Which way to go?

[KWJams]

Well I was pretty rushed but was able to take the new lens out for a few laps this weekend and to be honest I was disappointed.
Things looked great in the LCD but when I got home and downloaded them I was shocked at how many that I thought were clean shots, were blurry ------ and then I noticed the small focus ring on the lens barrel! DOH!

I assumed that in auto focus the lens was doing all the work. Is that small ring that is closest to the camera body supposed to like a fine tuning dioptler (sic) or something?

I was happy with some of the low light shots but wish I would have known about the focus ring. On my other lens when thye are in auto that small ring does not move but on this lens it rotates 180 degrees and fine tunes the focus -- or is the lens defective?

This shot was from the opposite side of the track and cropped down. There was enough light for the capture but the focus was not as crisp as some shots.

 

[Stangman98]

I see that you bought the 18-105 lens. I would have suggested the following since I know your EXACT issue because I run into the same thing at certain race tracks. I would have suggested you getting a 50mm 1.8 and pick up an SB-700.

 

[KWJams]

Turns out that I needed a kit lens after all so the 18-105mm D90 lens will serve that purpose.

When I sold my D5000 it included the 55-200mm lens and I kept the 18-55mm kit lens to use on the new D5100.
Well the lady who I sold it to let her husband take it to the top of a hill to get some pictures of their son climbing on his motorcycle. Something went wrong and the camera bag strap tangled with a bike and ripped it off his shoulder and the camera with the 200mm lens tumbled all the way to the bottom. Didn't break the glass or the camera body, but the 200mm was jammed up and will not focus anymore. I put the 55mm on her camera and all is fine -- except her husband will need to do some serious extra effort to get out of the dog house.

Does anyone know if this small manual focus ring on the 18-105mm lens is supposed to be motor driven?

 

[Marcel]

Turns out that I needed a kit lens after all so the 18-105mm D90 lens will serve that purpose.

When I sold my D5000 it included the 55-200mm lens and I kept the 18-55mm kit lens to use on the new D5100.
Well the lady who I sold it to let her husband take it to the top of a hill to get some pictures of their son climbing on his motorcycle. Something went wrong and the camera bag strap tangled with a bike and ripped it off his shoulder and the camera with the 200mm lens tumbled all the way to the bottom. Didn't break the glass or the camera body, but the 200mm was jammed up and will not focus anymore. I put the 55mm on her camera and all is fine -- except her husband will need to do some serious extra effort to get out of the dog house.

Does anyone know if this small manual focus ring on the 18-105mm lens is supposed to be motor driven?

Yes, the 18-105 is AF-S which means it has it's own focusing motor inside the lens.

 

[KWJams]

It does focus with the lens motor, but the small ring at the lens base rotates free about 180 degrees even when the switch on the lens is on Auto and it does the fine focusing.

My 55-300mm lens has same small ring but it is on the end of the lens and when it is in auto focus mode it will not rotate freely like it does on this one which makes me think that it is either not fully compatible with the D5100 --- or it is supposed to be like this.

 

[Eye-level]

No the 5100 covers every F mount made except the invasive fisheye lenses. Was the lens new? Surely someone has the same lens and body combo? Sounds like something is amiss.

 

[KWJams]

I bought it on ebay from a guy that said it was brand new and never used. said in his ebay description that it was the kit lens that came with his new D90 and he had other lenses to use and never used it.
I'm not that familiar with the D90 and if it has the focus motor in the body as well as in the lens and was thinking that maybe the D5100 is missing a electrical contact for this lens that the D90 would have or something like that.
All the research I did on the compatibility of this lens with the D5100 never mentioned any focus issues.

What has me baffled is the way it acts like the diaoptler (sic) control on the view finder. I can fine focus the lens and then zoom near -- far -- or in the middle and it will not alter the focus clarity unless I adjust the ring. In other words, if I duct tape in place and all would be good.

