Nikon D50 issue with lens/autofocus.

moose

New member
Hello,
I'm new to Nikonites, so I hope this is an appropriate question and appropriate area.

I went to a basketball game a week or two ago and was attempting to take some pictures. I noticed that sometimes, the camera would seemingly lose connection with the lens, which is evidenced by no aperture (F stop) being listed. Considering I had been taking pictures just fine a minute earlier, I found this to be odd. Without the lens and camera making connection, the camera would not auto focus, which is a problem during fast paced sports.

I guess my question really is that, is this a common issue?
I purchased my camera and lens used a couple of years ago from a well known photography site, and when the camera came, it seemed as if it had been barely used. I have never sent the camera in for service, but can Nikon fix this issue? I'd be willing to spend a (reasonable) sum of money to fix this camera rather than purchase a new one. I am a college student and purchasing a new $500+ camera is really out of the equation for me right now. Also, does this sound like a camera body or camera lens issue? If its a lens issue, I can just buy a new lens.

I hope all that made sense, if it didn't, let me know and I can try to explain better. I'm a little bit at a loss of how to explain the issue, so that was my best attempt.



-- Moose
 

Joseph Bautsch

New member
Moose, welcome to the Nikonites Community. Sometimes the contact points between camera and lens can get dirty or get a film of corrosion on the contact points. Try using a soft cotton cloth damp (do not soak it) a lens cleaning cloth works well, with lens cleaner and wipe down the contact points on the lens. Do the same on the camera body. Mount and dismount the lens several times. That should clean off the contacts and get the system working again. If this does not work then you may have problems beyond anything you can do for it. Try this and let us know what happens.
 

Ranie

Senior Member
I have a D50 before. I also experience this problem. What I did is to clean the lens contacts with an eraser. Then I swab the camera contacts with lighter fluid. It never happened again. Hope this works.
 

moose

New member
Just a quick update.

Unfortunately, I don't have another lens to test with, but that would be a really great way to narrow down the problem. I tried the lens cleaner and soft cloth, and it seems to be better, but I could still replicate the problem if I really tried. I guess the answer there is 'Don't really try,' haha. I'm just afraid it'll happen by accident. However for now, it works well enough that I can go shoot with it again.

Thanks for the tip, Ranie. I'll probably give that a shot fairly soon (just to assure the contacts are as clean as possible), especially if the problem gets bad again.

Thanks for the help!



-- Moose
 

moose

New member
While I hate to bring up an old topic, the situation has developed.

Because it will soon be summer, I considered having my camera professionally cleaned before I enjoyed the summer months with it. Additionally, I hoped to have this issue resolved once and for all -- cleaning the contacts helped a little (or so I thought), but it was still having issues, so I stopped by a local camera store and had them take a look.

The salesman was extremely helpful, and first checked the contacts of my lens and my camera. He said the contacts seemed to be fine, but he could see how jiggling the lens caused the issue, and understood how it may happen accidentally while focused on shooting. He decided to try another lens and try as we might, we couldn't recreate the problem. His diagnosis was that one of the connectors on my lens was (going) bad, and he also noted he could hear the autofocus struggling. Because it is a D50, I thought the auto focus was in the body. He said it was, but there was also one in the lens. Long story short, he said that my lens was dying, and that I should buy a new lens. To his credit, he didn't lead in with "And I have the perfect lens here than you can walk out with today!" or any kind of sales pitch. Rather, he suggested I buy used off of eBay since new would be so expensive (and this was even before I informed him I was a college student).

Long story short, my lens is bad, and I need to purchase another. I could have found that out months ago if I had a different lens (and really, I should have taken the camera in a long time ago).

With this in mind though, I have a question. Assuming I have a lens and camera that both have autofocus, should I use the autofocus on the lens or camera? What happens if i use them at the same time? I didn't realize my lens had autofocus (although now it seems obvious, and I feel rather foolish), and thus turned the focus on both the camera and the lens to "auto". I'm afraid that by turning both on, I may have put undue stress on either or both the lens and the camera body. Does anyone know if this is the case? What should my plan of action be in the future?

From here forward, I am looking for a new lens. I was about to purchase a 70-200, but I would hate to not have my old standby 18-55. Would it be worth the increased cost to purchase an 18-200? The main disadvantage I see to that, is that to get what I feel is a reasonable aperture (2.8, preferred) the lens will be huge and unwieldy.

Thanks everyone, for your help both then, and now!
 

Joseph Bautsch

New member
moose, you don't have to worry about the lens focus drive and the body focus drive competing with one another. The choice of which auto focus, (lens or body), to use is not one you can make, other than auto focus or manual focus. The AF-S lens, the one with the built in focus drive, has a built in CPU chip that is read by the body. If the lens auto focus drive is detected then the body focus drive is turned off and only the lens focus drive is used. If you are looking for a long reach zoom (200mm+) with an f/2.8 then be prepared to carry a lot of weight.
 
