Nikon 70-200 2.8: I hope the club can steer me in the right direction. Yesterday I was shooting my first high school game in over a year. I am so looking forward to this day. Here is...

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

I hope the club can steer me in the right direction. Yesterday I was shooting my first high school game in over a year. I am so looking forward to this day.
Here is what happen. I am shooting with my D4 with 80o-400 4.5-5.6 lens and all is well. Now I am shooting with the D500 with a 70-200 2.8 and can't get the lens to focus. Came home and started fooling around with the focus ring and it started to work. What happened? Is is the start of something going wrong with the lens. All my other lens work great.

70-200 2.8 G2 ED

Thanks club members

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Have you clicked the button on the lens/camera from manual to auto? That messes me up sometimes.

Dennis

Bill_de Loc: US

Jules Karney wrote:

I hope the club can steer me in the right directio... (show quote)

Could be dirty contacts between the camera and lens.

Or it could be the AFs motor going as that is fairly common.

Of course we don't know what you mean when you say you were fooling around. Maybe you just hit something the wrong way.

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Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

dennis2146 wrote:

Have you clicked the button on the lens/camera from manual to auto? That messes me up sometimes.

Dennis

Yes I did.

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

Bill_de wrote:

Could be dirty contacts between the camera and lens. Or it could be the AFs motor going.

Of course we don't know what you mean when you say you were fooling around. Maybe you just hit the switch.

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Turning the focus ring, not really fooling around with. Bad choice of words.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

dennis2146 wrote:

Have you clicked the button on the lens/camera from manual to auto? That messes me up sometimes.

Dennis

Dirty contacts or even crud in/on the lens. I once had a lens not focus so I thought "I have it on MF." so reached up to focus, I felt a little resistance and then it sort of popped loose. After that it worked fine. My conclusion was something sticky got on the focus ring and the tiny motor wasn't strong enough to break it loose but my fingers were. I couldn't see anything, but cleaned it with Q-tips dampened with distilled water and it never happened again.

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

robertjerl wrote:

Dirty contacts or even crud in/on the lens. I once had a lens not focus so I thought "I have it on MF." so reached up to focus, I felt a little resistance and then it sort of popped loose. After that it worked fine. My conclusion was something sticky got on the focus ring and the tiny motor wasn't strong enough to break it loose but my fingers were. I couldn't see anything, but cleaned it with Q-tips dampened with distilled water and it never happened again.

I should have mentioned I did clean the lens with a q tip and alcohol when I got home. I cleaned all my lenses that have been sitting for a year, must have missed a spot.

User ID

Jules Karney wrote:

I hope the club can steer me in the right directio... (show quote)

Sound like bad news, IOW $$$ :-(

User ID

robertjerl wrote:

Dirty contacts or even crud in/on the lens. I once had a lens not focus so I thought "I have it on MF." so reached up to focus, I felt a little resistance and then it sort of popped loose. After that it worked fine. My conclusion was something sticky got on the focus ring and the tiny motor wasn't strong enough to break it loose but my fingers were. I couldn't see anything, but cleaned it with Q-tips dampened with distilled water and it never happened again.

IIRC the Nikon 70-200/2.8 has full time MF override. Sticky ring ? You could tape the ring so it’s motionless and the AF is unaffected. Maybe your version is very ancient, with a spinning ring during AF ? That would then suffer the symptom you describe as AF blocked by a sticky ring. That has happened to yours ?

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

User ID wrote:

IIRC the Nikon 70-200/2.8 has full time MF override. Sticky ring ? You could tape the ring so it’s motionless and the AF is unaffected. Maybe your version is very ancient, with a spinning ring during AF ? That would then suffer the symptom you describe as AF blocked by a sticky ring. That has happened to yours ?

Thanks for the info. Sounds about right. I will tape it.

tshift Loc: Overland Park, KS.

Jules Karney wrote:

I hope the club can steer me in the right directio... (show quote)

Mine is the old model I think. Mine does that sometimes. Moving hand on body of lens will hit the button to change from manual too auto. That button is easy to hit and it unlocks and moves so slightly, enough to take it out of auto and into manual focus. Hang in there. I think the lens is Ok. BE SAFE!

Tom

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Nikon does NOT make a G2 model. Off brand 70-200's are notorious for these types of problems. If it's in the ($$) cards, try the latest Nikon 70-200/E FL as its a real winner optics and focus wise. Best of luck.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

Jules I'm assuming it's the AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II Nikkor and not the Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 Lens for Nikon...

If so the Nikkor has a Focus Limiter Switch (FULL or Infinity to 5 meters). If you are closer than 5 meters and not set to FULL the Lens will have a "Bad Hair Day". Believe you know how to set to AM or MA

Like UserID said: "...Nikon 70-200/2.8 has full time MF override..." Which when set to MA instead of AM has a "hair trigger" so most commercial shooters avoid MA because of quirky response. Put the Nikkor in AM instead and see if the issue goes away...

Now the not so good news... if the AF-S system is going bad better get it fixed while Nikon is still servicing this beast. Nikon dropped service on the AF-S 80-200mm f/2.8D which is notorious for failing.. Great optics that becoming worthless once the AF-S motor goes...

Such a deal I have for you... How about a AF 80-200mm f/2.8D One-Touch for backup... this classic rare beast is just as fast as your AF-S, weighs 250 grams less and doesn't have the pricey AF-S to go bad on. However it works best on FX not your D500... Which may be a problem since your D4 wouldn't focus your AF 50mm f/1.8D.. (I see you gave up on this and sold the 50mm f/1.8D on UHH for less than half cost) So if your D4 won't screwdriver focus I'm not selling you this epic One Touch.

btw, this One-Touch is the f/2.8D variant NOT the first f/2.8 (non-D variant) which I have also and is painfully slow to focus... far too slow for sports... While the f/2.8D One-Touch variant is lighting quick and a joy to use...

Do let us know how this ultimately plays out for you Jules...
All the best and please stay safe, k?

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

Thomas902 wrote:

Jules I'm assuming it's the AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G E... (show quote)

Hi Thomas: No all my lenses are Nikon. I bought a new 50mm 1.8 af-s so it works fine on the D4. I am going to stick with the lenses I have for now. Haven't had an income for a year so I will dance with who I brought to the ball. Thanks as always for your comments.
I have a limiter set to full for soccer and generally all sports that I use a tele for.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

Great Jules... btw, I always bring a backup camera & lens to every event I shoot now...
Experience has been a brutal teacher... Sounds like between the D500 and D4 you've got that covered...
Enjoy and stay safe Jules!