D7100 Shutter speed changes in Manual: I'm still getting used to a Nikon D7100 and have been getting ambushed by a changing shutter speed in the manual setting. I came from a d5100...

FM Racer Loc: Sacramento, CA

I'm still getting used to a Nikon D7100 and have been getting ambushed by a changing shutter speed in the manual setting.

I came from a d5100 where the manual setting was just that: the SS and aperture remained at whatever I set them to.

However now in the 7100, the SS jumps around and varies tremendously from what I set it to. It happened at the beach in late afternoon last Saturday, it happened again today in the studio with some constant lighting plus a speed light.

How does this happen? Did I do something weird deep in the menu that causes this? I am into the manual but have no clue yet.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

FM Racer wrote:

I'm still getting used to a Nikon D7100 and have b... (show quote)

It sounds like something you are doing.. Mine stays exactly where I put it when in Shutter Priority and Manual. In Auto, Aperture, Program, and either of the two Automatic modes yes it jumps as it is supposed to. I would need more info on what your shooting settings are and what mode you are in.

Bret Loc: Dayton Ohio

Look into TTL mode and flash recycle time. This happened to me awhile back and the flash couldn't recycle fast enough for the frame rate I was trying to shoot at.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

dcampbell52 wrote:

It sounds like something you are doing.. Mine stays exactly where I put it when in Shutter Priority and Manual. In Auto, Aperture, Program, and either of the two Automatic modes yes it jumps as it is supposed to. I would need more info on what your shooting settings are and what mode you are in.

Oops must be early miss read the issue.. in manual.. lol.. sorry.. when all else fails, do the 2 button reset and see if that solves the problem. the 2 buttons with the green dots next to them get held down for a couple of seconds together. That resets the menu to the "out of the box" condition.

steve_stoneblossom Loc: Rhode Island, USA

I don't have my 7100 with me to direct you precisely in the shooting menus, but you may have some limits set on shutter speed, aperture, or both. You could try to check this.

Reset to factory settings is a good idea, but BEWARE- I found out the hard way that the factory setting will have you shooting jpegs, not raw (if you typically shoot raw as I do). I only realized this after shooting a high speed burst, and noticing that my buffer did not fill the way it usually does.

Frapha Loc: Tulsa, Oklahoma

FM Racer wrote:

I'm still getting used to a Nikon D7100 and have b... (show quote)

Check Page 81, Item #2 of your owners manual

FM Racer Loc: Sacramento, CA

Frapha wrote:

Check Page 81, Item #2 of your owners manual

I think I had ISO Auto Sensitivity set to off, at least it was off now when I checked it. But doesnt' this feature act as a back up if "optimal" exposure cannot be achieved?

Which leads to the question, how would the camera know what "optimal" exposure should be if an off camera manual remote trigger flash is used?

FM Racer Loc: Sacramento, CA

Bret wrote:

Look into TTL mode and flash recycle time. This happened to me awhile back and the flash couldn't recycle fast enough for the frame rate I was trying to shoot at.

I'm following what you say about recycle time. Yeah I get some of that too. But it wasn't a recycle time issue this time as the SS jumped around between 1/400 and 1/60. I set it to 160 for the flash (with an A of 4.5 to 6). I don't recall seeing the A changing at all, I'm pretty sure it was just the SS jumping around.

Logically when the SS was 1/400, the image captures the shutter 1/2 closed.

I will experiment and try to duplicate the problem. That will include resetting the menus last.

FM Racer Loc: Sacramento, CA

Well I guess I need to get up to speed on bracketing as apparently that is what it's doing.

Set at 160, the SS jumps automatically to 3 different SS in 3 successive shots. The first set, it jumped from 160 to 250, then to 400 then back to 160. And it would keep rotating those 3 SS as long as I kept shooting and didn't touch anything.

Then I reset to back to 160 (nothing else touched) and it would jump to 250 to 100 and back to 160. There was one other combination it would jump to as well, including down to 60.

If I set to 100, it jumps to 60 then 40 then back to 100.

This routine remains the same even though the shooting and custom menus were reset. And it does a similar routine in A, S or P.

So, I guess I have to ferret out why the bracketing is set to on even when the menus are reset. Could this be a malfunction and it's stuck?

FM Racer Loc: Sacramento, CA

Well bracketing is now off.

But I don't know what I did, other than scroll thru the bracketing/flash menu and set flash sync speed to 250 from 160 and scroll thru the auto bracketing set and reset it to where it was; AE & flash. Oh and I did change the exposure comp setting from zero but then reset it to zero.

But auto bracketing is now off and everything is normally manual. WTF?

amehta Loc: Boston

FM Racer wrote:

Well bracketing is now off.

But I don't know what I did, other than scroll thru the bracketing/flash menu and set flash sync speed to 250 from 160 and scroll thru the auto bracketing set and reset it to where it was; AE & flash. Oh and I did change the exposure comp setting from zero but then reset it to zero.

But auto bracketing is now off and everything is normally manual. WTF?

The good news is it's "user resolved". I suspect the cause is also "user error". It's much better that way, you can be careful about changing that in the future. It would be much worse if it was gremlins in the camera. :-)

FM Racer Loc: Sacramento, CA

So now that I've found the bracket button, and understand how it works with the command dial, I'm befuddled as to how I unknowingly turned it on and then apparently unknowingly turned it off. I'm pretty deliberate and don't experiment pushing buttons that I'm not familiar with.

There must be another way but at least I now know that bracketing is not reset along with the menus, and how to check it at the beginning of each session.

Note to anyone else who is clueless about this; p. 133 of the manual.

amehta Loc: Boston

FM Racer wrote:

So now that I've found the bracket button, and und... (show quote)

Your pit crew did it. :twisted: :lol:

RICARDOOO Loc: Findlay, Ohio

FM Racer wrote:

I'm still getting used to a Nikon D7100 and have b... (show quote)

I have the D 7100 and that has never happened to me. I am guessing that the problem is OE . . . "operator error" :)

sueyeisert Loc: New Jersey

My advice is to read the manual cover to cover with camera in hand.