18-200mm VR Nikkor, Autofocus issue

Hello, I'm using a Nikon D3300 with a 18-200mm VR Nikkor lens and I have an issue.

Using the viewfinder whenever I try to take a photograph of a scene using a focal length less than 24mm my camera can not lock focus (using autofocus either single servo or continous), the focusing ring turns (correctly) to infinity when I press the shutter but it never makes the beep to let me take a photo, it just stands there doing nothing no matter how many times I press it, sometimes about 2% of the times it locks focus into something but its very rare. Once I turn my focal length to more than 24mm my camera focuses into everything with no issue.



EDIT: I found what is going on but I have no permanent fix. So if my camera was facing down before I try to take the shot it will never focus below 24mm, but if my camera was facing upside it snaps into everything perfectly, I suppose a glass inside the lens is loose...

Glad you found the culprit. Better take it to the repair shop. Good luck!

Thanks, I hope they won't charge me an arm and a leg...

Aleks said:

EDIT: I found what is going on but I have no permanent fix. So if my camera was facing down before I try to take the shot it will never focus below 24mm, but if my camera was facing upside it snaps into everything perfectly, I suppose a glass inside the lens is loose...

Click to expand...

The Nikon 18-200 that I had suffered lens creep. Whenever it was pointed down, the zoom would not stay fixed, the front elements just "zoomed" out (severely). Nikon repaired it under five year warranty.