Solved: No autofocus in any mode

[poisonborz]

I received my kit a few days ago, and after fumbling around with it, I recognized I can't get it to autofocus. Not only does it no AF but the AF sleect button on the side is also not working.

• Flip above the backside dial is not on Locked position
• Focus switch is on AF (both on body and lens)
• When half-pressing the shutter / pressing AF-On (bound to AE-L) a single focus point is visible, red led lights up in the viewfinder but that's all, shots remain unfocused.
• I've tried to take on-off the lens several times. Both with a fixed 35mm Nikkor, and a 55-300mm Nikkor. The latter has VR that is clicking while half-pressing the shutter - so the body does communicate with the lens I suppose.
• Below are my settings. Battery is charged well and obviously the camera is on. I've tried to reset any user settings (there's no actual factory reset on the D7200)

As I said, AF mode button does nothing, in any mode. Focus-related settings as shown in the manual are not present, it's as if AF would be disabled somehow - as if the camera wouldn't think it can control lens focus, thus has this disabled. Is there something I could try before returning it?

 

[Marilynne]

Welcome!

I don't know anything about the D7200. Hopefully some one will be able to help.

 

[Skwaz]

Hi looking at your settings it Shows AF ON, I'm sure that means you initiate focus using the AE-L, AF-L button
ie back button focusing , the shutter button is disabled for focusing hope that helps

 

[poisonborz]

Hi looking at your settings it Shows AF ON, I'm sure that means you initiate focus using the AE-L, AF-L button
ie back button focusing , the shutter button is disabled for focusing hope that helps

Sadly not, nothing triggers AF. This is a clearer picture below - it seems it's stuck on fixed-point, locked focus. But the switch above the dial is not on Locked... I also tried to mount-remount the lenses, to no avail.

 

[nickt]

• when half-pressing the shutter / pressing af-on (bound to ae-l) a single focus point is visible, red led lights up in the viewfinder but that's all, shots remain unfocused.

Just to be clear, you are pressing the ae-l/af-l button on the back of the camera? I ask because it looks like you are set up for back-button focus. That is, af-on function is now assigned to the ae-L/af-L button, so half pressing the shutter will not focus the camera, but that back button should. It sounds like you know that, but I wanted to clarify for sure.
Not sure why modes aren't available, I haven't thought that far yet.

 

[poisonborz]

Yes, I only wanted to illustrate that focusing does not work either way (I've resetted back-button focus since then). The camera is Locked in single-point AF, without any way to change back. I wonder if that's the default behavior if a non-AF lens is on (so that the camera doesn't detect the AF-capable lens). If it would be a motor failure I guess I'd be able to still change modes.

 

[nickt]

It does act like its not recognizing the lens. I wonder, if you are able to take a picture, if the camera would identify the the lens. On the playback screen, you should be able to up/down arrow and find the screen where it lists your lens's description. (You might have to click something ON in playback options to show the shooting data) If it does ID your lens, I'm not sure that confirms anything but if it does not ID your lens, that would certainly be a problem. Maybe clean the lens contacts? Seems unnecessary to have to clean contacts on a brand new camera, it sounds like a problem. I cant think of anything else.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

My camera is my car at the moment, but as I recall setting up back-button focus requires two things: enabling the AE-L/AF-L button as the focus button AND dis-abling the shutter from initiating focus when pressed. Or am I not remembering it correctly? I ask because I wonder if you remembered to re-set both options?
....

 

[nickt]

My camera is my car at the moment, but as I recall setting up back-button focus requires two things: enabling the AE-L/AF-L button as the focus button AND dis-abling the shutter from initiating focus when pressed. Or am I not remembering it correctly?

I'm thinking its not that way on my d7000 or d7100. Setting the af/ae-L to af-on disables the shutter button focus. Probably the same on the d7200. I think your memory has basis though. It sounds very familiar to me too, maybe one of the full frames works that way.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

I'm thinking its not that way on my d7000 or d7100. Setting the af/ae-L to af-on disables the shutter button focus. Probably the same on the d7200. I think your memory has basis though. It sounds very familiar to me too, maybe one of the full frames works that way.

Maybe... I had a rough night last night, and it's still early here, but it sure seems like there were two things I had to do to set up BBF. I'll google it.

