dbfalconer Loc: Salida CO

Please help! A newbie using a rented Sony a6500 with MC-11 adapter and Sigma 100-400. Have been doing ok with it for 3 days—-till I pulled it out today to shoot some bears from a bus window in Alaska! Pressed shutter—-brief glimpse of shot, then blackness with a few green focus points flashing! Black shots! No clue what happened! (Missed the 3 grizzlies.). Can get shots now. (I usually shoot a Sony a6000 and 55-210mm. This rental is a back-up camera for a special trip. I tried it at home, researched, am still not sure of the setting options upon the lens itself—can’t find online help.). Used Manual. Tried SCN—ok. Don’t want this to happen again! Deleted shots. Thanks for suggestions!

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Without a better explanation, include the exposure parameters, or better yet: an actual example, my best guess from your description is that you didn't take the lens cap off. Deleting the examples was probably least effective problem solving approach ...

dbfalconer Loc: Salida CO

Yes, should not have deleted. Bummed. Cap was off—-glimpsed scene, then black. Probably f13 1/500 auto ISO. AF. Never had this happen. Got about 6 black shots. RAW and JPEG. Changed settings frantically, tried SCN. Took photos after.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

You say you got six shots, raw and jpeg. Or was it three shots x two - one raw and one jpeg? Are you sure your tele-extender wasn’t capturing close-ups of the (presumably) black bear skins? Maybe the bears have their own version of a black Lenscoat they quickly pull over their heads when then sense tourist photogs are taking photos of them. Seriously, it had to be a settings issue, but it’s hard to tell exactly once you (wisely) changed to SCN.

dbfalconer Loc: Salida CO

Well, whatever happened sure freaked me out! So excited about those grizzlies! Better luck next time I guess! At least the setup is working now! Thanks for your humor—I need to keep perspective. After all, this is a vacation, not a National Geographic shoot!

letmedance Loc: Walnut, Ca.

Check your settings, an under exposed picture is sometimes black.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

Was camera baking in the sun thru the bus window? Did temporary overheating cause malfunction?

gessman Loc: Colorado

Regardless of who will refute what I'm about to say here, the electronic world holds some unpleasant surprises on occasion in that there are glitches that occur for which there seems to be no reasonable explanation and cameras are no exception. You've heard of "Murphy's Law?" It sounds like you may have experienced just such an occurrence. At least there's no easy explanation for what happened. In my case, when something happens that I don't have an immediate understanding of, or explanation for, I turn my camera off and take the battery out for a few seconds, hence rebooting the stinkin' thing just like I do when my computer locks up for no apparent reason, release the lens, and give it a good twist and get back at it.

Faced with a critical shot, that may be your best chance to salvage something out of the deal. Intermittent glitches are part of the electronic world and are above the pay grade of the average user to figure out on the fly. Have you heard the one about the photographer who carried a backup camera for "critical" shoots??? It's all well and good to send pics here to see if someone can read the exif data and figure out the problem but those bears, they're kinda over the ridge by then. If you reboot and re-seat the lens and choose to trust it and the camera does the same thing again, put the lens and adapter on your a6000 and leave it there until you're back home. It may not be the same but it's the same number of megapixels and you know what to expect, mostly. Then, when you return the rental camera explain what happened and request dispensation for your experience and perhaps they will take it offline and test it. Tell them you'd appreciate knowing the results of their analysis for future reference as you steadfastly deny any semblance of operator error.

"Bugs" are legendary in the computer world and these cameras are computers. You can't expend your mental resources in a quandary over electronic glitches at the most inopportune moment of a photo shoot even if it is a casual travel picture. Hopefully you will get an even better opportunity in the near future and won't have a problem. Otherwise, you do like the rest of us and learn to hang your head and move it side to side and repeat after me... say, "awwwww shucks!" or perhaps utter some other opportunistic expletive better suited to your normal disposition. Good luck the rest of the way.

dbfalconer Loc: Salida CO

Thanks Gene! Yup, I’m movin’ on! Seems ok now. Thanks everyone!

AirWalter Loc: Tipp City, Ohio

Remove the lens cap!?!?

letmedance Loc: Walnut, Ca.

If the lens cap is in place one cannot see the shot to take it. This is not an old viewfinder camera, the cap comes off before you can compose.

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

F13 is a very small aperture at 1/500. My guess is that you were not on auto ISO, but had your ISO set at a low level. Here is a shot of my garden in bright sunshine at F13 at 1/500 at ISO 200! And same garden same settings ISO Auto.

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Stage Light Loc: Northeast

Hi, DBFalconer. Just a quicky. You were on a bus; they may have polarized windows. If you have a polarizer on your camera, you could black out the light. You might get some light. Check out the verticals and the horizontals. At least one of these should be okay if it is a polarizer problem.

Stage Light Loc: Northeast

Hi, DBFalconer. Just a quicky. You were on a bus; they may have polarized windows. If you have a polarizer on your camera, you could black out the light. You might get some light. Check out the verticals and the horizontals. At least one of these should be okay if it is a polarizer problem.

AirWalter Loc: Tipp City, Ohio

This was meant as a joke.