Nikon 80mm-400mm G lens issue
Hello everyone lensman 1
Just received my used Nikon 80mm-400mm G lens from Keh, lens looks brand new, beautiful pictures, I love the lens.
This is not a knock on them, there wonderful people and it has a warrenty, so I am not worried at all.
But I am having a Issue with chattering, I use BBF, 1 point, sometimes 9, it chatters with or without VR on and
I tried it on full and focus limiter. Is this normal for this lens or is there something wrong ? any thought's.
Are you referring to the autofocus hunting a little bit even after it has acquired focus on a subject? Nasim Mansurov of Photography Life talks about that in his review of the Nikon 80-400mm AF-S lens. I have that lens but have not encountered that issue. It may happen with mine sometime.
However, this lens has one serious flaw, which can get annoying very quickly – it has the same AF hesitation or “chatter” as some other AF-S zoom lenses, like the Nikon 70-300mm VR. I first noticed this when photographing my son in a park at a long distance zoomed all the way to 400mm. The autofocus motor went back and forth in small steps continuously for as long as I half-pressed the shutter release button. It was a bright day, so this was not like this problem was happening only in low light. I then took the lens to photograph birds and the same thing happened again, pretty much every time when AF was engaged.
I don’t remember my 80-400 chattering. I think I would have noticed, but I will check it out anyway.
Yes , it constantly tries to auto focus focus, as soon as it locks on, sounds like gears are grinding inside, my old
Nikon 70mm-300mm G lens did the same thing, when I photographing a bird in flight in continuous mode , half the pictures are blurred. Perhaps I need to send it back.
lensman 1
The KEH 'warranty' is whether it breaks / fails within 6-months. The no-questions return policy is 2-weeks. Don't confuse the two.
I always use back button focus and am always in auto focus continuous mode when shooting birds in flight. I never use the VR because 99% of the time my shutter speed is over 1000th second. That said when the lens locks focus the chattering stops, If, If I'm rock solid in my stance. If I've had to much coffee that mourning or if tired and my hands are shaking a bit the lens will Chatter as it adjusts to my movements. To know for sure if you or the lens set the lens on tripod and then focus on a subject. If the lens is rock solid and it still chatters send it back. If not you now know it's user related... My lens is Very sensitive to movement, hence the chatter as the camera tries to keep focused.....
I also use BBF,I will put it on a tripod and see what happens, maybe it's me. Thanks for the advice.
lensman 1
I have noticed that at 400mm sometimes the lens hunts for longer than usual, I adjust the focal length minutely and focus is back.
Yes, I notice the noise when I switch from my 300mm to the 80-400. Doesn't affect the photos, I like the lens a lot.
Dalek
Loc: Detroit, Miami, Goffstown
I have one and no chatter when focusing.
Its normal for this lens when shooting in low light.
Had the same issue when using a polarizer filter with that lens. Took the filter off and the searching for focus quit.
Hi -
Need some additional information. What camera body are you using and what focus mode to you have it set on? I have an 80-400mm and find that I use spot focus most of the time with it especially if I'm using it with a 1.4x TC III.
- FTn
I use a Nikon D-7500 in af-c and 9 focus points, I tried spot , no change. The auto focus light in the camera constantly blinks, and the grinding noise is constant, wheather VR is on or not, I take pictures of birds in flight in sunlight mostly Herons. I put a different lens on the camera, no problem.
lensman 1
Some times the focus issue is caused by the camera focusing system and not the lens, like contrast detection problems.
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