SquamishPhoto said:
neither tilt nor swing produce enough of an effect on their own to render full sized objects completely in focus.

I don't know what the setup is in what you're mentioning, but for a classic "tabletop" style product shot, it definitely does work, absolutely. I don't have the stuff here anymore to test this, but my setup was an 8° maximum-tilt adapter and that 150mm SK, and that worked perfectly. Or what do you mean?

Also, I haven't really encountered any lens (also expensive ones) without substantial focus breathing, and would be interested to find out about such a lens. It wouldn't be mentioned everywhere if there weren't any lenses that were free(er) of it.

In this day and age it is mainly focus stacking. Yes macro does suffer to a smaller extent but not much more than any of the trinity (I have shot hordes of macro)... Other than in cinematography where this really irked still photographers in the past was copy work. While photoshop and digital formats have eliminated the need to do most of the work in camera if a photographer had to shoot paintings as well as wall sculptures in a limited space he/she would have had to move the camera (given it had a prime on it) to maintain the same dimensionality....

Ironically back to cinematography Dslr makers should be aware that if they are marketing their video as such and are trying to compete with the big boys, they would be smart to develop lenses that breathed less specifically for video...

Spoken like someone who's never used a camera with tilt movements. Owning both a Nikon PC-E and an Nikon adaptor for my Hassy gear, I can assure you that neither tilt nor swing produce enough of an effect on their own to render full sized objects completely in focus. In fact, one of the single greatest aspects of a lens movements is how much more effective and easy it actually makes focus stacking.

spraynpray said:
Funny how people with larger disposable incomes say 'get' when they mean 'pay a lot of money for'! :-)

Huh? We're talking a couple hundred bucks. Check out Schneider Kreuznach 150mm f/4 MC on ebay. Since, if you're using a tilt adaptor (between 40 and couple of hundred bucks), you lose all the electronic coupling anyways and are in manual focus and all that, so all you need is one of those old lenses.

DutchNikon said:
>>Well, it does matter in still photography if you want to do focus stacking. It actually sucks quite a bit<<

It does not matter if you move the camera for focussing ( on a focussing rail), which is common practice in macro ( micro) photography ..

In serious product photography, focus stacking is just a rather work-intensive fiddling workaround for not using a tilt setup. And, as mentioned above, the latter can be quite accessible.

Thanks lamarfrancois thats the nearest anyone has come to identifying the fault.
R8R Does my other D700 and the 4 D200's I have count as back up?

sportsunday said:
I suppose what I mean is the camera is shooting but not recording anything and the mirropr is staying locked up after each shot.

This indicates something is faulty, and needs to be repaired. I don't think any suggestion here is going to fix it. Internet forums don't replace parts, repair technicians do. Just cause one guy on the phone was stumped doesn't mean it can't be fixed. Send it in.

And if you earn a living with this D700, why do you not have a back up for it? That's what backups are for.

I had to get my D300 recently serviced for something sounding like this - the mirror would return up after the shot and wouldn't return unless the dof preview was tapped (and a lot of the time the lens had to be removed entirely). When the mirror was up the shutter worked fine and an image would be recorded - the camera didn't give an ERR indication , so auto-exposure (and phase-detect AF) didn't work at all.

This kind of fault will get worse over time - first it was say 1 shot in 5 , then I could force it to stick the mirror up if I shot over f/8 or so nearly every time. Then it would do this nearly every time even at f/2.8 (and I'd have to take the lens off to get the mirror back up) at which point I had to get it serviced. The aperture lever module ("I base plate") and main charge capacitor base plate had to be replaced , set me back £350 or so over here.

From what I gather it's quite common amongst D300 and possibly D700 bodies to develop this fault with the aperture lever mechanism , so definitely worth looking into.

I suppose what I mean is the camera is shooting but not recording anything and the mirropr is staying locked up after each shot.
As for changing lenses with camera switched on or not switching off during transit come on, I've earned my living as a photographer for the past 25 years so leave out the lectures.

>>When mirror locked I can still take a pic so lond as I focus on manual or take of the lens. Of course I dont get an image as nothing is in focus because the mirror is up.
<<

You are not making sence at all here : you can only take pictures when the mirror is " up" , you cannot take a picture with the mirror down cause the mirror is in the lightpath then...

From what you write it seems to me that you do not switch off your camera when changing lenses or on transport so my advice :

Do not take your lenses off when the camera is switched on, this may cause electrical damage to your camera ( RTFM ..)

Always switch your camera off when on transport, this locks the VR in the lens as well as the mirror in down position , protecting your camera better

Furthermore I'd say : try seting the auto cleaning to off, because when autocleaning is busy, you cannot take a picture, and it looks like the mirror is "up"during that process, mirror cleaning is only neccesary when its dirty..

Not sure about liveview working, next time it jams I will try.
R8R I have spoken with Nikon a few times and the guy said it would probably be a waste of time and money sending it in as the fault is so erratic the would not be able to reproduce it.
From what I've heard of Nikon repair centre they are not very good.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Nikon's technicians could probably diagnose the issue better than some amateur photographers through their keyboards on an internet forum.

