20 Most Recent Nikon D3100 Digital Camera - Page 4 Questions & Answers

You apparently are shooting in both jpg and raw modes. I do that. So what you have is actually two pictures. The jpg picture is full screen and the raw (nef) picture has the black lines you describe. I don't know why it does this other than to allow you to recognize which pictures is raw and which is jpg. It is not a problem and picture quality is not impacted in any way. Your manual should explain fairly clearly the benefits of both formats. You can use the menu to change it to take only jpg or nef pictures and possibly other formats. When I edit photos, unless I'm in a hurry, I usually make a copy of the NEF photo and edit that. You can make many more changes in an NEF photo than you can in a jpg photo. In either case, I would suggest you always edit from a copy to protect the original. I think my D-90 allows the use of other formats in addition to jpg, but nef is the only raw format that Nikon uses.

If you contact Nikon they will send you the appropriate manual free

I do not have a D3100, but if it is like other Nikons, you slide the memory card door open (located on right side of the camera body). You will see the edge of the memory card. The retaining mechanism is spring loaded. Push in on the edge of the card and it should release the card which will spring outward. Now just pull the card out. There should be no resistance. To replace the card, open the door; face the card with the label toward you and with the copper contacts on the left side facing away from you. Push the card inward until it clicks into place and close the door.

I don't think this has to do with the ViewNX2 software. Perhaps your laptop is the problem? Did you try to play the video with a freeware player, like Potplayer or Gomplayer? If they also have problems to come up to speed, you found the one. The file coming from your D3100 can be a bit too big. I think you made a real HD recording. quiet a lot of data.

Is the battery fully charged. What were you doing on it right before you shut it down. Also make sure your putting the battery i. The right wayAlso you can\'t charge the battery by usb into a computer. You need to use the external wall charger. Unfortunatly the d3100 does not contain am external reset button like the Nikon D3000 but this might help. Take out the sd card and battery and leave it out for a couple hours then, after a couple hours have past reinsert the Battery without the SD card. If it still doesn\'t work shine a flashlight into the battery holder to see if any of the metal connectors are bent. The only logical explanation after that if it still doesn\'t work is that the battery died doesn\'t have to look damaged it can crap out anytime. I would try getting a new battery and putting it in. If you just got the camera you could tell the place you got it at and they should give you a new battery. i hope I could help, your going to have to trial and error this one to see what gets it to work.

Do you really need a driver? The best way to download pictures from your camera to your computer involves removing the memory card from the camera and plugging it into a card reader (either built-in to the computer or connected via USB or FireWire). This is likely to be faster than connecting the camera to the computer, and won't run down your camera's batteries. Once the card is plugged in, it will appear to your computer as a removable drive. You can use the operating system's drag&drop facility to copy pictures from the card to the computer's hard drive, the same way you copy any other files. Or you can use any photo management program such as Picasa ( http://picasa.google.com ).

Try NOT using a driver. The best way to download pictures from your camera to your computer involves removing the memory card from the camera and plugging it into a card reader (either built-in to the computer or connected via USB or FireWire). This is likely to be faster than connecting the camera to the computer, and won't run down your camera's batteries. Once the card is plugged in, it will appear to your computer as a removable drive. You can use the operating system's drag&drop facility to copy pictures from the card to the computer's hard drive, the same way you copy any other files. Or you can use any photo management program such as Picasa ( http://picasa.google.com ).

Needs a new aperture base plate, Can only be put in by camera repair person, Major work, At least $ 145.00

You need to try it with different lenses, If it does it with both then its the body, If not then its the lens, Usualy if its the body, Then it has to go to a Camera repair shop like me because the fix is on the side of the mirror box,

Have you formatted the card in the camera before you star taking pictures?

Try switching of the camera. Remove the lens and check if al contacts are in good order (no dents), clean and shiny if they look good to you, replace the lens and switch on the camera. If the error returns, the best thing you can do is is late the error, by placing another lens. If you don't have on. take the camera to a camera store and ask there if you can try another lens. Then when you are sure where the error is, bring that part to the Nikon service centre, Or when it is the lens, buy a new one. The standard lens (or even the 18 - 105mm) are not that expensive. Success

every card you put in a card reader should be visible on your computer. You should be able to download the pictures from the card to the computer. If you can't see the pictures on the computer, perhaps you pressed the key symbol with every picture, or you made them read only in the camera menu. To remove protection from all images in the folder or folders currently selected in the Playback folder menu, press the AE-L AF-L and bin buttons together for about two seconds during playback. So no pictures in the folders are protected anymore. Also check you did not put the lock switch in the down position (LOCK) The switch on the left should be like on the 64GB card. Not like the 32 GB card.

If you have set the main dial to the green camera logo, with automatic in bad light, and the flash still does not pop up, you could start worrying. The mail mode dial is very easy to turn, even without knowing. It happens to me more often than I would like. My next camera must have a special button to lock this dial. When you chaco the manual, you will see there are settings the flash won't pop up and even when it is up it won't flash, because that menu excludes the flash.

Try NOT connecting your camera to your computer.The best way to download pictures from your camera to your computer involves removing the memory card from the camera and plugging it into a card reader (either built-in to the computer or connected via USB or FireWire). This is likely to be faster than connecting the camera to the computer, and won't run down your camera's batteries.Once the card is plugged in, it will appear to your computer as a removable drive. You can use the operating system's drag&drop facility to copy pictures from the card to the computer's hard drive, the same way you copy any other files. Or you can use Picasa or any other photo cataloging program.