Nikon NY Repair Center

Originally Posted by hark

The D500 has its own ability to automatically adjust/tune the AF (done thru Live View). I printed out the target image that Steve Perry offers and taped it up in a bright area. And I did the adjustment like he suggested - by taking multiple readings then narrowing down the results (and used a tripod). The thing is many times absolutely nothing is in sharp focus. So it isn't just front or back focusing. It just isn't achieving focus even when the green dot lights up inside the viewfinder.

I've used that same method on my D500, but don't remember how it went. Have you tried focusing using Liveview to see if there is a difference? I had issues with one of my cameras (D7xxx) and tried everything and couldn't get good focus with any of my lenses. I took photos with nearly every lens I had at every single AF calibration setting and then reviewed them on my computer. Nothing seemed consistent, so I figured I had a bad camera. Hopefully, that is not your case. Godd luck in finding a solution for this.

WM

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I will be looking to send my 300mm f/4 PF to Nikon for repair this month. Both this lens as well as my 300mm f/4 non-VR lens are having AF issues. That said, I came across this image posted elsewhere online. I might have inadvertently used some of the other focus points because there have been times when both lenses hunted extensively. And that might have contributed to the AF problems. My TC is the TC-17E II coupled with f/4 lenses. There are just 15 focus points available to use with the 1.7x TC. Obviously I wasn't aware of this. Most times I use single point but sometimes move it around depending on where I'm trying to focus on my subjects. And I'm sure there were times I moved the focus point to outside those limited 15 points.

So here's a question for anyone. When selecting the option to use 72-point dynamic-area AF, would the camera know only to choose these specific 15 points? Sometimes I switch it up and use the 72 points option.

*I believe this chart came from the D750 owner's manual but might be applicable to other bodies.

Although it's always been my intention to send in my 300mm f/4 PF for repair, now I've run into something else. It's missed focus no matter what even after I used the D500's ability to use the AF tuning feature. So out of curiosity I decided to try Peter7100's suggestion he mentioned in a different thread to see if would reset any electrical issues.

Afterwards the reset (not the typical reset people do to the shooting menu) offered quite a bit of improvement although not quite up to speed yet. BUT maybe I need to do the AF tuning again. It's at +7 right now, and perhaps I will increase that up to +9 to see if it helps.

Here are a couple of NEF's taken over the past two days. For whatever reason, they uploaded as being overexposed; however, in reality neither one is overexposed. If I could have anyone take a look and give me your impressions of sharpness, I'd appreciate it. Just remember this lens is paired with the Nikon 1.7x TC in these two files.

Do you think the sharpness can be improved further either by another AF tuning or by getting the lens repaired?

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fqpftpxek...lQf68_Tka?dl=0