If anything can go wrong, it will. Here are some problems you might encounter.

If the camera seems to be turned off, it may just have entered sleep mode. If you don't use any controls for a specified time, the camera enters this mode to reduce battery drain. To wake it up, press the shutter button halfway down, or turn the camera off and back on. After an hour or so of inactivity, some cameras shut off completely. You can often change the time it takes before the camera enters sleep mode or turns off completely.

If you can't turn on the camera, the batteries are dead or have been removed or a memory card is waiting to be inserted.

If your batteries drain quickly, stop using the monitor to take and review pictures. If it's cold, keep the batteries or camera under your coat.

When you turn the camera on, a battery shaped icon on the control panel indicates when the batteries are fully charged, getting low, or run down empty and should be replaced immediately.

When you turn on the camera, an error message will be displayed if there is a problem with the memory card.

If you can't take a picture, it may be because the memory card is full. To free up room for new pictures, move the images to a computer and erase the memory card, delete some you don't need, or switch to a smaller image size which will need less memory.

Some cameras have a delay between your pressing the shutter button and the shutter opening. This can cause you to miss fleeting opportunities.

To control which part of the scene on which the camera is focused on, read your user guide so you understand how focus works in various exposure modes.

If the focus lamp blinks when you press the shutter button halfway down, the camera may be having trouble focusing.

If flash photos are too dark, you are probably too far from the subject. Most built-in flash units are good only up to about ten feet. They don't have the power to illuminate subjects much father than that.

If photos are too light when using flash, you may want to reduce the flash power.

If your pictures are blurred, you may not be holding the camera steady as you smoothly press the shutter. Most blurry photos are caused by jabbing the shutter button. You may also be too close to the subject or the subject may be moving too fast.

Never take pictures of the sun or other bright light sources. Doing so can injure your eye or the camera's image sensor.

If your pictures are not at all the way you expect, it may be because the camera remembered a change you made in the settings and continues to use that changed setting. Some cameras remember changes even when you turn a camera off and back on. See if your camera has a procedure that resets all settings to their factory defaults.

Auto Exposure Modes

Digital cameras have various ways of controlling the aperture and shutter speed. All modes give equally good results in the vast majority of photographic situations. However, when you photograph in specific kinds of situations, each of these exposure modes may have certain advantages. Here are modes you may want to look for although it can be complicated by the way camera companies use different names for the same things.

Automatic Mode sets the shutter speed and aperture without your intervention. This mode allows you to shoot without paying attention to settings so you can concentrate on composition and focus.

Scene Modes, which go by a variety of names (Nikon calls them Multi auto programmed modes), have preselected settings for specific situations such as landscapes, portraits, night portraits, sports, and close-up photography. On some cameras the number of these settings are so many you have to select them from a menu.

Programmed Mode is just like full auto in that it sets the aperture and shutter speed for you so you can concentrate on composition and action. When in this mode, many cameras have a mode that lets you select from a series of paired aperture and shutter speed combinations that yield the same exposure as that recommended by the camera but which give you control over depth of field and motion.

Shutter-priority Mode lets you choose the shutter speed you need to freeze or deliberately blur camera or subject movement, and the camera automatically sets the aperture to give you a good exposure. You select this mode when the portrayal of motion is most important. For example, when photographing action scenes, such as those encountered by wildlife photographers, sports photographers, and photojournalists, shutter-priority mode might be best. It lets you be sure your shutter speed is fast enough to freeze the action or slow enough to blur it.

Aperture-priority Mode lets you select the aperture needed to obtain the depth of field you want and the exposure system automatically sets the shutter speed to give you a good exposure. Select this mode whenever depth of field is most important. To be sure everything is sharp, as in a landscape, select a small aperture. The same holds true for close-up photography where depth of field is a major concern. To throw the background out of focus so it's less distracting in a portrait, select a large aperture.

Manual Mode lets you select both the shutter speed and the aperture. You normally use this mode only when the other modes can't give you the results you want. Some cameras have a bulb setting in this mode that lets you capture time exposures such as light trails at night. In this mode the shutter remains open as long as you hold down the shutter button. If it's open for more than 1 second, noise in the form of randomly-spaced, brightly-colored pixels may appear in the photograph. To reduce noise at slow shutter speeds, turn on noise reduction if the camera has it.

Custom Settings Mode on high-end cameras lets you store personal settings. If you use the same settings over and over again it may be worthwhile saving them for future use. Some cameras let you save one or more setting groups and then instantly access them at any time just by turning a mode dial. Storing your own settings is as simple as setting the camera the way you want it and then selecting the menu's command that assigns them to the custom setting.


This concludes the Troubleshooting section.  Please proceed to Assignment 3 where you will learn about the Digital Photo Portfolio.