Nikon D300 users out there please help.....?

Question

So I went camping this weekend and did some long exposure night shots of the stars and such. When I got home and uploaded my pictures I noticed that in the darker spots where say trees where, there seemed to be be red spots and white spots almost like the imprint of stars from previous shots had carried onto this image. So it looked like the whole image was full of stars. I was bummed out and don't know what may have caused this.

Note: the only thing I could come up with is that after I shot the pics the top screen would read "Job NR" and would'nt show me picture on LCD unless I turned off camera and then turned on. I read about it in the manual and I was supposed to leave camera alone until that display came off. Job NR means that the camera is processing image for long exp. noise reduction. Has anybody encountered similiar problems? what is the fix or did I find it (in not turning off camera before process is done)

http://flickr.com/photos/hardknocksf/2782341937/sizes/l/

click original to view largest to see spots.

Answer 1

Your "problem" is normal, it is not really a problem by the way.

Since you had a long exposure, your camera needed to to the "cleaning job". It tried its best to reduce all the noise caused by black sky. Therefore, the "JOB NR" thing is normal, and it appears in every Nikon DSLR. I think you can turn this function off in the menu. You have to wait until that sign comes off. Then you picture will be on your LCD. Do not turn off you camera at this time, cause doing that interrupts the NR process.

Try to use a tripod next time if you wnat to do long exposure shot. When changing lens for your camera, remember to turn the camera up side down, that means the mount face the ground and the LCD face the sky, to prevent dust. I think the D300 has the sensor self-cleaning system so that may no tbe a problem with it, but prevention is always better. Dust will cause you black dots when you capture bright sky.

Another cause, which I hope you do not have, for those white spots on you black sky is dead pixel. Dead pixels are the pixels that do not work, do no operate and therefore it just sits there "white".

Try to download the dead pixel tester software on the internet to test your D300. If you have some dead pixels, then you need to get your camera to the warantee centre.

Hope this helps,

P.S: we can not see your photos in Flickr cos you set it to private. So change the privacy of the photos, then we can have a look at your photos.

Cheers,