can't get the lens to focus

[lucien]

Hi, I have a Nikon D5000 which I just picked up. I'm having problems with a manual focus lens. The pics are coming out too dark all the time and out of focus. It's a nikkor 75-240mm 4.5-5.6 D aperture set on 32 and locked. I put the camera in Manual and adust aperture in camera and play with shutter speed but they all come out the same. Also there is a display on the screen the one to the right of the circle on the display that shows aperture and shutter. It's for ev/values I can't get it to stop blinking even though it's at zero. Meaning it's not over or underexposed. Is it my Iso which is 1600. AF-A is on dlight auto, and matrix metering

If anyone has any suggestions that would be great, If not I guess I'll go into the shop to see what they can do with it

Thanks,

ps. I'm in Manual Mode while trying this

 

[Marcel]

Ah, I suspect that your meter compensation is way to under exposing. When you compensate exposure (for a very bright or very dark scene), you do it by pressing the exposure compensation while turning the main command wheel, if you go too far, the exposure values will blink. So, I suggest you press the exposure compensation button while looking at your menu and make sure you bring it back to zero. Let us know if this has worked.
Good luck.

 

[lucien]

that works on the 18-55mm lens.The 18-55mm is behaving like a good lens I adjusted the exposure compensation +1 and flash +1, ISO-A is flashing and I have the ISO at 1600. I'm indoors with lights on. I have managed to get the exposure to the middle, but it doesn't stay there. The bars climb back up to the right side by 5 notches. If I move around. I think it might be the lens. I haven't taken a pic since this suggestion, will do in the morn

 

[Marcel]

that works on the 18-55mm lens.The 18-55mm is behaving like a good lens I adjusted the exposure compensation +1 and flash +1, ISO-A is flashing and I have the ISO at 1600. I'm indoors with lights on. I have managed to get the exposure to the middle, but it doesn't stay there. The bars climb back up to the right side by 5 notches. If I move around. I think it might be the lens. I haven't taken a pic since this suggestion, will do in the morn

You didn't mention that you were using flash before. Try the "spot" meter setting. I think that when we use matrix, the flash always tries to do balance light, so if the light is low it will jack up the iso value. Maybe Wayne could help more than me.
Did you have a look at the lens? When removed, does the aperture move when you play with the aperture tab?
I don't have any other clue... Sorry.

 

[lucien]

Thanks Marcel, the aperture can move but I have it locked. The camera has a display that shows it going smaller/larger. and the numbers do change on the screen. I used flash to cover my butt because the images where pitch black. I did manage to get 3-4 pics but they were blurry and the aperture range for those were 5.3-7. something can't remember I deleted them. I'll have to mess around with it some more. I'm taking it out with the D50 tomm and won't have to worry about manual for now

I'll try the spot metering tomm. maybe after I'm done shooting don't want to waste/have any surprises when I get back. I don't look at the pics til I get home then throw the bad ones

 

[Marcel]

Thanks Marcel, the aperture can move but I have it locked. The camera has a display that shows it going smaller/larger. and the numbers do change on the screen. I used flash to cover my butt because the images where pitch black. I did manage to get 3-4 pics but they were blurry and the aperture range for those were 5.3-7. something can't remember I deleted them. I'll have to mess around with it some more. I'm taking it out with the D50 tomm and won't have to worry about manual for now

I'll try the spot metering tomm. maybe after I'm done shooting don't want to waste/have any surprises when I get back. I don't look at the pics til I get home then throw the bad ones

Sorry I didn't express myself well. What I meant was the diaphragm. When you look at the lens while it's removed, does the diaphragm change easily when you play with the lever? Also, what flash are you using? What is the distance you are trying to shoot from? Is there enough light for you to manually focus? If not, then maybe there isn't enough light for the camera to focus... So many things to check that I don't know what to tell you anymore.

 

[Marcel]

I'd suggest you to take a few test shots in full daylight to start with. Using manual mode, take many shots while varying the aperture and speed just to see if the aperture really change and you can get a normal exposure. Then you can work with flash after you remove the lens as being faulty.