 

[Marcel]

I bought it on ebay from a guy that said it was brand new and never used. said in his ebay description that it was the kit lens that came with his new D90 and he had other lenses to use and never used it.
I'm not that familiar with the D90 and if it has the focus motor in the body as well as in the lens and was thinking that maybe the D5100 is missing a electrical contact for this lens that the D90 would have or something like that.
All the research I did on the compatibility of this lens with the D5100 never mentioned any focus issues.

What has me baffled is the way it acts like the diaoptler (sic) control on the view finder. I can fine focus the lens and then zoom near -- far -- or in the middle and it will not alter the focus clarity unless I adjust the ring. In other words, if I duct tape in place and all would be good.

Is it the 18-105 AF-S? The S is the important part. If it has it, it means that the lens has it's own focus motor in the lens. AF-S lenses have a switch on them so they will or won't focus. When autofocus is on, the focus ring won't usually move. This gives you the option of manually fine focusing without changing the setting on the camera. Lenses that are just AF have the focus screw coupled to the camera focus motor and when the auto focus is on, you can't manually correct the focus without switching the camera auto-focus OFF.

Hope this helps.

 

[Marcel]

I forgot to mention that another advantage of AF-S is that you can hold the lens by the focus ring and if it's on auto-focus it will focus while with AF the ring will have to turn while focusing preventing you to hold the lens by the ring.

 

[KWJams]

Thanks,
It is a --> VR Nikon DX AF-S NIKKOR 18-105mm 1:3.5-5.6 G ED and it was in pristine condition when I took it out of the box. Looked like it was never handled or mounted.
It does have the A + M switch on side of barrel and the ring turns in both settings.
It came with the paperwork for 5 year warranty but before I ship it off to get a refund or be fixed, I am trying to determine if it is just a compatibility issue with the D5100.

 

[Marcel]

Thanks,
It is a --> VR Nikon DX AF-S NIKKOR 18-105mm 1:3.5-5.6 G ED and it was in pristine condition when I took it out of the box. Looked like it was never handled or mounted.
It does have the A + M switch on side of barrel and the ring turns in both settings.
It came with the paperwork for 5 year warranty but before I ship it off to get a refund or be fixed, I am trying to determine if it is just a compatibility issue with the D5100.

I'm still trying to understand what your bug is.

Is the lens focusing? Are you sure your in camera focus settings are OK with other lenses?
Is the lens switched to A/M?
Have you tried cleaning your camera/lens contacts (just a cloth with alchool usually works) and the lens contacts (could be because they haven't been used?)?

If none of the above works, then maybe like Pete would say "It's broke". ;(

 

[AC016]

If you did not get one, here is the manual:

http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/lenses/DX/AFSDX18-105mmf35-56GEDVR.pdf

That focal ring should not be lose when in Auto focus.

 

[KWJams]

Thanks Marcel and Shooter, I needed that since there wasn't a manual with it.

I called Nikon support and the gentleman had me reset the camera first then clean the contacts which I did but the focus ring was still free.
He told me it was a fully compatible lens for the D5100 and was an excellent lens to use.
He said the lens focus ring does not lock when in auto like my 300mm does. So while talking he suggested to leave it set to where the picture I was seeing through the view finder was fuzzy and then take a picture -- bingo! The motor focused the lens correctly so it looks like it is working properly.

I'm printing the manual and will read it.

On another subject now, I asked him where was the grid view selection in the menu. him all I can find is in Live View.
He looked and could not find anything more then put me on hold for about 10 minutes to consult with the tech person more familiar with the D5100.

He was told that on the higher end Nikons there is no grid view because of the markings in the view finder. I said there was no markings in the view finder and as I was looking to confirm this I noticed the small horizontal and vertical brackets surrounding each focus point ----- DUH!

Lesson learned -- don't look so hard for the big things and miss the little bracket marks.

 

[Eye-level]

Cool.