Camera’s tend to break down when you are furthest from home and right when you need them most. It is the reason that I often take two camera bodies with me even on a long hike. It is not usually the lens that will give you a problem…it will be the camera body or the battery or maybe even the memory card. So…what to do if you do run into problems and you do not have the back up with you…
First, turn the camera off and then back on. Did that fix it? No…go to next step.
Second, turn the camera off and take the battery out of the camera. If you have a backup battery, put that battery in the camera and turn it on. Did that fix it? No…go to next step.
Third, look for the simplest possible fixes…they sound stupid, but these things happen to all of us eventually. Did you take off the lens cover? With the lens cover on you will have to shoot at a really high ISO to get any kind of a shot (small joke there…you can not shoot anything with that lens cover on). Is the battery in properly with the little door closed all the way? Is there a memory card in the camera with memory still available…not already completely filled up? Try taking the lens off and put it back on to make sure it is fully connected.
If you do all of those and the camera is still acting like it is a brick and not a camera…there is an official photography term for it…you are screwed. Pack up. Call it a day. Head home. Send your camera into the manufacturer for repair.
Fourth…if the camera turns on and your only problem is that you can not get it to do what you want it to do, there is hope and lots of it. First, find your patience…you will need it. Next, start going through the menu pages one by one looking for a setting that has slipped out of its’ normal position…happens all the time…you may have a small glitch in the camera or, more likely, your hand hit a button and changed a setting.
Common areas to suspect are the Exposure Compensation menu. In most cases, the indicator should show it to be right exactly in the middle. If the indicator is several places left or right of center, your photos will be either over exposed or under exposed…and if the indicator has moved far enough…just plain unusable. Easy to fix…just move the indicator back to center. This has happened to all of us and can be quite confusing…and I often can not figure out how I even did it…but am also happy when I see how easy it is to fix.
Another common area to suspect is your ISO setting. In fact, if your camera is taking photos but the photos are no good…review one of them and read the settings. You may find that you have somehow shot it too slow, with too little light coming into the lens or with some strange ISO setting. Easy fix…change the setting.
Photos blurry…check to see if you are still shooting in Auto Focus…check the little pull slide on the side of the lens. Can’t tell you how many times I have put it in Manual for a shot and then forgot to take it back to Auto Focus. Again, and easy fix.
Are the colors off or strangely too light or too soft…check the menu item for White Balance and move it back to Auto. I might change it to shoot under indoor lights or cloudy weather and forget to change it back to Auto. Next time I go out and shoot…the first few photos will be screwed up…but I am the guy who checks the photos I am getting all the time…so I will catch it before I ruin the whole day. You be that guy…or gal.
Todays cameras have so many setting options that it is beyond easy to get one of them wrong. Just calm down and work your way through the problem and you will win in the end most of the time. If you are still unsuccessful, you will begin to see the wisdom of bringing along a back up.
Aloha.