HELP - autofocus problems with new Nikon 28-70?

Dangleman

Dangleman

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Starting to think buying this lens (Nikkor 28-70mm 2.8) second hand may have been a mistake.

Went out for a walk in the hills today to test it out in the field. Have discoverd there seems to be a problem with autofocusing on distant objects when it's set at the wide end (28mm). The AF is flawless when objects are near eg within 10m, but if I set it to wide and try to focus on distant objects eg over 50m or so away, the autofocus has trouble 'locking on'. I seems to only be apparent when at 28mm too, if you zoom in a tiny bit it seems to be ok

Does anyone have experience of this? Is it faulty? Is it a known issue with this lens?. I really don't want to have to go through sending it back (bought it second hand from MPB photographic) as I've had it just over 7 days so it will have to go away for repair under warrenty I presume? If it needs repairing....

P.S. I've tested it on 2 bodies (D3 and D200) so I'm pretty sure it's the lens itself. My Nikkor 18-70 has no such problem either.
 
Hi Icecavern - was hoping you might reply as I know you had this lens. Doesn't sound good. How do you find the 24-70's AF when set at 24 and locking on to distant objects? Is it the fact that I'm trying to focus on the landscape and it's just 'searching'. I also tried to lock onto trees that were only abot 40m away and it wouldn't lock, this doesn't seem right?

Seems to be ok in continuous focus mode though, only seems to struggle when set 's'...
 
No idea what's wrong. Sounds more like a body fault than a lens fault though. Remember the AF system needs to see contrast to be able to focus.
 
Have tried it on 2 bodies though (D3 and D200) and it's the same on both, so unlikely to be that. Just tried the 28-70 on a third body (D70) and it won't work at all on that! Getting the fEE error message! What the hell is going on?
 
Right, just done some proper testing, and am ignoring the d70 issue as on doing some web research it looks like this may be something else altogether.

It seems that when at 28mm the lens will not autofocus on anything that is further than about 10-15m away. As you zoom up to 35mm it gets a bit better, at 50mm and above it is absolutely fine. This is with contrasty scenes as well, eg shooting a car at about 25m away. Looks like this lens is faulty, arse :cautious:

I bought it second hand from MPB photo graphic, received it 9 days ago. This is more than the 7 day return period so will have to use their 6 month 'warranty' - does this mean they will have to send it away to get repaired, or can I just get a refund, anyone have experience of this?
 
Why don't you just phone them and tell them the problem? With them being members here as well as yourself, they might honour the 7 day return policy? Can't hurt to ask :)
 
Mine does this sometimes and has done so on my D200, D2x and now my D3. Only does it from time to time, the focus just hunts back and forth very quickly but within a small tolerance of the actual correct focus plain. I have to remove it from the camera and re-attach to make it work again.

I keep meaning to drop in to Nikon for a service.
 
Richard Peters said:
Mine does this sometimes and has done so on my D200, D2x and now my D3. Only does it from time to time, the focus just hunts back and forth very quickly but within a small tolerance of the actual correct focus plain. I have to remove it from the camera and re-attach to make it work again.

I keep meaning to drop in to Nikon for a service.
Click to expand...

Hi Richard

Do you find this happens at all focal lengths though for you? With mine it really only is a problem at around 35-40mm and below. Also removing it and putting it back on makes no difference. I've also cleaned the cpu connectors with rubbing alcohol - no difference either....
 
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