Warning on leaving camera and lens setup near window.
Brucej67 wrote:
All spring and summer I had my Nikon D7200 and 300mm f2.8 set up on a tripod facing the backyard bird feeders through a sliding glass door taking photographs of birds coming to the feeder. I took down the bird feeders in preparation for winter and consequently disassembled my camera, lens and tripod set up. When I went to clean my equipment before putting it away I found that the plastic at the bottom holding the mirror was melted as well as the bottom piece on the mirror also melted part of the ledge further out from the mirror (the camera is useless and does not focus correctly). The best I can figure is that the lens focused the sun light on these parts and melted them when I was not using the camera. I have ordered another D7200 camera as the camera is down to $600 new and the repair bill from Nikon would be about the same or more, I base this on work I had done to my D2x about a year and a half ago where Nikon charged me $600+ dollars to repair a camera worth $200.
All spring and summer I had my Nikon D7200 and 300... (
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Too bad about the camera. Reading the manual does explain to not point the camera at the sun or this will happen. It appears the sun rays come through the window and the lens does its job and focuses the light and burns the camera.
Simple, put the included lens cap on the lens when not in use.
The bird feeder has nothing to do with it. You left the camera in the window with the sun beaming in and melted the plastic parts. Expensive lesson learned.
Thanks for the heads up. 'Tis best to learn from other's mistakes and not your own, second best is to tell others so they don't repeat.
joer
Loc: Colorado/Illinois
Better check out Abes of Maine, a search for it in the forum may give you hesitation - grey market etc.
olemikey
Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida
sb wrote:
A winter bird feeder is a wonderful thing! The birds that come are birds that don't migrate - cardinals, woodpeckers, chickadees, junkoes - make sure you have both seeds and suet.
sb, Try the following feed - Pennington Ultra Waste Free Nuts and Fruit Blend (Walmart less than $5.00 for 2.5lbs) We get all sorts of "snowbirds" with it (Painted Buntings, Catbirds, various Chippies/Sparrows, Goldfinches and many types of Warblers, Carolina Wren, Vireos, and others) and all the regulars you mentioned. We also have another feeder filled with Brevard Feed-n-Seed's "Wild Bird Mixture" (they use it on the Merritt Island Refuge), which is only about $2.50 for 5 lbs, not as popular with the birds as the Pennington, but it works too. We have had numerous pairs and get to watch their youngsters grow as well, before they leave in April/May timeframe. When it gets really cold and bugs are scarce, you'd be surprised at how many bug-eaters come to the feeders!! Blue Jays and Woodpeckers like peanuts too, so I always carry some in my pocket - and we can't forget the poor starving fat squirrels.
Have fun!
billb800si wrote:
Bruce, why would you take down the bird feeder, in the winter? That's when they need it the most. A red Cardinal on a snow covered feeder it a great shot.
I agree! Although we don't see red cardinals here :-)
In the summer time the birds don't need additional feed, although I still keep de feeder up, just because of the photos I can take. But I put relatively little seed in it.
In the fall, I start filling up the feeder for the "stay-at-home" birds. Although I am not convinced that a full feeder prevents the migrating birds from doing just that, temperature and weather have a lot to do with it as well.
You might want to search and read the many, many comments about Abe's of Maine. They are NOT good. Just sayin'...
I'll bet using a lens cap when not using the camera would have prevented this entire issue. A $12 component would have saved several hundred dollars.
--Bob
Brucej67 wrote:
All spring and summer I had my Nikon D7200 and 300mm f2.8 set up on a tripod facing the backyard bird feeders through a sliding glass door taking photographs of birds coming to the feeder. I took down the bird feeders in preparation for winter and consequently disassembled my camera, lens and tripod set up. When I went to clean my equipment before putting it away I found that the plastic at the bottom holding the mirror was melted as well as the bottom piece on the mirror also melted part of the ledge further out from the mirror (the camera is useless and does not focus correctly). The best I can figure is that the lens focused the sun light on these parts and melted them when I was not using the camera. I have ordered another D7200 camera as the camera is down to $600 new and the repair bill from Nikon would be about the same or more, I base this on work I had done to my D2x about a year and a half ago where Nikon charged me $600+ dollars to repair a camera worth $200.
All spring and summer I had my Nikon D7200 and 300... (
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Bruce, thanks for the cautionary tale. Sorry about the camera. At least now you'll have a "fresh, new" one.
rmalarz wrote:
I'll bet using a lens cap when not using the camera would have prevented this entire issue. A $12 component would have saved several hundred dollars.
--Bob
Amazing thing is that it is included at no extra charge with the lens.
I put the cost there as that was what I paid for a replacement once. You're correct, they are supplied with the lens.
--Bob
Architect1776 wrote:
Amazing thing is that it is included at no extra charge with the lens.
rmalarz wrote:
I put the cost there as that was what I paid for a replacement once. You're correct, they are supplied with the lens.
--Bob
I understood your point as well.
Would a cap for a 300mm f2.8 be that cheap?
I guess I was lucky. I had my old Canon D60 (yes, D60, my back-up camera) with one of those intervalometer thingys set up at a window with a southern exposure all summer long. Had no problems with damage to the camera.
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