Whatever it is, it should probably be repaired. To have it repaired, it should be sent in. If you send it in, they can clean, lube and adjust it too. Win/win.

Or you could hold the camera up to your monitor and let it read all of these posts and see if it self-corrects based on our suggestions...

Can you use LiveView during this time? What do you mean by "I don't get an image"? Is it totally black or just out of focus?

If it's totally black then it might be a shutter problem instead of a mirror issue...

Thanks everyone.
The cleaner is "on".
When mirror locked I can still take a pic so lond as I focus on manual or take of the lens. Of course I dont get an image as nothing is in focus because the mirror is up.
I do not get an ERROR message.
R8R Thanks but when I am out working I dont have the time for experiments but good idea.
Keep em coming.

@ R8R... I agree...place camera in plastic bag, into freezer for an hour, then go out in the cold and see if the problem exists simply because of the cold.

DutchNikon said:
>>Well, it does matter in still photography if you want to do focus stacking. It actually sucks quite a bit<<

It does not matter if you move the camera for focussing ( on a focussing rail), which is common practice in macro ( micro) photography ..

But even that is not perfect, I see some movement as I move focus through deep objects.

sportsunday said:
There is no point sending off to Nikon as I cannot reproduce the fault and I know it will come back as "fault not found".

I'd have to disagree. Send it in for servicing/cleaning/lubrication/calibration. Sounds like something is sticking in the cold and having it serviced might solve this.

One thing that may help to replicate the problem at home is to carry a thermometer with you when out on a shoot. Record the temp and find out what the humidity, barometric pressure is, etc. Try to replicate all of the conditions as closely as possible back at home and see if this is repeatable. All of this info might help them replicate or at least understand the issue when you send it in.

If it doesn't solve this, at least the camera would be cleaned and serviced which is never a bad idea.

heartyfisher said:
When the mirror is "locked up", did you say you can still take picture? IE. is the power still going to the main systems?

I will assume this is the error that comes up and says something along the lines to hit the shutter to reset the mirror and then it will proceed to take pictures as normal. I have only seen this happen with I dropped my camera.

DutchNikon said:
Question : Do you switch your camera off after usage ?
If switched of there should be no effect what so ever when "bumping" the camera controls during transport.
Question 2 : DO you have set sensor cleaning upon switching the camera on, to On ?
If so then the camera needs a sec or so before you can use it after switching on.

You make a good point...the only way this could be happening is if the camera either has power and is giving the camera the signal to put the mirror up. Or the camera is being jostled. Even if not being jostled in the bag itself, but the bag being banged around...but this usually take a bit to get the mirror to do this...mine took a drop from ~5 ft onto rocks for that to happen.

When the mirror is "locked up", did you say you can still take picture? IE. is the power still going to the main systems?

>>Well, it does matter in still photography if you want to do focus stacking. It actually sucks quite a bit<<

It does not matter if you move the camera for focussing ( on a focussing rail), which is common practice in macro ( micro) photography ..

spraynpray said:
What is his point - why is it 'an issue'? Focus stacking couldn't work if it didn't compensate for the image size changing with focus.

It seems any muppet can - and does - make videos and put them up on YouTube.

It's certainly something to consider in photography.

On the 105mm macro Nikkor if I miss focus using autofocus and end up needing to autofocus again and the subject moves, there's significant focus breathing. It'd be more useful if I just move the lens in and out.

Question : Do you switch your camera off after usage ?
If switched of there should be no effect what so ever when "bumping" the camera controls during transport.
Question 2 : DO you have set sensor cleaning upon switching the camera on, to On ?
If so then the camera needs a sec or so before you can use it after switching on.

@ sportsunday

This phenomenon has occurred with automobiles. When cold enough, the wires may contract and connection is lost in one of the mechanical connectors. The result for the automobile was no electrical service in the vehicle. This occurred in a fuse box connection on a car in about the 1970's. A baffling situation as the car would be fine when in the shop and kept warm, but when home with its owner...

I wonder if there is a connection somewhere possibly with the mirror or the motor/servo which drives the mirror which could be creating the same temperature related electrical connection issue?

Thought this might stump you!
More info, Fault first showed on 21.July 2012 on a race in the lakes.
After camping overnight the morning was cold and damp (not raining)Camera was kept in a PELI case. Not banged or knocked to my knowledge. Since then I have shot numerous weddings with it (both indoors and out but warmer).
No rain water penetration.
Have spoken with Nikon UK a coupla times and its got them beat as well.
It seems to be a cold temp/mirror lock up issue.
Have uploaded updates to no avail.
Really frustrating as when it works its great but when I really need it the camera lets me down.

@ golf007sd Thanks for the video... it is entertaining. I really think the guy was just pointing out a phenomenon he thought was useful. He does mention it may be important in focus stacking but how much image size change is there in a fine tune of focus in macro and does this affect the focus stacking programs in post?