Nikon d3300 shutter speed problem?

I'm having a problem with my Nikon D3300 DSLR. I use it a lot for video and photos. I went to take a photo one day and the shutter speed was operating way slower than it typically does.

Even if I bump up the shutter speed to 1/200 or higher it sounds like the shutter is opening and closing at 1/25 or less.

The strange thing is images seem to be exposed normally based on the light meter, even in manual mode. I will take a picture and despite the shutter sounding like it's opening and closing very slow, the image will still be exposed correctly.

Has anyone else experienced this problem, or know what the problem might be?

Are you using live view when taking these photos? The way Nikon does Live View it has to close the shutter, take the shot, then open the shutter again to drive the live view screen. It puts a definite delay in the process of taking photos.

There are a few legitimate reasons a camera's operation may appear slow, but in each case something should indicate why. Caoedhen mentioned Live View, which slows camera operation whrn shooting, but this should be revealed by the scene displayed on the LCD and the viewfinder bring obscured. Many DSLRs also include an option to lock the mirror up (MLU) in advance of shutter release, to reduce vibration during slow exposures, but this requires two-stage operation and so should also be apparent. In any case, the D3300 does not include MLU for shooting, only cleaning (although Live View could be used as a workaround, I personally wouldn't buy a DSLR without true MLU).

When conducting your tests, did you ensure exposure was entirely manual? Nikon's ISO Sensitivity Auto Control can override user exposure even in Manual mode, so check this and disable if necessary. Once you are certain you have full manual control, take a sequence of test shots varying shutter speed by one stop from one end of the scale to the other. Try one sequence where only shutter speed is altered, keeping aperture fixed, resulting in images that should show this change in exposure. Then shoot another set altering shutter and aperture in step, resulting in images that should not significantly vary in exposure.

Check the metadata from your image files to ensure the exposure settings, shutter, aperture, and ISO, are all as expected. In particular check that high shutter speeds are being used even when the mechanical sounds seem slow.

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