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weird lens problem...

Lisa

New member
Has anyone here heard of this one before? I have the Nikkor 18-200 DX lens (used on a D300), and recently it won't take the picture when the lens is at the 18mm end. It autofocusses, but nothing more happens when I press the shutter button; no picture taken. When the lens is extended even a little, it works fine. I've tried wiping the lens contacts, but no joy. Any idea what might be going on? Something easy to fix?

Thanks,
Lisa
 

Lars

Active member
Is it AF-related? Does it indicate focus lock? Try switching to MF.

One thing that can happen is that the lens or camera bayonet gets bent so that the lens cannot focus on infinity. Zoom lenses would have different margin past infinity at different focal lengths which could explain why it doesn't fire at one focal length.

Otherwise I have no clue.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Maybe Bill Gates has bought Nikon shares. "Usage rights to this lens is limited to 1,500 exposures at each focal length. When your quota has expired, renewed clicks can be acquired for $150 per 500 additional shots for each focal length that has to be bought in packages of 5 focal lengths. Professional usage requires an upgraded license. Please see the gray text in 3pt Times New Roman at the lower left corner on the back of this contract."
 

Lisa

New member
Thanks for the suggestion, Lars. It should have occurred to me to check whether autofocus was the issue, but I didn't know that could be affected by focal length. That does appears to be the problem; it does work in manual-focus mode. Even when it works with autofocus at slightly less wide than fully-wide, the images look like they aren't in proper focus. I've sent it off to Nikon service for repair...

Lisa
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
I had that lens for a while and whilst I didn't have that problem, it was never very good at focussing and I felt it was poorly made: poorly made lenses also have quite wide sample variation, so if it is still under return period I'd keep asking for new ones until you get one that works!
 
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