AF problem

[Dylan8i]

So i was out hiking today. i stopped for lunch and was shooting around the river, and switched lens, and the af on my camera stopped working. it may have gotten jiggled around a bit right before hand or a drip of water or two. but nothing major (and was AF before i switched lens). im always careful and nothing fell in to (or dripped) the body when i switched. i tried all three of my lenses (all af-s) and none would auto focus on any settings (c or s). the contacts look clean, so i don't have any clue what to try or if i should send it to the factory at some point ( i have no cash to right now). when i press the shutter button, i don't hear any motor sound, but it lets me take the photo, and i can mf fine.

any clues?

oh and my camera/ lenses are in my signature.

[jorgemonkey]

I take it you checked the AF/M button on the side of the camera near the lens release button?

[Grandpaw]

I think you have the answer in one of the two replies, Jeff

On the d300 the lock button is to the right of the LCD screen and needs to have the two dots next to each other. If the dot on the moving swith is lined up with the "L" it will not let the lenses focus.

[Dylan8i]

On the d300 the lock button is to the right of the LCD screen and needs to have the two dots next to each other. If the dot on the moving swith is lined up with the "L" it will not let the lenses focus.

as far as i know on the d200 the switch under the multi selector with the focus lock (l or the dot) is only for locking the auto focus area, IE which square you have selected to focus on, not wether or not it will auto focus or not. thats what the AE-L/AF-L button does, when depressed it keeps the focus locked where it was when depressed (i have mine set just for AE-L though).

[Franglais]

It sounds exactly like the three-position selector for the autofocus is on "M" which deactivates all autofocus by the camera. The button is on the left hand side of the camera by the lens barrel (see my example)

It should be on S (Single shot) or C (Continuous)

This is the same reply as Jorgemonkey

[Frog]

and or the af/ae lock button?

[Dylan8i]

just double checked again, the focus is not locked, the focus switch doesn't matter if its in c or s (camera body) the lens focus is in a/m. still no AF, or even motor noise.

[Dylan8i]

the focus switch doesn't matter if its in c or s (camera body) the lens focus is in a/m. still no AF, or even motor noise.

no thats not the problem.

[Dallas J]

Did you try reset of your settings? I dont know if the D200 has it, but the D90 has 2 buttons with a white dot next to them. Holding them 2 sec then release and press again resets most things.

[Dylan8i]

i pretty much changed all the setting by hand, but i guess i should look up how to reset them all tomorrow.

[Dylan8i]

the only thing i found was teh menu option to reset all menu options. and that didn't help.

two new facts i found out though, when shutter is 1/2 way depressed

VR DOES turn on
AF assist light DOES NOT turn on.




does anyone know the proper way to contact nikon to assist in a problem such as this?

[Franglais]

the only thing i found was teh menu option to reset all menu options. and that didn't help.

two new facts i found out though, when shutter is 1/2 way depressed

VR DOES turn on
AF assist light DOES NOT turn on.

does anyone know the proper way to contact nikon to assist in a problem such as this?

Check the Menu setting a6. That's "Activation AF" on my D200 (which is in French). If it's set OFF ohen only the AF-On button (next to the knurled wheel under your thumb) will activate the Autofocus, not the shutter release.

I checked on mine (with a6 ON and a9 ON). The assist light comes on in Single shot mode focussing but not in Continuous or Manual

[Dylan8i]

nope those menu options did not change the fact that AF still will not work, or af light come on.


to reitereate the problem
AF does not work (in either C or s mode) with the lens in A/m mode, with several different lenses.
VR does turn on when the shutter is depressed.
AF assist light does not turn on when the camera is properly set up and the shutter is depressed.


doees anyone know the proper channels to use to contact nikon? do i need to call or email, contact a local represenitive or what?

[Grandpaw]

Look here, Jeff

I have called them a couple of times and they were very helpful.
http://support.nikontech.com/app/ans...etail/a_id/238

[Grandpaw]

Dylan, did you ever figure out what was causing your trouble? Jeff

[Dylan8i]

i haven't i emailed them at that web address and they said to send it in, i would have this weekend, but the penguins had their STANLEY CUP parade today.... so i went and just manually focused the whole thing and they turned out ok.

so it should hopefully be send to nikon this week.

[Franglais]

Let us now what the result is. This problem is really puzzling.

[Dylan8i]

yep, i will do. i figure the af motor is just shot, or shorted out some how, but we'll see.

[Dylan8i]

so nikon finally shipped my camera back to me today. so it should arrive early next week i guess. it was only in the shop getting repaired the last 2-3 days. the 2 weeks or so before that it was on a parts hold waiting for parts to come in. hopefully they ship it back with a note saying what they fixed, cause i haven't heard yet.

[Dylan8i]

so i actually got the camera body back today in the mail.

they said that they replaced the rubber grip,
cleaned the af unit,
did a general check and clean,
RPL CF cardholder rubber,
Repaired auto focus operation

cost was 200 + 25 shipping back.
cleaned the CCD sensor.

i was glad they did those general maintenance things, since the sticky on the rubber grip was defiantly worn off.