Manual focus shifts at on/off

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Zaplatynski

New member
Hey folks, new user and camera novice here.

I'm using a D7100 with the AF-P 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G DX VR lens to shoot video. Just stationary talking head stuff in my home office, manual focus only ... as near as I can tell. When I shut the camera off and turn it back on between taking breaks, my scene is out of focus and I have to readjust the focus ring. Certainly not ideal for editing separate clips together, especially if using jump cuts and such.

I've Googled the holy heck out of the problem and can't find anything that fits the description of my problem, let alone a solution.

Any ideas?
 
B

Bikerbrent_RIP

Senior Member
Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride.
We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

I don't do video, so can't help you, but I am sure someone will be along shortly.
 
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nickt

Senior Member
Check out the instruction sheet for that lens. I can't cut and paste, but there is a note in there under Focus section saying users of d7100 (and others) will experience a change in focus position if the standby timer expires and restarts. They suggest increasing the standby timer for manual focus shooters and in other situations where the timer might expire before you shoot.

http://download.nikonimglib.com/arc...36B9sIH87/AFP18-55_3.5-5.6GVR_NT(7C_DL)02.pdf
 
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mbraner

New member
I've just joined this forum today so wasn't here to answer earlier. Some months ago I bought an AF-P lens to use on my D7100, and ran into the same problem. Or more precisely: it did auto-focus, but I had to re-focus after turning the camera on and off, or even after the metering turns itself off due to timing out. Following advice I found elsewhere on the interwebs, I updated the firmware of the camera - with trepidation, but it completed OK. After that the focus no longer reset up power-cycle. The D7100 with the latest firmware is ALMOST fully compatible with AF-P lenses. One cannot turn off the VR though - for AF-P lenses that's done via the camera menu but it's not available in the D7100. That does not seem to hurt too much, the VR on these newer lenses is pretty smart. And the lens I bought, the 70-300 AF-P VR, is a dream come true: small and light, and offers sharp handheld pictures at 300mm!
 
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