Auto focus not working on d3200

Staceyd3200

New member
Hi iv got the nikon d3200 and iv been doing a photography course with it and learnt all all about shutter speeds and appeture etc. I had the standard 18to 55ml lens then got the 55 to 200 lens for Xmas. Last night on my course I had the 200ml lens on and we were looking at lighting in the studio. All of a sudden the lens just stopped auto focusing it was just taking blurred pictures. But when I put the lens on manual I could manually focus it. The tutor on the course had a look too and said he didn't know why it was doing it but it was just not registering auto focus with the lens. I thought it may be the lens so when I got home I put my 18 to 55 ml lens on but it was doing the same thing. On auto focus on the lens it just takes the photo whether in focus or not. It's not doing that where u press the shutter half it goes into focus and you can hear it changing. It just takes anything you point it at. I'm assuming with it being on both lens this must be a problem with my camera and I don't know what to do about it. I only got the camera in November. Any advise would be much appreciated. Thanks
 

DraganDL

Senior Member
Don't know about your "tutor", but I would check the camera settings first. The easiest way to check whether the camera's AF is malfunctioning or not, is to revert all settings to the "factory defaults". That can be done within a few seconds using the in-camera menu. And, of course, make sure the "auto/manual" switch(es) on the lens(es) are in their "auto" or "A" position...
 
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Brian

Senior Member
My neighbor had this problem- turned out that he had inadvertently set the "Rangefinder" to "OFF". It makes no sense at all why Nikon would choose that word with regard to Autofocus- but setting it "ON" fixed the problem.
 

Flugelbinder

Senior Member
My neighbor had this problem- turned out that he had inadvertently set the "Rangefinder" to "OFF". It makes no sense at all why Nikon would choose that word with regard to Autofocus- but setting it "ON" fixed the problem.

And the "tutor" checked the camera you say?!?... :cool:
 

Brian

Senior Member
And the "tutor" checked the camera you say?!?... :cool:

I had never seen his camera before, he saw me outside with the Df. When he saw how sharp the images were on the screen, told me his Nikon was no where near that sharp. I offered to take a look for him.

I've been around computers and cameras for a long time. I push buttons, click mice, and turn knobs at random until the device does what I want.
 

ksharma

New member
Hi Nikonites,
I am also facing similar issue. Current (default) settings :
1) Autofocus is enabled (switch is towards 'A')
2) Rangefinder is OFF.
Now while taking photo, when I press the shutter-release button halfway, lens does not move automatically to focus the object. Shutter-release button behaves as if it's disabled.
I have tried all above mentioned fixes, but did not help in my case.

Could you please suggest me possible reasons/fixes for this problem ?

Thanks a ton !!
 

Deezey

Senior Member
Hi Nikonites,
I am also facing similar issue. Current (default) settings :
1) Autofocus is enabled (switch is towards 'A')
2) Rangefinder is OFF.
Now while taking photo, when I press the shutter-release button halfway, lens does not move automatically to focus the object. Shutter-release button behaves as if it's disabled.
I have tried all above mentioned fixes, but did not help in my case.

Could you please suggest me possible reasons/fixes for this problem ?

Thanks a ton !!

Turn Rangefinder ON. Your camera isn't checking the distance to "target" and therefore the lens doesn't focus.
 

ksharma

New member
Thanks for ur quick reply Deezey.

I tried with Rangefinder ON. Still facing the same issue.
Is there any other setting which stops the lens to automatically move to focus the object ?
Please suggest.

Thanks.
 

EsseJay

New member
I just fixed this problem by switching the camera to manual focus and manually focusing in on an object, then keeping it pointed at the same object clicked it back to autofocus and i guess the camera recognized where it's point of focus was again.
 

GSXR_Rider

Senior Member
I believe I had an issue similar to this where my D3200 would stop focusing at random and at that point I had to switch back to manual mode on the lens itself in order to be able to use the camera. It didn't matter if it was the 18-55 or 55-200 lens I had the same issues with both. I just recently dropped the camera off with my warranty provider (Geeksquad, I purchased the D3200 kit camera at BestBuy) for service and when I called to check up on the status they read off a long list of repairs they had made, although I am not quite sure what the exact repairs were I hope it has corrected my issue. I'll report back and let you guys know if it fixed the issue or not.
 

Grizzz

New member
The first selection in the "Shooting Menu' is Reset Shooting Menu. Select that and then choose YES. It should fix the problem I had the same problem and damn if I could figure out what was going on. Occasionally the electrical contacts on the lens, and just inside the lens mount on the camera will get a little funky, and cleaning those contacts with a Q-Tip with a tiny bit of alcohol fixes things up. There has been a couple of occasions where the camera misbehaved for no reason that I could find, and the RESET always put things back in working order.
 

mmarie

New member
My neighbor had this problem- turned out that he had inadvertently set the "Rangefinder" to "OFF". It makes no sense at all why Nikon would choose that word with regard to Autofocus- but setting it "ON" fixed the problem.

Thank you!!! This was totally my issue. I have no idea how the Rangefinder was set to OFF. I usually don't select what I don't know. But you're amazing! Thanks for sharing this:)
 

gordo52

Senior Member
I had this problem only 3 days ago, I took the lens off and gently and carefully cleaned the contacts and generally wipe lens and camera. Put the lens back on set the Apreture Mode, it worked again
 

Zylcho

New member
I have owned this D3200 for a little over 2 years. Since day one have had nothing but focal issues. Sent back to Nikon 4 times under warranty then another time out of warranty. For the price of $250 all I am told is that "we performed an electrical adjustment" No information as to what that exactly was when I called. Camera absolutely refuses to auto focus no matter what you do. When it does work you may get a couple days out of it then right back to not even trying to focus.

I have read that this is a problem with this model and Nikon refuses to address the issues with it.

I have an older EOS as a backup that takes cleaner, clearer than the 3200 ever did. If you did a side by side (which I have) the canon blows the Nikon away, even on its best days. Hell my 10 year old sony blows it away. Anyone want to buy a camera, slightly used?
 
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