D700 Focus Issues

[MichelleJ]

Hi-
I am new to the board but I am hoping to get some advice!

I recently purchased a D700 & have been having trouble with missed focus. It is occurring with all three of the lenses I have used (Nikon 80-200/2.8; Nikon 50/1.4; Tamron 28-75/2.8) and with different settings. It seems focus is consistently falling somewhere completely different than where I locked it, generally lower and either just behind or in front of where it was locked. I brought it to the dealer & they tested it themselves. Although they said they were not having the same issue when I brought the images home and looked at them on the computer they actually had the exact same issue. It is difficult to see on the LCD screen but is apparent when on the computer or printed. I know this camera has the ability to microcalibrate each lens to the body, but I am hesitant to believe this is the cause because the same thing is happening with each lens. Any thoughts on this?

50/1.4 lens, f/2.2 ss 1/125







80-200/2.8; 80mm; f/9; ss 1/80

(I know this shutter speed was a little slow but you can still see where the focus fell on the grass)







Taken by the store employees with the 80-200

 

[Greg Gebhardt]

Tell us about your focusing settings
--
Greg Gebhardt in
Jacksonville, Florida

 

[MichelleJ]

I use AF/S and select my focus point (rather than focus/recompose). While I have been testing I sometimes lock focus using AF/L but not always. It doesn't seem to matter.
Thanks!

 

[papparazzi]

try to calibrate the body/lens
--
Nature and Landscape Photographer
http://www.pbase.com/jdf
http://www.flickr.com/jdfeos

 

[MichelleJ]

You know, I think I am going to try that but I find it very odd that all 3 lenses are having the same issue with nearly identical results. I suppose it's possible that all three would need the same amount of calibration but it would be an odd coincidence....

 

[ekg]

It looks like it is consistently front-focusing. All three of my lenses front focused to around 11-13 on the in-camera calibration scale. I eventually checked my settings using the lens-align system, but it merely confirmed what I had already determined using trial and error.

The fact that all three lenses behaved similarly on my D700 led me to conclude that the camera, not the lenses, was the determining factor.

It sounds like you may have a similar issue. I would recommend playing around with the AF fine tune settings to see if you can easily correct this. If not, you may need to send in the camera.

Best,

EKG

 

[Petruska]

take them to the store, demand a replacement or refund. If the refund time period ran out, send it to Nikon now before the holiday rush. 3 lenses with the same front focusing points to a body calibration issue.

 

[Petruska]

I just remembered that someone on this board was having a focusing issue and reset the camera, that fixed his AF problems, worth a try.

 

[Peter Aczel]

This is definitaly front focus.

Did you check there is not any adjustment set in the menu for the body? (You can adjust every single lens and a general adjustment for all the lenses - that latter is what I mean "body adjustment". (I dont't remember the exact name of this adjustment in the menu because I have no longer a D700 - but once I had.)
.............................................................................
http://www.aczelpeter.uw.hu

 

[D Knisely]

Sorry to repeat some common information, but the 80-200 f/2.8 lenses have an incurable AF issue on all Nikon DSLR bodies. It is document by Nikon, and there is no fix. You'll find a lot of forum postings about this topic. The technical reason is also explained in some threads, although I've never fully understood it. In fact, AF with the 80-200 is pretty much guaranteed to always be "off." It is a feature, not a bug. Newer lenses were designed for Nikon DSLRs and don't have this issue, nor do many older lenses.

Caveat: I'm not sure whether the 80-200f/2.8 AF-S version (rare) has this problem. The push-pull and two-ring non-AF-S versions do, though.

As far as the 50 is concerned, I'm not sure what's going on there. But you might as well give up on the 80-200.

And to all the people who will reply to this and report that their 80-200 works just fine, I'll go ahead and tell them in advance to set it up on a tripod, perform an AF, switch to MF mode and look with LiveView. You'll find that you can improve the focus substantially every time.

And yes, I've tested several 80-200s on several bodies with and without AF fine tuning (it won't help), and I've even sent my 80-200 back to Nikon twice to see if they can fix it. Optically, it is magnificent; it just won't AF correctly on DSLRs.

Doug

 

[MichelleJ]

Will give this a try, but does that mean I can never change the custom settings? Obviously one of the benefits to a body like this is to be able to set things to suit your preferences....

 

[MichelleJ]

I had not read this before, and it's highly discouraging. This is not the most expensive lens there is but I dumped a good chunk of change into it. If I were to sell it and replace it with something else do you have any suggestions? I know the 85/1.8 has gotten some rave reviews but I tend to prefer zoom lenses....
Thanks for the information!

 

[MichelleJ]

I finally convinced the store that there was an issue by emailing them the images they took themselves with 100% crops to show where the focus fell. They are willing to calibrate my lenses to the body for no charge but still will not replace it.

 

[Kuvasauna]

I use 80-200/2.8D (two ring version) with both D700 and D300. It works very well and focuses accurately. Only at very close to the minimum focusing distances have I seen any problems (with D300). But when the subject is 4 meters away or further everything is fine. With D700 it works like a dream. And I don't have to fine tune the AF.

But at one point I thougt it does not focus properly when I was using it with D300 and focusing on subjects that were only 2-3 meters away.
--

'Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.'

 

[Petruska]

all you are doing is resetting the camera back to defaults as when you received it. Try to see if it focuses better. Then make your setting changes like you have them now. Sometimes the computer just gets a glitch in it, just like MS Windows you need to reboot to straighten things out.

 

[Petruska]

How large a store is this? Do they have major repair facilities? When you state that they are going to calibrate your 3 lenses to the body, I believe that they mean all they are going to do it perform the D700 AF fine tune menu settings. All 3 lenses seem ok, it's doubtfull that all 3 misfocus due to the lens itself. It's the body that is at fault. If you buy a forth lens you will have the same problem. AF fine tuning in the D700 is OK but if the body problem is not fixed you are going to run out of adjustment range at some point.

You didn't answer if you are still under the store's return time limit of not?

I know that it is a new fairly expensive camera, but I would return it to Nikon with the photos and have it done right. I have returned new lenses to Nikon a day after I got them for calibration and they handled it quickly.

 

[Petruska]

if that focuses fine, then it is definitely a body issue.

 

[MichelleJ]

Thanks for your help. This is a very reputable local company and they would like to calibrate the lenses to the body.

To be honest, I'm considering just returning the camera for a refund and purchasing somewhere else. From what I have been told sending to Nikon can take 4-6 weeks and I simply cannot be without a body for that long.....

 

[Petruska]

I don't see how a local store can calibrate the lenses without very expensive calibration equipment, plus if they do that they are taking the perfectly calibrated lenses (3) and uncalibrating them to fix a flawed body....doesn't make sense.

Return it and buy elsewhere.

Did you perform the reset????

 

[MichelleJ]

I did perform the reset but the results are the same.

Hopefully the store allows me to return for a full refund. The purchase date was October 9.