Nope, you're right... On the D7100 EN-abling focus for the AE-L/AF-L button DIS-ables it for the shutter button.
....

 

[nickt]

On d7000 for bbf, I need to set Af-ON, AF-C, and release priority for af-c. The d7100 knows what is going on and you don't need to set release priority, its automatically works that way when you set af-on and af-c. I thought I remember d800 guys saying the shutter button focus needed to be disabled as well on theirs.

 

[poisonborz]

Thanks all.
- Checking whether the camera identifies the lens correctly sounded like a good idea, but it seems to recognize them well: photo info said 35 / 1.8 and 55-300 / 4.5 - 5.6 for my two lens, (fixed 35 and 55-300 Nikkor), and the focal length was also displayed correctly, all photos marked with manual focus.
- I've tried all the constellations with back-button and shutter focus, I've also reset the settings a number of times. But since the setting is - unchangeably - set to single-point locked autofocus it wouldn't make much difference I think.

What I don't understand is that if that's a motor failure, why is there no error message, and why is the AF button curiously disabled. At this point I get it back tomorrow - all things seem to point to a setting error, but seemingly every possible misconfiguration has been checked.

 

[wornish]

Don't have a D7200 but Google turned up this site might be of use, to check all the settings.

http://www.everythingd7000.co.uk/autofocus-guide/

 

[nickt]

I'm assuming your lenses are both AF-S lenses, so they use the motor in the lens and you have tried two different lenses. There is no mating port on the lens for the screw drive on the body. It just gets pushed back into the camera. So I don't think its a motor problem.
I just tried my d7100. If I switch to manual focus either on the body or lens, it behaves like I think you are describing. Single focus point shown and I cannot access the focus modes or focus servo modes.
Can you manually focus and see the focus indicator in the viewfinder react? If so, maybe your camera is stuck in manual. Give that little auto-manual lever on the body a little back and forth workout, does it solidly click to AF? Mine is a solid click to AF and a little softer feel going to M.

 

[poisonborz]

Can you manually focus and see the focus indicator in the viewfinder react? If so, maybe your camera is stuck in manual. Give that little auto-manual lever on the body a little back and forth workout, does it solidly click to AF? Mine is a solid click to AF and a little softer feel going to M.

You're right, probably. I can see the the focus indicator in the viewfinder (arrows, full circle when focused). The lever is clicking solidly in places, but to no effect. A quick search turned out that focus being stuck in manual mode is a widespread symptom in dslr-s, mostly due to contact-hardware fault

 

[nickt]

Sorry to hear that. Its always more fun when the broken new camera turns out to be just a setting problem. I can't think of anything else though, it sounds broken.

 

[poisonborz]

I was back in the shop, and the best (for the case) and worst (for my ego) happened - the cleck fumbled with the camera for a few minutes switching things around, and he gave the camera back with AF working. And he was not able to tell the single thing that made it working again. The few custom changes I made in the morning were preserved so it wasn't even a settings reset - after all the things above I'm quite puzzled.

The fact that the AF switch button did not respond was a telltale sign that this was a software error, but I hoped that there would be some clear moral to learn for users finding this thread later on. Well, that's all there is.

 

[Skwaz]

Great well pleased for you , I'm sure everyone else on here who tried to help feels the same

 

[nickt]

Great, glad you are back to enjoying your camera.
Now this will be stuck in my head until I think of a setting that will 'break' autofocus.

 

[poisonborz]

Great, glad you are back to enjoying your camera.
Now this will be stuck in my head until I think of a setting that will 'break' autofocus.

No need to spin your thoughts, the problem was found!
Yesterday this issue occured again. Today I went to the vendor, and we finally figured out what was the root cause - which can be important warning for everyone new to recent DSLRs like me. When I changed lens, I naturally thought you had to press the eject button when you place back the new lens too. WRONG.

(At least on the D7200) pressing the eject button while you insert the lens will cause the lens to screw in deeper than necessary. It won't "click", the AF pin will not connect. Worst thing is that the aperture will work, you'll be able to take pictures, the body recognizes the lens, but will think it has no AF capability and turn itself to manual only mode (without any notification or warning apparently). All DSLRs have a satisfying click when the lens is inserted. It's not enough to just feel a thud and you can't rotate anymore. Press the eject button only when removing the lens.