bellgamin Loc: Ewa Beach, Hawaii

My Nikon D3500 lacks an internal auto-focusing motor. Ergo, for auto-focus to work, it needs AF-S lenses. AF-S lenses have an internal focusing motor.

A Sigma lens that interests me (because it is much less expensive than its Nikkor counterpart) has Hyper Sonic Motor (abbreviated HSM). HSM is Sigma's designation for its photo lens focusing technology using ultrasonic motor.

Does anyone have experience with a Sigma "HSM" lens on a Nikon DSLR that lacks an internal focusing motor? If so, did the Sigma do a good job auto-focusing your Nikon?

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

No Canon bodies have focusing motors (Canon decided on motors in all their lenses) and every Sigma (or Tamron) I have ever tried did AF just fine. The ones with Nikon mounts are made to work with the motor less Nikon bodies.

bellgamin Loc: Ewa Beach, Hawaii

Thanks. By the way, I do not understand why it wouldn't make more sense, economically speaking, to put the motor in my camera (1-time event) instead of putting motors in each of the lenses (multiple events) that I buy for it.

CO

The motors that are in cameras are for the old screw drive focusing. There's what looks like the tip of a small screwdriver that protrudes from the face of the lens mount. It drives the focusing mechanism in the lens. The AF-S ultrasonic motors and the AF-P stepping motors that are built into lenses are faster and smoother.

A good example is the Nikon 80-400mm lens. The original one that was released in 2000 had the screw drive focusing. It was known for slow autofocus. They completely redesigned the lens and released the new version in 2013. They included an ultrasonic motor. It was a huge improvement. I have that lens. It has no problem tracking birds as small as terns in flight.

The Sigma lens with the ultrasonic motor should do fine on your D3500. I use a Tamron 45mm f/1.8 lens with ultrasonic motor on my Nikons.

bellgamin Loc: Ewa Beach, Hawaii

Excellent explanation. Very clear -- even I could understand it.

How does Tamron designate their lenses that have ultrasonic motors?

jcboy3

Put a motor in a lens, then the lens will eventually fail and become irreparable. Don't put a motor in a lens, and the lens could last a lifetime.

Which is the best option for the consumer?

Which is the best option for the camera company?

CO

Tamron calls theirs USD (Ultrasonic Silent Drive).

BebuLamar

While it's not possible to install a motor in your camera Nikon makes cameras with built in motors. In fact in the beginning of AF Nikon didn't put motor in any lens but put motor in all their cameras. It makes sense to use 1 motor for all the lenses. But big lens and small lens do not require the same size motor. Putting a motor that works well for big lens would make the camera too big and possibly never need that capability. Putting a small motor then it can't focus big lens well.
So they now putting motor in almost all of their lenses and that making putting the motor in the camera is some kind of a waste so they don't put the motor in the low end model to save some cost.

Fotomacher Loc: Toronto

I have had 5 Nikon bodies since I went digital in 2000. All have had focus motors in the bodies as well as aperture feeler tabs. As a result, I can use all MF, AF and AF-s Nikkor lenses made in the past 40 or so years. The manual focus AI-s lenses work just fine in manual mode and aperture priority and the AF lenses are fully compatible. These lenses have metal bodies and were made to last forever. Look at the number 10 in a circle on newer AF-s lenses and look up what that means........

TJ28012 Loc: Belmont, NC

My Sigma works fine on my motorless Nikon.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

I have noticed perusing the used market as often as I do (all the time, actually) that lens motors (and stabilization systems) are the biggest failure items (outside of impact damage/broken plastic mounts). Many reasons for this - not-visible impact damage, bad ribbon cables, motor wear, operator induced stress, etc. etc.. Have also noticed with Nikon and Sony that I basically never see "failed focus motor" listed on used camera bodies. The internal camera motors appear to be stout, robust build, the lens motors not so much.

When buying used motorized lenses I now look for the ones where the focus ring is not "hard coupled", so if you have the lens in AF and suddenly grab and twist, you don't stress the motor/gears. I also avoid used AF-S lenses with internal problems that would require working on/teardown to and including the focus stack, as any tampering with that means a trip to a place that has the Nikon Computer/Laser Lens Alignment jig, cost of which negates any advantage/or greatly increases repair cost of repairing/fungus removal/cleaning etc. of internal elements on those lenses. Finding a place to buy the Nikon Service/Repair Manuals has been a great help!!! If I have doubts about a "purchase to repair" I buy the manual download and read it first....this has already saved me lots, and I have the manual for any future work I do on said lenses.

No longer have any Nikons(or Sony) w/o built-in focus motor, there are so many great old lenses out there, and if you don't need the fastest focussing for your efforts, it isn't an issue. If you need quick/fast focus, you want the newer lenses, and the better cameras support either.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

You'll have to ask Nikon why they took that route with some of their lenses. While you're at it, ask them why they still produce some lenses without a built-in motor. And why they produce cameras that don't have the motor to focus some of their own lenses. It would be interesting to see what they answer.

AFAIK, all Sigma lenses have an in-lens motor, so will autofocus just fine on your motorless camera. I also think most or all Tamron lenses have some sort of motor, so also will AF just fine on D3000-series and D5000-series cameras. There are some Tokina lenses that don't have a motor.... one I'm certain of is their 100mm Macro lens. It would be manual focus only on your camera.

jmarshall1956

I had a Nikon D3200 with a Sigma 18-250 for several years and it was a good combination. I used it mostly for kids Sports with continuous focus and it performed fine.

BebuLamar

Nikon continues to sell lenses without the built in AF motor but I wonder if they introduced any in the past say 5 years that doesn't have a built in AF motor?
In the beginning they thought using the motor in the camera is a good idea as the lenses can be made less expensive. Minolta and Pentax did the same except Canon. Eventually they realized that doing it the Canon way is better.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Just a clarification on the last paragraph (for those new to camera world and new versus old lenses) Most of the modern offerings from all vendors of the last <> 8-16 years do have built-in-motor (BIM), but there a many fine examples prior to that were made by (current) OEM/Sigma/Tamron/Tokina/etc. that only have screw drive. I have many myself - while not as fast as modern/current AF speed demons (I have those too) they do great work for their intent, whether wide-medium-tele-zoom, so there are great "value" lenses available for those new to the game, limited $$, experimenting, etc. There are still many fine manual lenses being produced even today. Many legacy lenses from Minolta/Pentax and others.