalled focal plane shutter that has an opening and a closing curtain.

For faster shutter speeds, the opening curtain is still moving while the closing curtain is already closing, resulting in an increasingly smaller slit of light traveling over the sensor. The solution is to have HSS - the flash no longer flashes once, but flashes light at a high frequency, typically 50 kHz, during the whole time of the opening and closing curtains are moving.

Compact cameras and medium format cameras often have a central shutter instead of a focal plane shutter. This shutter is placed at the aperture, the smallest part of the light path. This means ALL shutter speeds will have a point at which the sensor is fully exposed to the light and HSS is not necessary. The disadvantage is the lens is more complex, since it also contains a shutter mechanism, the lens is useless once the shutter breaks (optics basically doesnt age, but the shutter does), and the shutter speeds reachable are not as high. For lenses which cannot be changed these disadvantages do not matter, and for medium (and large) format focal plane shutters are getting increasingly cumbersome.

.... ooops, that was a lot of text for a small explanation ...

Haha yes it was, but good information none the less thank you!

 

[soufiej]

I agree with tirediron. Read your owner's manual with your camera in your hands. Take lots of sample shots while reading, they're all free with a digital camera and can be deleted in a moment's time.

Ignore the functions you will never use - for the most part. While you might not be interested in, say, blink or smile detection, all functions and features are typically contained on one integrated chip. A failure in one feature could possibly impact other more useful features.

nikon d7100 known problems - Google Search

 

[tirediron]

I agree with tirediron. Read your owner's manual with your camera in your hands. Take lots of sample shots while reading, they're all free with a digital camera and can be deleted in a moment's time.

Ignore the functions you will never use - for the most part. While you might not be interested in, say, blink or smile detection, all functions and features are typically contained on one integrated chip. A failure in one feature could possibly impact other more useful features.

nikon d7100 known problems - Google Search

I'm going to disagree with this; in addition to the potential for being inter-related, which you point out, there's also the possibility (probability?) that something you may not be interested in, likely due to lack of understanding, as an amateur is something that you may become very interested in later on. Check everything you can.

 

[Designer]

I have a used camera being delivered today (d7100). What should I look for to make sure everything works correctly? I am able to return it within 2 weeks so I want to make sure I check everything I can before that.
Thanks!

Remove and replace the lens a couple of times. It should mount smoothly and securely each time.
Try all the different shutter modes, including continuous.
Try all the different focusing modes, including subject tracking, face recognition, etc.
Go into the menu and really look at and make changes to each menu item in turn. (You can return them to the original settings as you do this, or simply do a global reset later.
Take some photos of a plain blank wall or cloudless sky with a small aperture. Look at these photos full size on your computer display, looking for dust, oil, scratches, or dead pixels. Any flaws or dirt on the sensor should be able to be seen using this method.
Format your memory card in the camera, try to fill it up, and upload all files to your computer looking for any error messages that a file cannot upload. This could be a bad card or a sign that the camera has a problem.
Crank up the ISO to maximum and look at the file full size. You probably should see some noise, but step the ISO down taking more photos (of a fairly dark subject) and see when the noise seems acceptable. Compare this ISO setting to an online review of your camera to see if they are similar values.
Try all the buttons and wheels to make sure they work. (do what they're supposed to do)

 

[Mikeyb90]

I have a used camera being delivered today (d7100). What should I look for to make sure everything works correctly? I am able to return it within 2 weeks so I want to make sure I check everything I can before that.
Thanks!

Remove and replace the lens a couple of times. It should mount smoothly and securely each time.
Try all the different shutter modes, including continuous.
Try all the different focusing modes, including subject tracking, face recognition, etc.
Go into the menu and really look at and make changes to each menu item in turn. (You can return them to the original settings as yo do this, or simply do a global reset later.
Take some photos of a plain blank wall or cloudless sky with a small aperture. Look at these photos full size on your computer display, looking for dust, oil, scratches, or dead pixels. Any flaws or dirt on the sensor should be able to be seen using this method.
Format your memory card in the camera, try to fill it up, and upload all files to your computer looking for any error messages that a file cannot upload. This could be a bad card or a sing that the camera has a problem.
Crank up the ISO to maximum and look at the file full size. You probably should see some noise, but step the ISO down taking more photos (of a fairly dark subject) and see when the noise seems acceptable. Compare this ISO setting to an online review of your camera to see if they are similar values.
Try all the buttons and wheels to make sure they work. (do what they're supposed to do)

Will do! Thank you

 

[fmw]

The most important thing to check for is dead pixels. They appear as white dots on your image. They are easy to fix in post process but you certainly don't want to keep a camera that has them. Your first image will nail that down for you. If you have a metadata reader, you will also want to check for the number of shutter acutations. As mentioned above, put the camera through all of its modes to be sure they are all working properly. Don't forget to check the hot shoe with an accessory flash gun. You chose a fine camera. I'm sure you will enjoy it.

 

[chuasam]

Read the instruction manual so that you know how to change: shutter speed; aperture; ISO; exposure-mode; focus mode; metering mode and frame-rate. Ensure that the camera will produce correctly exposed images with various combinations and changes to all of those. Make sure the camera is clean (primarily inside; the mirror chamber, viewfinder, etc) and that all of the controls "feel" right. Chances are, if it powers up and takes a shot in 'Auto' it's good, but I would spend a couple of hours learning and testing to be doubly sure.

Thank you! I figured it would be an either it works or it doesn't sort of thing. When I bought my d40x everything seemed fine until I took LE shots with a wider DOF and it had burnt pixels all over the place.

that's perfectly normal for all cameras, and they're hot pixels.
just check for sensor scratches or dirt.
make sure the hot shoe works.
make sure the shutter isn't damaged
check the shutter count