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Gloria

New member
Hello, I've been ready every post I can find on issues with auto focus. I've cleaned the contacts on both of my Nikon lens and and neither will auto focus. I have the AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm and the AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens. A few weeks ago I had a couple of issues with it but it seemed to be lighting but was okay when I corrected the lighting. When I have the 18-200 lens on and I try to take a picture, my flash will pop up and I can hear something in the camera but the shutter will not release to take a picture. If I move the AF switch to manual it works. Any suggestions? Gloria
 

maximvsv

New member
I got a D50 from someone on Craigslist. It had the same sort of problem, and since I never had a Nikon before, when trial and error showed me that the problem was with the camera's interaction with AF lenses, I took it to one of the shops in Philadelphia to get it checked. The person there immediately noticed that the lever that is supposed to adjust the lens's aperture was askew. I can temporarily get it to where it is supposed to be, but it generally gets displaced within one or two shots.

Does anyone have images of that part of the mechanism that I could see so I can figure out whether I can repair it?
 

philz

Senior Member
Happy Sunday morning fellow Nikonites!

I was given a Nikkor AF 35-70mm f/1.33-4.5 the other day and have been playing with it on my D3100. The person who gave it to me said that she had gotten it as part of the package when she purchased her D50 and that the AF no longer worked, and that she was going to purchase a new lens anyway.

Put it on my camera, fit beautifully. Used manual focus ring, focuses crisply. Used zoom, small problem I'll ask about in a minute.

As regards the AF, is it reasonable for me to assume that this lens, mounted to my D3100, and assuming the mechanics of the lens plus the electronics *should* allow the AF to work ... or am I hoping for something that's not in the design? If it *should* work, does the clean the contacts comments above seem likely to be a possible solution ... stressing possible?

Second question ... I've noticed that I leave the lens focused to the infinity mark, the manual zoom gets INCREDIBLY stiff and actually freezes ... I have to refocus to anywhere between the 5ft mark and down into the macro range. Obviously this is no big deal ... doesn't render the lens unusable ... takes a second or three for this old brain to reconnect a neuron and remember that this doesn't mean bye bye lens just move the dang focus!

But it *would* be nice if all worked properly, right? So, even if the autofocus stuff I mentioned the first question can't work, for whatever reason ... and ideas on what might cause the zoom lockup when the focus is left on infinity?

Thanks ... and happy Nikoning!
 

humpbackshooter

New member
Hello all. Hate to bump a old thread but...... I am having the same problem as stated above. I like to shoot pics while I'm hunting ( ducks in Ark.) The problem began last yr. I have a D50 w/ a quantaray 70-300 lens. I also have the standard small lens that came with the camera. When I first got the camera, I could shoot shots of the ducks in air and flyin with no problem. Now I have a problem where the camera will not focus. I can still take shots when there is back-ground close or in the distance, but if there is a clear blue sky, then the camera/lens will not focus. The camera will (you can hear it) run in and out, and the not get the green lite in the bottom left. Sounds like there is some gears inside that are stripped at the very end of the sequence. I have carried the camera to the shop and had it ck out. ($125) They said that there was no problem. I had the small lens on it at that time.That was back in the summer. Used it at the lake for some sking pics, worked O.K. then. Since then, I have tried to use it this past weekend and it did the same thing. Only this time I tried the small lens too. Same thing happen. Would not focus. The background was of blue skies and there was some shot were there might have been some clouds too. Camera is in AUTO. The switch on the front is in AF. The lens is in auto also. I know that the quantaray lens is a run of the mill lens, but it has worked good for me so far.
Thanks in advance.
Phil

Below is some pics that I shot with the camera before the the problem began. The middle shot was last week.
Greers Ferry  Aug. 2012   Day 7  (203).JPGHunting 13-14 (2).jpgHunting 11-12 (27).jpg
 
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Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
PS. I know that there is some dirt on the lens. I cleaned it off after seeing the pics.
Thanks,
Phil

The dark spots that you see in the sky are not caused by dust on the lens, but by dust inside the camera behind the shutter on the sensor.

As far as the focusing problem goes, you have to understand how the autofocus works in new DSLRs. In order for autofocus to work, you need a few things:

First, you need enough light with a lens that has a large enough opening for the auto-focus to work.
Second, your subject has to be contrasty and just not be in front of a brighter and more contrary pattern. Trying to use autofocus on clouds or in the sky is almost always difficult. If you read the Nikon manual, there is a whole section about difficult focusing situations and how to deal with them.

Third, sometimes it's better to use manual focus.

Good luck.
 

nickt

Senior Member
I don't really know the d50, but is it possible that you could be in a different focus area mode than you were previously? For instance, in the past you may have been in dynamic area mode and maybe now in single point mode. That manually selected focus point could end up in the clouds and cause you to miss the intended subject. I think this setting still comes into play even though the camera is in Auto mode. just a guess.

re: dust ... it looks like sensor dust. check this out:
How to Spot Dust on Your DSLR Sensor
 

humpbackshooter

New member
Thanks guys for the post up. I'll have to ck the settings again. Still what is happening when the camera/lens is trying to focus and the you can hear the lens go in/out and at the end you hear something that sounds like plastic gears that is stripped. At this point its still out of focus. I'm thinking that there is something not letting it get to the far focus point. ( my words for I not sure whats happen inside). As far as light, on a bright sunny day, I would think there is more than enough light. (rookie mistake possiable). I will try the manual and see how that goes.
Thanks again, I will let you know how it goes.
010109.JPGThis was a early morning shot a few yrs back.
 
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