The article on RAWDigger has nothing to do with possible camera faults and everything to do with calibrating a good working camera to produce well-exposed RAW files.
You don’t need it.
Preferably the first, since you have already paid for the repair shop to get it right and the second is a workaround
The technician I’m referring to is the owner of the camera repair shop, and seems to know Nikons thoroughly, having been to Nikon for training - but I don’t remember all the details. He told me to bring it back if I had any issues, but I didn’t know then what I know now. I have no idea about camera calibration, but I assume he has the necessary tools, and if it’s dirt on the metering mechanism, hopefully he can easily correct that.
The repair was far from inexpensive, but I think it was worthwhile - but not sure if/why I need it. Perhaps I should have put the $$ towards a D850 instead, but that’s all in the past.
I’m not planning on using it, but there is also this:
https://blog.nikonians.org/digitaldarrell/2011/10/dd-fine-tune-optimal-exposure-how-does-it-work.html
Like a cat, still running around the hot milk.
Stop reading – that cam is heavily misadjusted (or dirty or whatever).
BTW, are you already up (or are you still up).
Take a rest and think about it later. 
No further comment 
And, if I might add, start using the good D750 to take well-composed pictures of the rest of Miami to delight us with 
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Rawdigger is overrated. It doesn’t have any practical use.
Do you know the “Manual of Photography”? Ilford Manual of Photography - Wikipedia
For the content The Manual of Photography | ScienceDirect
It’s worth it’s price.
It’s the successor of the Ilford Manual of Photography, as you could read in the wiki link. If you’re interested the 7th edition,1945, is in pdf. Of course analogue based The Ilford Manual of Photography : James Mitchell : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
George
I like sarcasm when it is well hidden 
Since it was then the middle of the night, it still won’t be until hours from now when the shop is open. I woke up at 3 or 4am, read a bit here, responded, then went back to sleep.
When something I have isn’t working properly, I think it’s reasonable to try to get it fixed. Not sure what all the fuss is about, but thanks for all the comments as they pushed me faster in what I consider the right direction, meaning the repair shop. If you don’t agree, so be it.
One thing has nothing to do with the other. I doubt if my ability, or lack thereof, has anything to do with which camera is in my hands.
Repairing the broken D750 was not cheap, but it’s a tiny fraction of what it would cost to buy a used D850 body from KEH.
Nikon D850, used
I realize the D850 is better than my D750 in some ways (not size or weight), but it isn’t $2,000 better. In terms of size and weight, my Df is better than all of them, and far more capable than I am. The broken D750 was free. So even with the repair, once it’s fixed I could sell it for more than I paid for it. I expect to have the shop fix what’s wrong, but even if they can’t there is always “plan B”.
It lets people say what they really think, but not “out loud”.
Let’s say our dear friend Henri took 10,000 photographs over his lifetime. Just a made up number. The question then is:
- what percentage were “rubbish”
- what percentage is “not good”
- what percentage is “good” and
- what percentage is “outstanding”
I think most photographers would only display their best work.
But if they wanted to improve, they might want feedback from others, unless they were born with such a fantastic mind and ability that everything they did was beyond the comprehension of others. If they do want feedback, positive feedback puts a smile on their face, but negative feedback points them in a direction to improve.
Sarcasm is non-confrontational, but gets a message across, if people really listen and read between the words. But others might not properly understand everything involved, in which case the sarcasm is wasted.
Time to have my tiny breakfast, then go to the camera repair shop, and then go to the Bullseye Pistol Range, which takes up even more of my time than photography.
Small update. I took the D750-2 to the shop this morning to discuss with the owner, but he hadn’t arrived yet. Instead I got to talk to the head repairman, who removed the lens I had on the camera, looked in, and said the aperture control arm (the part that rests against the aperture control lever on the lens) wasn’t in the right position. Perhaps that arm, being bent or somehow not where it should be, made the camera think the lens was stopped down to a certain aperture, when it really was not. I left the camera for them to work on. To me, this feels like a very logical source of my troubles.
This photo shows the arm, at the left, on my working D750, where it’s supposed to be. On my other camera, the one that was repaired, this is not where the lever in the photo below shows it to be. Maybe it’s just bent? No idea.
In this video, 38 seconds into the video, you can see how the lens aperture lever moves up and down. Apparently, this “lever” inside the camera is what pushes against the lever on the lens.
how aperture lever inside lens is moved up and down
No idea yet if this is “the” problem, or another problem, but to me it looks like it might be causing my lens not to properly change to the specified aperture as determined by the exposure meter system on the camera. Maybe.
an excellent explanation
→ Aperture and video on the TsZK Nikon | Happy
… below the advertised
→ video
( skip the section about taking video)
Regarding the video of the aperture control lever on the Nikon, until your post, I only knew “what” happened, but thanks to the above description I now understand how it happens. I knew before only that the lens would stop down to the appropriate aperture before capturing the image. Now it is more obvious, and the video shows how quickly it happens.
