Nikon33
Senior Member
I bought a 70-200 f/2.8 VR II used on eBay. It arrived, and it will not autofocus properly. The outside has not a scratch! What is wrong.
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70-200mm f/2.8 VR II AF issue? How to fix??!!
- Thread starter Nikon33
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Peter Hayward
Leading Member
No idea however I have a 70-200 VR1 that does not AF if not used for a while. I've found that if I give the manual focus ring a tweak I find the AF starts working again. I'm sure this trick wont last forever though. Apparently Nikon have no parts anymore for the VR1 which I find incredibly sad and amazingly disappointing.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Nikon33
Senior Member
Yes, same here with my old 70-200, which I sold. I tried that. The new lens did lock focus once, giving a very loud screech.
MrWinnieThePooh
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My 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II had a problem that the AF occasionally made a nasty screeching noise, although it actually focused correctly. However the noise made it unusable in many environments (e.g. any sort of social gathering). The only solution was to get Nikon UK to replace the AF SWM unit at a cost of £342 (which is about 50% of the resale value of the lens).
hikerdoc
Senior Member
You really have just two options; send it back, or send it to Nikon and be prepared to spend between 300-700 dollars for new AF motor and rehab of the lens. It will come back working like new, but won’t be inexpensive.
My VRii began sounding odd and failing accurate focus just a couple weeks before the five year warranty expired a number of years back. I was fortunate for a warranty repair and an essentially new lens.
Just out of curiosity, as a high school student, where are you getting the assets to purchase all this equipment? By your posts this 70-200VRii, in addition to D5, D700, D850, D500 all in the past month?
D
My VRii began sounding odd and failing accurate focus just a couple weeks before the five year warranty expired a number of years back. I was fortunate for a warranty repair and an essentially new lens.
Just out of curiosity, as a high school student, where are you getting the assets to purchase all this equipment? By your posts this 70-200VRii, in addition to D5, D700, D850, D500 all in the past month?
D
Nikon33
Senior Member
I used to be a professional coin dealer, and I am an eBay seller. I worked hundreds of hours the whole summer last year to earn the money.
I think the lens, but it can also be the camera or the user.
To answer the question better, we need more information. What do you mean with; it will not autofocus properly.
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Nikon33
Senior Member
Oh well, I just traded the lens away for a different one as MF only. My new Sigma 50-100 f/1.8 works far better.
I recently had the same issue. I have a Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 GII ED lens where the autofocus stopped working. I was considering purchasing a new lens ($2300!) but decided to see if I could fix it myself first as it's out of warranty.
I read a few blogs on various issues and ran across a suggestion of rotating the manual focus ring back and forth fully 10-15 times and trying the autofocus again. The guy who wrote it said he did it and his lens has been working perfectly ever since (3 years). I tried it on my lens, and voila, it worked! Whew! That saved me a few thousand! THANK YOU!
I read a few blogs on various issues and ran across a suggestion of rotating the manual focus ring back and forth fully 10-15 times and trying the autofocus again. The guy who wrote it said he did it and his lens has been working perfectly ever since (3 years). I tried it on my lens, and voila, it worked! Whew! That saved me a few thousand! THANK YOU!
jhhmusic
Member
This saved mine to. (for now)..
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Jan H.
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Jan H.
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CypressAg1983
New member
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Chalk another successful rehab of a Nikon 70-200 f2.8 VRII's auto-focus issue,,
I'm guessing the repetitive full-range rotation of the manual focus-ring freed up some motor-stickiness that had developed over several weeks/months of non-use. The autofocus works like a charm now.
Thanks for the suggestion!!!
I'm guessing the repetitive full-range rotation of the manual focus-ring freed up some motor-stickiness that had developed over several weeks/months of non-use. The autofocus works like a charm now.
Thanks for the suggestion!!!
davescliches
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I documented the reason for these SWM squeaks and failures here:
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4575802#forum-post-65200210
the post starts:
The squeaking is related to the surface of the aluminium rotor ...... a three phase electronic generator (ultra sonic) within the lens creates rotating waves on a piezo electric crystal coated surface of the aluminium stator .......................
daves cliches
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4575802#forum-post-65200210
the post starts:
The squeaking is related to the surface of the aluminium rotor ...... a three phase electronic generator (ultra sonic) within the lens creates rotating waves on a piezo electric crystal coated surface of the aluminium stator .......................
daves cliches
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Misfit79
Member
I have noticed a similar issue with mine in the last few months, but with a twist so to speak. It works fine as long as the battery is charged above 60% or so. I had a d7200 and now have a d500 and the same thing happens. The AF is still super fast, racking the manual focus will work occasionally for awhile, but a battery change will fix it right away. Could this be related to resistance on the motor? Any ideas would be appreciated, I didnt think starting a new thread was warranted.
I am so glad I stumbled upon this site. I was just about to send out my Vr2 70-200mm to Nikon for repair due to non-focusing issue. I went ahead and turned the focusing ring 10-15 times - expecting nothing.
To my surprise, the son of a gun start working again! Thank you! Just in time to use it for my daughter's volleyball game.
To my surprise, the son of a gun start working again! Thank you! Just in time to use it for my daughter's volleyball game.
Wow! What a great suggestion for fixing the autofocus issue of the Nikon 70-200 F2.8 VR II lens. I had the same issue which the lens just would not autofocus anymore. I was think about either sending it to a repair shop or go for broke - get a new lens. After I saw this thread and I just tried to rotate the manual focusing ring a bunch of times and it works! My lens is purring like a kitten again.
Thanks a bunch!
Thanks a bunch!
I just had very same problem (D7000) - lens would not auto focus, and it hadn't been used in a while. The 'fix' of moving the focus ring a few times worked on 1st try!
I am a bit concerned now if this is a sign the lens will get worse, i.e. if the screeching symptom mentioned earlier in the thread, or some failure, will happen next.
In any event, thanks a lot for the fix, much appreciated!
I am a bit concerned now if this is a sign the lens will get worse, i.e. if the screeching symptom mentioned earlier in the thread, or some failure, will happen next.
In any event, thanks a lot for the fix, much appreciated!
I have the same problem now. Bought one used. AF and VR worked for about 5 minutes. Tried turning camera and AF/VR switches on and off and got a couple minutes before it died completely.
Tried the focus ring trick you guys had success with with no luck so far. Question is, was your VR also dead as well as AF?
In my case both are dead now.
Lens was part of a package, got refunded the lens and previous seller didnt want it back. So now I'm tempted to try fixing it somehow now that I got it for free :-D
Tried the focus ring trick you guys had success with with no luck so far. Question is, was your VR also dead as well as AF?
In my case both are dead now.
Lens was part of a package, got refunded the lens and previous seller didnt want it back. So now I'm tempted to try fixing it somehow now that I got it for free :-D
Chuck Yadmark
Veteran Member
for sure start with cleaning the contacts on both lens and camera.
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