 

[lucien]

I haven't tried the diaphragm test as yet. The flash is the one on board the cam at default settings. Distance about 15-20ft. Yes light should be ok because, I got 5 out of 20 with an image but it was blurry. I'm going to try some test shots at the end of my outing today to see how they come out. let's say it's a sunny day, for that lens range 75-240mm what aperture range should I filter through? f5.4-f11? I wanted to save some time. Also what shutter speed would compliment that 1/120-1/320 the more I zoom. IS0 should be 200? and take it off auto ISO?

I just checked the diaphragm. It is working 100% normally. Never did that before new one for me. Took the lock off and ran through the numbers. It expanded and contracted

 

[J-see]

There's no guarantee the aperture change you see on your cam is actually changing anything.

If I put an extension ring between my lens and cam, and in that disable all communication, I can still change the aperture on my cam but in reality, nothing happens unless I manually adjust the aperture ring on my lens.

 

[lucien]

I haven't tried the diaphragm test as yet. The flash is the one on board the cam at default settings. Distance about 15-20ft. Yes light should be ok because, I got 5 out of 20 with an image but it was blurry. I'm going to try some test shots at the end of my outing today to see how they come out. let's say it's a sunny day, for that lens range 75-240mm what aperture range should I filter through? f5.4-f11? I wanted to save some time. Also what shutter speed would compliment that 1/120-1/320 the more I zoom. IS0 should be 200? and take it off auto ISO?

 

[lucien]

Hi, I added what you mentioned within the post above yours via editing and then my original response got duplicated without the editing. So in fact I did manually adjust the aperture ring on the lens. Sorry for the mix up. Damn computers

 

[J-see]

I would try full manual first.

Set the aperture ring of the lens wide open and then a not too fast shutter speed at your standard ISO. Take a shot and if it is over/underexposed, in/decrease your shutter until you have a reasonable correctly exposed shot. Then you can test if everything works manually. The aperture ring from open to close and the manual focusing.

After that you can go back and see what it does when you're having the cam control the lens.


Btw, if you now use the Pv button on your cam it should open/close the aperture depending what you selected on cam. If there's no change in behavior even when you change the aperture on cam, that might already indicate something.

 

[lucien]

I'm taking the D50 out today because it has the focus motor in cam. I wouldn't want to waste a trip with experiments and come home with black frames or all pics blurry So I'm going to get the bulk of my shots done beforehand. The lens will end up on the D5000 eventually and I wanted to work out the kinks before I get rid of the D50. Going this route might force me to start shooting manual which is a plus

 

[lucien]

Hi I tried a few things today. Started from scratch. I now have brightness and a viewable picture. But the focus is for sh.... what else do you think I have to adjust?

flash on, lights on. I guess the next step is outside, but's its a crappy day. over comp. +0.3

 

[Marcel]

I would start by trying this lens (which I suspect can be faulty) on another camera that has the focus motor. You might be spending way too much time and effort with something that will never work properly until it's fixed...

 

[lucien]

I did, I took it out yesterday. There is a picture I took with it in the photo eval section. It's the third pic. But I didn't have it on manual though. I think I'm going to sell it as well as my 18-55mm that came with the camera and get the 55-300mm less headaches. And considering the price of it $70 it's going in the garbage lol, although it did quite well yesteday on the D50

 

[Marcel]

I'm sorry I completely missed the part about the D5000. Any D lenses won't focus with the 3X00 or 5X00 series. These cams don't have a focusing motor and the D lenses don't either. So it has to be manual focus. And the flash can't know the focusing distance to determine the power it needs to throw for any given pictures. So it would be manual all the way.

 

[lucien]

that's what this whole post is about. It's ok I'm going to give up on it. I'll mess around with the 18=55mm and pick up a used 55-300mm. I know the 55-200 is highly rated but I need a bit more range and I can't afford a bazooka like a 400-500 lol

 

[lucien]

It seems to work fine on the D5000, It can't be the lens then. Shot manually almost full range indoors