Isaac told me the “arm” was bent, and the camera is now repaired and ready for me to pick up. He thinks something on one of my lenses bent it, and he wants me to bring all my Nikon lenses in to his shop to check them out. So, they’re all packed up and I will go to his shop today.
My thoughts - the lens mount on the repaired camera feels “tighter” than on my other Nikons. I’ll ask him about this.
Since I include D750-1 or D750-2 in the file name, the first photos I took with this repaired 750 were taken on December 19th, using my 80-200 lens. The histogram is way off at the left, and the file number is DSC_0001 ------ .jpg which is the first image I took after restarting the file numbering sequence, and I hadn’t yet switched it to raw mode.
I will put the memory card back in the camera, and ask him to take a photo, then look at the histogram. If the histogram is still way off towards the left, the problem most likely remains.
Update: I told Issac that I didn’t see any need to bring him all my lenses, as the 80-200 was the first lens I mounted, and it captured the filename 0001 which is the fist image I took after getting the camera back and starting to restore my settings. He mounted this lens on one of his cameras, then on my camera, and said there were no issue. Before leaving, I borrowed his memory card and battery, and took one image to check the histogram - which was nicely centered.
I guess there’s no point in arguing about this; he thought my lens caused the problem, and I thought the camera had this problem right after the main repair. As his people reminded me, I’ve got a 6-month warranty on the repair, so I need to keep an eye on this.
After some recent discussions, about very old photos taken around the world, I got to thinking about the photos I took in Nepal in 2006. I made two trips, and on the second trip I used my Nikon D70. Unfortunately, back then I shot in jpg, not raw. That’s on my list of mistakes I made long ago, which I should have known better at the time. Regardless, I think I’ll go through some of those images, and re-edit using PhotoLab 5. The overwhelming majority are “snapshots”, but there are a few photos that I really worked at capturing the world around me. I’d like to think that I did most things correctly back then, but I felt “overwhelmed” by the world around me, and rarely told myself to “stop” and concentrate on the best image I could take. I was better about this on my second visit. By then I was sort of used to Kathmandu and the other cities and villages I visited, and could calmly think about capturing a single image, not a “grab shot” of the wild life all around me.
@Wolfgang , thanks for all the negative comments you made on my using the repaired D750, rather than using my good one. Sometimes I’m too stubborn for my own good, and I mostly thought that I was doing something incorrectly, with no idea what that might be. So, I kept using it anyway, until it was obvious, even to me, that the camera had a problem. Even now, if I use my Leica or my Df, I’m sure I’ll get feedback along the lines of why I didn’t use my better camera, and even with the D750, I suspect that many people here feel I ought to buy a D850 while I still can. My mental balance scale compares dynamic range values, and the D850 is obviously “better”. But my mental balance scale also compares size/weight issues, and the D850 loses that comparison against my current cameras. And if I’m going to play the comparison game, why not a Nikon D6?
I plan to go to Colorado in the near future, and hopefully back to India a couple of months later. I’m most likely to take my D750 and something else for “backup” in case of problems.
What do you want a D850 for. It’s only going to give you three extra things. Increase in weight, increase in pixel count and a larger, more complicated menu. From what I understand, you will not be printing anything 20 x 16 or larger. So the 24.3 megapixel should be able to print just over 20 x 16. From what I understand, you only put images on the web, so you will only be wasting your money. It’s you that makes the picture. What your minds eye sees as a picture should be repeated in the viewfinder.
Prem.
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Ok, as you now got your ‘MM2’ back, transfer the settings from the good one, if you haven’t done yet.–> SD card.
To control if both bodies register the same amount of light, take some pics with the same settings, the same lens, from the same thing(s) in the same controlled light (indoor ?) with both bodies and compare the results on your computer – just for yourself!
IF there is a slight difference, THEN (only then) you can correct ‘MM2’ as you already digged out.
→ from the manual:
this correction will NOT be indicated (no over/under…symbol), only visible in the menu
now, the link should work
One thing at a time.
I have already saved the settings for D750-2 on two memory cards, and also on my computer.
Later today, I will save the settings for D750.
I will then do the two-green-button reset on D750-2 so it is again back to “like new”.
Finally, I will try to load the settings from D750 that I just saved, onto D750-2 as you suggest.
Hopefully all this works as described. I’ve never restored settings on any Nikon, so this will be the first time for me. I’m always a little bit unsure if things like this actually work…
Next step as you suggest will to be to compare an image from each camera, same exposure, same lens, same everything.
