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<blockquote data-quote="Bob Blaylock" data-source="post: 505659" data-attributes="member: 16749">More than a year later, I've made this discovery—With my stock 18-55mm “kit lens” on my D3200, if I let the camera try to autofocus with the lens cap on, it fails, of course, but it stops with the lens focused at infinity.&nbsp; So, to use this lens for astrophotography, or for any other application where you need it focused at infinity but cannot trust the autofocus to do so; with the camera and lens on autofocus, and the lens cap in place, push the shutter button halfway until the lens stops after failing to get focus.&nbsp; Then set the camera (but not the lens) to manual focus.&nbsp; With the lens still set to autofocus, the focus mechanism will hold the lens at the focus setting as long as the camera doesn't try to change it, which it won't if the camera is set to manual focus.&nbsp; I don't know if this works on all lenses, or on all camera bodies, but it seems to consistently work with my 18-55 on my D3200.&nbsp; I only discovered this after <a href="http://nikonites.com/d5200/32824-please-help-noob-question-distant-object-focus-post493995.html#post493995" target="_blank">I put an infinity focus mark on my lens</a>, and then, playing with autofocus,noticed that with the lens cap on,it consistently stopped at that mark.&nbsp; It seems to focus at infinity more precisely than I can consistently achieve manually my using my infinity mark.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Bob Blaylock, post: 505659, member: 16749"] More than a year later, I've made this discovery—With my stock 18-55mm “kit lens” on my D3200, if I let the camera try to autofocus with the lens cap on, it fails, of course, but it stops with the lens focused at infinity. So, to use this lens for astrophotography, or for any other application where you need it focused at infinity but cannot trust the autofocus to do so; with the camera and lens on autofocus, and the lens cap in place, push the shutter button halfway until the lens stops after failing to get focus. Then set the camera (but not the lens) to manual focus. With the lens still set to autofocus, the focus mechanism will hold the lens at the focus setting as long as the camera doesn't try to change it, which it won't if the camera is set to manual focus. I don't know if this works on all lenses, or on all camera bodies, but it seems to consistently work with my 18-55 on my D3200. I only discovered this after [url=http://nikonites.com/d5200/32824-please-help-noob-question-distant-object-focus-post493995.html#post493995]I put an infinity focus mark on my lens[/url], and then, playing with autofocus,noticed that with the lens cap on,it consistently stopped at that mark. It seems to focus at infinity more precisely than I can consistently achieve manually my using my infinity mark. [/QUOTE]

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