• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Help required with Nikon 990: software, memory cards and adapters. (1 Viewer)

Andrew Clarke

Well-known member
Hi,

I’ve recently acquired a used Nikon 990 with the intention of taking loads of excellent photos… unfortunately I have been experiencing some problems that I hope a seasoned digiscoper may be able to resolve, and also have a few more general questions.

1. Nikon View 3 software
I installed this as instructed on my PC, running Windows Me, and have had nothing but problems so far while attempting to view my snaps! I keep getting a ‘connection error’ message once everything is connected.

I’ve contacted Nikon who have instructed me on how to uninstall this old version of Nikon View and get connected… after several unhelpful emails which have not resolved the problem they have suggested that I buy a card reader!! Surely this is not necessary. I would like to buy a laptop eventually to transfer photos to when travelling and do not want to have to carry a card reader as well!!

Has anyone here experienced the same problems? Anyone suggest a remedy?

2. Memory cards
One of the 32 MB memory cards that was bundled with the camera works fine and is full of images of Black Lark and etc… I’ve tried using the other, taken just two snaps and a message appears stating that the card is out of memory. Presumably there are images present on other folders… however when I go to the Play Back menu/Folders/ All Folders it takes me right back to Folders. If I go to Folders then scroll down to NIKON it takes me back to Folders. When I use the slide show facility all I get is one image in Fine mode - yep, that Black Lark again…. anyway, how can I free up the memory and use the card.

Also, can anyone recommend a supplier of cheap memory cards. Presumably the bigger the better makes sense.

3. Adapters
I use a Swarovski ST80 HD with the 20-60 zoom. I am looking to purchase an adapter for use with this equipment and wonder if anyone could recommend a cheap, easy to use model – I don’t fancy having to mess about with taking eyecups off etc… has anyone experienced problems with the weight of cameras on straight rather than angled eyepieces and found a way round it?

Many thanks in anticipation of any help,

Sincerely,

Andrew Clarke
 
Hi Andrew,
A big welcome to Bird Forum from all he moderators and admin staff, we hope you enjoy your time here.

First off..... Nikon View (older versions) is famously awful, even the Nikon guys seem to realise this, very unfriendly with newer operating systems.
I really would suggest a card reader, they are tiny these days (Lexar's jumpshot is not much bigger than your usb cable!) and you will save your camera's batteries, not to mention the fragile usb port on the cp990.

Have you tried formatting the card? Or viewing it's contents by opening it on your p.c?
I think most cf cards are much of a muchness these days... though I still stick to Lexar which is a bit more expensive (never had a problem in 4 years of using them). Ebay has some good prices.

If you're determined to leave the eyecup attached, you will have to forget about the conventional tube type adapters and use one of the cumbersome and expensive support bracket type devices. In any event you will probably have to fold back the eyecup.

No one like having to remove the old style eye-cups.... and the thread on the Swaro' zoom seems to go on forever. I turn the eyecup around so the thread is facing my eye, then the eyecup just pops on and off of the eyepiece very quickly... your eye is still up against rubber and the view is the same.
If you can handle this.... get an adapter from L.C.E, be about £49 (I think).... see http://www.digiscoping.co.uk for prices.

Do you mean the camera pulling the zoom around? I used to use a straight Kowa tsn4 with a zoom e.p.... the answer is to use a wide rubber band around the e.p. barrel (at the base on the Swaro zoom) so that the friction should hold everything. EagleEyeUK usually supply these bands with their 'digimount' adapters destined for zoom e.p's.
Regards,
Andy
 
Hi Andrew

I found it easier to use the camera wizard on the pc,basically as soon as you`ve connected & switched the camera to playback mode the wizard guides you through the process of uploading your images.I found having the Nikon viewing sofware installed sometimes conflicted with the pc wizard.

As regards your memory card problem try formatting the card,this should clear it of images.

As regards adapters I am pretty sure that London Camera Exchange do a adapter for your eyepiece tel (01962) 866202)
Sometimes a straight scope can suffer from being back heavy when a camera is attached,to get around this try altering the mounting position of your scope ie slightly forward(not always possible)or locate your subject lock the head so that the scope is just under the subject then slightly loosen the lock so the scope rises in line with the subject & then fully tighten the lock.

Hope this helps Stevo.
 
First off Andrew, welcome to Bird Forum on behalf of all the Moderators/Admin. It is an exciting Forum with many interesting members and topics which I'm sure will address all your queries once they are aware of them.

I cannot answer all of your questions, but I do know that many of the members, myself included, do use card readers because of glitches in their CPs. It makes downloading your photos quite simple. I see where you are coming from though on using it with a laptop.

Here is a link to a website called Nikonian Discussion. Perhaps you might find some answers there. Good luck!

http://www.nikonians.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi

As to your card that seems to be full. Have you tried formatting the card? You can do this through your menu on the 990. That worked for me when I experienced the same problem.

As far as adapters, I am still looking for one that suits my needs.
 
Hi Andy/Stevo/KC,

Many thanks for the welcome and words of advice - all gratefully received.

I'll have one last go at sorting Nikon View out this week before investigating card readers.

Formatting the card resolved my problem.

The LCE adapter sounds good.

Looking forward to getting my gear up and running!

Best wishes,

Andrew
 
Andrew Clarke,

Try 7dayshop.com I went in recently while I was in Guernsey and picked up a couple of 128Mb CF cards at £19.55 each. Check their website for details of other great stuff and bundles too with postage only a quid!

Andrew
 
Hi Andrew, while i don't like to agree with nikon or any large manufacturer for that matter, i will say that a card reader is better than hooking the camera to your computer for all sorts of reasons, some which have allready been stated. I bought my 990 used as well and had no usb cable, no nikon software and i still don't. I bought a $20usd card reader from a staples store near me, i use my olympus software and fuji software that came with previous digital cameras to view and edit the pics. Get a 128mb card or two, you can get about 80 pics on one 128mb card.
 
Nikon View 5.11

Hi Andy,

I've been using my Coolpix 990 (with my wife's Leica APO Televid77) for over 2 years now and have had some great results. Sometime last year I found Nikon View 5.11 and downloaded it free from their (US?) website.....great piece of software.

The only adaptor that I've ever used was an old bino eyepiece that I found (...and sadly lost again!) it inserted perfectly inside the Leica eyepiece and my 990 fiitted snugly into that. Now I just use an old plastic/rubber plug with the centre cut out and am still getting nice shots (occasionally!)

I've tried to use others Coolpix 4500 but found the results a lot less satisfactory, though this may have been lack-of-use on my part.

I've just posted a couple of Rainbow Bee-eaters (27 Dec, Oz time) on the Birds of Asia & Australasia Gallery, let me know what you think.

Tom Tarrant
 
Andrew,

Like the other Andrew above try 7day shop their prices are very reasonable but delivery can be a little slow from the Channel Islands. Lexar cards are alright but it is a titanic struggle to get through their protective plastic sleeves. As also mentioned above go for 128 or even bigger mb card. Forget faffing about with the Nikon software, but you may like to try something like Adobe Photoshop Album to store all your results on and then you will be able to easily find all your rapidly accumulating bird photos again in the computer and also easily file them in some sort of order.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 20 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top