You wrote: “you can correct ‘MM2’ as you already digged out.” with the last words in blue as if it’s a link, but the link doesn’t do anything??? Strange.
If you mean what I think you mean, making the internal adjustment so the camera doesn’t indicate there is any adjustment as described in the manual, but there is a warning that doing so disables the ability to manually over or under expose. Which I would not want to disable.
One thing at a time. I’ll leave doing this for this afternoon.
Thank you again.
That is why I have so little interest in buying either the D850 or the new Leica M11. There’s this old saying, “be careful what you wish for, as you may get it”. I don’t want bigger and heavier, and neither do I want 50 or 60 meg images, and I already had one of these cameras, I would probably still be shooting at 24 meg size. As far as I know, those images are also too large to upload to this forum. @Joanna’s point that I would have increased dynamic range is the strongest reason to buy one of them, but then I wonder to myself how much dynamic range to I need?
You are correct - I rarely make prints. Everything remains digital, and mostly gets uploaded to my web area at m.smugmug.com . I haven’t even been using that for the past two months.
If I was still employed by the magazines I used to work for, things might be different, but back then I had an income to pay for “new tools”.
Sadly, the things I used to wish for I already have, and the more modern replacements (other than electronics) I have little interest in. I still drive a 2012 Mazda MX-5, because I dislike the replacement. I prefer my older handguns to what they make now. If the camera world drops DSLR in favor of mirrorless, I’ll still be using my DSLR and Rangefinder cameras, and likely my film cameras too.
I guess in handguns and in cameras, my first choice was/is the hand built products made by machinists, not computerized tools. I have to admit though, the newer cars are safer and more reliable than the cars I grew up. Nowadays, if I see a new car, with few exceptions, I have no idea what brand it is. When I grew up I didn’t know any kid who didn’t see the obvious differences between the car brands.
Back to cameras - as a studio tool, if I ever started working commercially again, I suspect I would buy the D850 or D880 or whatever is coming out next. If I was still shooting car races, I might well get the Nikon Z9. However, I’m not, nor do I want to throw away money for things I might be even less happy with, so I’ll stick to my Nikon D750, my Df, and my Leica M10. (…and if a UFO swooped down and took away my Mazda, I would most likely buy a new (or old) Land Rover 2-door Defender.)
If you check out DxOMark’s comparison of the D750 to the D850, you will find that the dynamic range for the D850 is 14.61 stops, whereas that for the D750 is 14.53 stops. It really isn’t worthwhile if that is the only reason to upgrade.
Whereas, we do make prints - and large ones if we get the opportunity. My Epson SC-P600 printer that prints up to A3+ (13" x 19") just died on me, halfway through printing an exhibition, so I have had to order a new one and have taken the opportunity to satisfy a long-time itch to go bigger. So, I have bought a Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1000, which prints up to A2 (16.5" x 23.4"). At last, I can print what I consider a worthwhile size from my LF scans without having to send away to Ilford.
In post #424 you mentioned this → Fine Tune Optimal Exposure – How Does it Work? - digitaldarrell's Blog giving some description about the fine tuning.
Fine tuning of the D750 → camera menu → b6.
BTW, before I also misunderstood what’s written in the manual.
→ The internal fine tuning (- 1/6 → -1/1 or +1/6 → +1/1) doesn’t trigger the little square ± symbol
and is shown in the menu → b6 only.
The reason for this is simple: not to confuse the user with an internal adjustment’s indicator.
And as I tried myself, this internal fine tuning does not restrict the camera user
- from using the ± correction button to full scale (from -5.0 til +5.0)
- from using manual exposure and the ± correction button to full scale (from -5.0 til +5.0)
→ It doesn’t do any harm and doesn’t keep you back from doing your stuff.
As you said, you have saved the settings from body2 to a card (in D750’s top card slot), you could do some exercise, reset body2 to factory (firmware) state, check for the different settings, load the afore saved state back into the cam and check again. – You now should still have the old settings from body2.
[ What I don’t know (didn’t try), if the camera’s clock, timezone and IPTC metadata are left alone with factory reset OR if you have to set / write these data manually. ]
As you see, it is very simple. Take the card with the saved settings from body1 and load it into body2 – and you have synchronized those settings.
This is my plan for later today. I even woke up dreaming about it!!!
- Reset 750-2 to factory settings (two green-button reset)
- Format memory card
- Place card in computer and copy my MM2 saved settings file to card
- Replace card in MM2 and restore settings from file.
- Cross fingers, and see if my settings are back, and/or if anything more needs to be done.
I will then consider the other things you wrote. Need to do this one step at a time. With any luck, no fine tuning will be necessary. Thank you again.