D800 has killed two lenses... maybe

Hope someone could help me. I have a work camera (d800) which has hardly seen much action. About a month ago, I borrowed it and used it with my af-s 50mm f1.4. After about a day I found the auto focus had stopped working. I tried everything to get it working, even tried it on my own d5100 but it still did not work.

A week ago i borrowed the d800 again, along with their Sigma 70-200 f2.8. I have used this a few times together and it has always worked flawlessly. This time, after two days of shooting (around 400 shots), the af stopped working. I tried resetting the camera back to defaults to no avail.

Now I am wondering if there is something I am doing to cause these failures. I have the camera body switch set to af and the lens to Auto. Is this the correct setting for lenses with the af built in?

Any help is appreciated.

Dave T

Following.

When you say the lens won't auto focus do you mean it won't focus on the D800 or the D5100 or both?

Both stopped working after using them on the d800. The 50mm doesn't auto focus on both but I don't have the D5100 with me to test the Sigma.

Dave T

Both lenses are under warranty but I just want to make sure I'm not going to kill my one and only lens I have left (AF-S 10-24 DX).

Dave T

What are you shooting...Can it be done with manual focus

Yep. Manual focus works.

This sounds odd, are you talking G lens? since you are testing on the 5100? If G lens, then autofocus is built into the lens, and except for passing the setting over to the lens, no mechanical coupling happening between the D800 and the lens. So, maybe a short is happening but that doesn't makes sense, since you took 400 shots.

Perhaps bring both the lens and camera to a PRO certified repair center, hand get a diagnosis.

If your troubleshooting efforts have been exhausted, I would send the camera back to Nikon Service Center in Australia. There could be a potential electronic issue that causes it to short other components.

That's what I was thinking. I just wasn't sure if the switch position could be to blame; sounds like it's not. I'll use it in manual focus until I return from holidays. Thanks for everyone's efforts.

Dave T

I just remembered I received an error on the display just before I realised af had stopped working. It was showing f0 for the aperture value. I removed the lens, reattached it and the aperture was showing correct again, but this time not auto focusing.

Dave T

Seems odd, and I don't blame you for now wanting to stick your last lens on there. I'd contact Nikon customer support and maybe get that camera checked out. Get the lenses fixed, or at least take them to a local camera shop and see if you can check them with one of their Nikons to see if the problem persists.

Was the camera on when you removed the lens...

pedroj said:

Was the camera on when you removed the lens...

Click to expand...

I dont think so no. The camera was working for about 20 shots. I turned it off and put the camera down. When I turned it on again 30 mins later I got the f0 issue. Turned the camera off, then removed and reseated the lens. When I turned it on again the af had stopped working.

Dave,

Please keep us posted as to what happened. I have had zero issues with my D800 and I have a slew of lenses I have put on it. Everything works to a fault so far.

Sorry to hear you are having issues.

Will do. Both lenses have been sent to their respective service centres. I expect to hear something by late next week.

I just had an unfortunate thought. Just before my D800 had a catastrophic shutter failure, the lens suddenly stopped focusing. I was confused and turned the camera on and off several times and took the lens off and put it back on a few times. Then for some reason it started and took another approx 20 or so photos but the strange thing is that the sound of the shutter was noticeably different, almost a smoother sound and then only 1/2 of the photo was showing up, the other half was black and I was getting an error on the LCD.

That day I was taking a ton of photos at an air show and looking over the photos from that day I could see what I believe is the shutter disintegrating. The images started the day off just fine but as wore on there was more and more "dust" appearing in the photos. By the end of the day there were over 100 little dust rings, most fairly small in appearance but their number grew dramatically up to the point of failure.

I hope this isn't the case with your D800 and I don't mean to scare you with my tale of woe but check your last few photos for extra "dust". Crank the contrast up 100% and if they're there, you'll be able to see them very easily.

I hope not Dave but at least it's under warranty if it is a camera failure.

Just before sending the lenses off I did some more testing. Whilst the sigma af was toast, the 50mm was still trying to focus. You could hear the af motor trying to work. In fact if I repeatedly half-pressed the shutter button then it would eventually creep into focus.

The issue with the sigma appears to be a known issue as there are numerous accounts on the internet of the same. So I'm starting to edge towards it being a coincidence and nothing more. I'll know more when I get the service reports.

Dave_W said:

...check your last few photos for extra "dust". Crank the contrast up 100% and if they're there, you'll be able to see them very easily.

Click to expand...

No noticeable dust artifacts.

Just an update, both lenses are back from service. I've been shooting with them all week and they seem to be as good as new.

As mentioned before the Sigma appears to be a known issue, potentially from a bad batch. People which have had this issue typically never have an issue again after repair. The Nikon 50mm came back from service with a report saying they opened the lens and re-seated the af motor and cleaned it. Two very different issues.

So it looks like the D800 wasn't to blame in the end.