Camera trouble

Seems I may have a defective camera.

This pleases me, sort of.

While we were at Joshua Tree I noticed my D2H wasn't working right. The auto-focus wasn't working. In, and of, itself this is frustrating, but not fatal, as I grew into camera when autofocus was a luxury, and one of questionable merit. Yes, I have gotten lazy, and the camera itself makes being certain of focus difficult (digital cameras, I am told, don't work if the screen has a split ring, or a fresnel field, so there is no way to be, absolutely certain one is in focus. Not a big deal unless one if fond of macro work; where the proximity to the subject makes auto-focus a bit less than accurate) but I still know how to turn the barrel myself.

But the light meter also seemed to be wonky. I was in "sunny 16" conditions (the way Film speed/digital sensitivity is determined is the reciprocal of the speed/f-16 on a sunlit day. So a 200 speed setting/film ought to be 1/200th:f-16) and the camera was telling me I needed 1/8 of a second at f-4.5 using the camera at 500 ISO.

Needless to say the shot was blown out.

So the camera is missing the one thing I like best about modern cameras... the light meter. Which also means the flash won't give me TTL, and a couple of other things are wonky (no one step adjustment to compensate for backlighting, &c.)

It isn't that I can't use the camera in the same way I use my Hassleblad, or my FG90 (which has a bum meter, and fixing it would cost the same as buying a new FM2, which is a better camera) or the way I do stdio work (because the strobes aren't TTL). I can use a handheld meter, in fact I carry one with me all the time. But it takes away one of the nice things about having so much computing power in my fist. I can't just compose and shoot.

I have to stop and think about everything the light is doing, not just parts I want to catch.

I didn't take many pictures this weekend.

So why am I sort of pleased?

1: I managed to fix it. I downloaded the newer firmware (which I didn't need, because the things which were changed weren't things I was using) and now it focuses, and gives correct exposures/

2: It seems that Nikon has issued an advisory about my camera, if your D2H
camera is experiencing (1) a freezing of the electronic analog exposure display accompanied
by a display of the same exposure settings regardless of exposure and/or camera settings,
or (2) is unable to focus automatically, Nikon Inc. will service it free of charge.

I seem to have experienced a new form of problem as well.

I have sent them a note, asking what I ought to do, as the camera is working, at the moment.

I suspect they will want me to mail it to El Segundo.

Since the warranty expired at Thanksgiving last, this turn of events isn't as bad as it might be.