poor AF with viewfinder

I recently picked up the D7000 from my mom. She got it back in 03/2011 (out of warranty) but never really used it.

I am seeing very good results from AF using live-view LCD focusing but really out of focus results using viewfinder. All my tests have been indoors w/ and w/out flash but reasonable ambient light present. I have been using AF-S with 1-spot focus area.

Using a focus chart I've been able to fine-tune the viewfinder AF to produce reasonably in focus images. But on the 50mm Nikon prime it was a wopping -20 and on the 18-105mm kit it was a -11. And still... its only just as good as the live-view focus.

I've read in other forums/posts that people have sent their cameras to Nikon under warr. Unfortunately since this camera isn't under warr anymore I wanted to see if there was anything else I could do. Tech support at Nikon quoted me anywhere from $40 to $305 on an out of pocket repair.

From what I understand most people fine-tune their lenses only a couple points and a -20 and -11 is not reasonable.

Any advise?

It sounds like your phase detection auto-focus needs to be realigned. It's unfortunate that you're no longer under warranty. On the bright side, if you're satisfied with the fine tuning and you're able to recreate the same sharpness using the phase detection as you were using LiveView, even if you're maxed out at 20 in the fine tuning, consider yourself fortunate. But it you're only close to the same sharpness as LiveView then the only option I can think of would be to send it in. It's a shame this problem wasn't flushed out while the camera was still under warranty. That said, I would think if it only needed to be tuned up and nothing is broken it should be on the lower end of your estimates....hopefully.

I had a similar problem with my D7000 bought in 05/12. For several months I thought it was just my lack of experience that was producing such poor results. Similar to you, my Nikkor 50mm prime requires a -20 AF Fine Tune adjustment to get the best out of it. My Sigma 18-200 needs -9. Even with these adjustments I'm not completely convinced that focus is as sharp as it could be. I do tend to pixel-peep and am generally disappointed, though as I have no other experience of using a DSLR I'm not sure that I may be expecting too much!

There are situations where contrast detection works better than phase detection but I believe I've done enough checking to see a general problem. At least in your case you are still under warr. I'd suggest you send it in for repair. But do make sure you compare your AF results between viewfinder and the LCD so that you can give the Nikon people an accurate assessment of the problem.

A typo, I bought my D7000 in May 2011 not 2012 as stated.

I'll had a D700 with damaged AF, so, I lived for a year just manually focusing, but I am old school,

then when the dust buildup reached the stage of needing a professional cleaning, I dropped it off at my local pro repair shop, and asked for a cleaning and a replacement af unit,

well, for a couple of hundred dollars, it worked back to perfection.

So, kinda kicking myself for waiting, I work hard to keep my stuff in working order, so,, my advice, bite the bullet, and have the camera fixed, warranty or no warranty,

working gear,, makes happy photographers.

Well its in the mail to nyc. I'll keep you updated. Thanks for the replies. There was another interesting development. It turns out the camera was purchased 12/5/2011 and my mom took possession of it about a week later. So although it's technically out of warranty I clicked the warranty checkbox and included the receipt.. Maybe Nikon will give me a Xmas present.

They got back to me with a bill for $250 (repair + tax + shipping). I called them up and complained that it was just barely out of warr and they gave me a 20% discount. Now lets hope its perfect when it comes back.