Nikon Europe's English site:
"We have confirmed that with autofocus shooting using the AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens, autofocus may sometimes become disabled and focus operation switches to manual focus* when the zoom ring on the lens is rotated while the camera's shutter-release button is pressed halfway, or the camera's AF-ON button is held down.
Firmware in lenses with a serial number of 2008365 or higher have already been updated."
Nikon USA calls it a firmware upgrade (LOL!). You can check here to see if your lens is on the affected list
Mine is on the affected list but since I have not seen the issue under normal use, I probably will hold off before taking it in. I have not done any kind of stress test to recreate it. Note the key word in the acknowledged issue is: SOMETIMES. In any case, because I am only about an hour's drive away from the Nikon repair facility on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles, I may just drop it off/pick it up if/when I do decide to get the firmware upgrade, but I am in no rush. Nikon has told me that the turnaround for the firmware upgrade will be less than their usual 7-10 day turnaround estimate.
"We have confirmed that with autofocus shooting using the AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens, autofocus may sometimes become disabled and focus operation switches to manual focus* when the zoom ring on the lens is rotated while the camera's shutter-release button is pressed halfway, or the camera's AF-ON button is held down.
Firmware in lenses with a serial number of 2008365 or higher have already been updated."
Nikon USA calls it a firmware upgrade (LOL!). You can check here to see if your lens is on the affected list
Mine is on the affected list but since I have not seen the issue under normal use, I probably will hold off before taking it in. I have not done any kind of stress test to recreate it. Note the key word in the acknowledged issue is: SOMETIMES. In any case, because I am only about an hour's drive away from the Nikon repair facility on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles, I may just drop it off/pick it up if/when I do decide to get the firmware upgrade, but I am in no rush. Nikon has told me that the turnaround for the firmware upgrade will be less than their usual 7-10 day turnaround estimate.