Nikon D7000 + Tamron AF 70-300 f/4-5.6 (172DN) fEE Error - Need Help!

Insanus

Insanus

New member
Hey everyone, hope you’re doing alright.

Here’s the deal: I just got a Nikon D7000 with a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6GII ED, and it works perfectly — tested and all good.

But when I mount my Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 (172DN, screwdriver AF), the camera throws an fEE error and refuses to shoot. The aperture ring is locked at f/22, I’ve set it manually with the ring, tried Manual mode (M), and every other mode — no dice. I’ve cleaned the contacts, updated the camera firmware to the latest version, reset all settings — still nothing.

Here’s the kicker:

This Tamron works flawlessly on my Nikon D80, no issues at all.
On a Nikon D3200, it works fine in manual focus (MF).
I tried another Tamron 70-300 (model 472D) on the D7000 — same fEE error, doesn’t work.
My Nikon AF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 GII ED (non-VR) works fine on the D7000.
Nikon AF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 GII VR II also works perfectly.
Has anyone run into something like this? I got the D7000 specifically for telephoto work, so I’m kinda stuck. Any advice or fixes would be a lifesaver. Thanks!
 
BF Hammer

BF Hammer

Senior Member
I am having a nostalgia trip just reading the hardware. I am sure I had that Tamron lens and a D7000, but not at the same time. The Tamron was such a frustrating slow AF to use on my D80's that I junked it after getting a similar Nikon screw-drive 70-300.

But I do have a relevant story for a Tamron 1.4x AF teleconverter. It worked perfectly on a D80 for years but threw a similar error mounted on a D7000. And it continued to be fine on a D80. I also at the time had a screw-drive Tamron 90mm f/2.5 that I continued to use on that D7000 and a Tamron 18-270mm PZD which was my usual shooting lens. It was weird, but I figured it was one of those aftermarket gear incompatibility things I had read about.

Over some time I also bought a modern Tamron 90mm f/2.8 that worked great on a D7000 and D750. But I quickly discovered it worked poorly with a Z5 and FTZ adapter. I had to dig with a lot of googling to find Tamron acknowledged this incompatibility in a hidden support page on their website. I no longer have any Tamron lenses.
 
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