Zoom lens. Is it broken ?

I just recieved a Nikkor 35-70mm zoom. It's the newer 62mm filter size

with the macro option. I got it from the big 'ol bid place. The glass

looks fin and the outside if the lens is pretty good. It does shows

signs of use, but I'd say it looks fairly clean. Here's the rub. It

seems to have a bit of slop with clicked up to f3.5. It's almost like

there is another click stop just beyond f3.5. It clicks at 3.5 then

can click again if you rotate it past 3.5. The aperature blades open

slightly more.

 

Yes, I know. That's what I get for using that web site, but...The $80

price seemed like a good deal.

 

Is this play in the lens a BAD thing, or no big deal ? If it IS a bad

thing, can any lens repair place fix it, or will it need to go back to

Nikon ?

 

 

John

I have a zoom that starts at f/4.5. With an intermediate stop such as this, there is usually a click stop at the next standard stop, which is f/5.6 in my case. Probably the next stop you are finding is f/4 which may or may not be marked as such. Or, going in the opposite direction, you may be hitting the stop for f/4 first, then getting to the true f/3.5 stop which means that the blades are fully opened.<p>I have a similar arrangement with my 50mm f/1.8 AI lens. The f/2 is not marked, but only f/1.8 is marked on the aperture ring. Nevertheless, the detente for the f/2 position is there. When opening the lens, I hit the f/2 stop. Then, a slight bit more rotation will get me to f/1.8 and the blades will fully open. This is probably closer to your situation, as f/2 and f/1.8 are 1/3 stop apart. F/4 and f/3.5 are also 1/3 stop apart.<p>Bottom line - your lens may be fine. The only way to tell is to use some slide film and take pictures (using a tripod) of the same scene at various apertures. They should all come out the same (except for the effect of different shutter speeds if there is any motion in the subject).

Great Price! Many of my lenses do that. Use it, and look at the results. If they look good, you got a great lens at a great price!

I have thee different variants of the 55/3.5 Micro-Nikkor.

They all do a variation of what you describe as well as others

that end on a standard f/stop like my 20/2.8 AIS. As far as the

aperture blades, they are very likely as the factory set them.

The part about the aperture control ring going a little farther

than f/3.5 has to do with the way the aperture control ring is

machined inside. Its not finding an additional detent its

hitting a metal against metal stop. <br>

<br>

If your lens is the "Zoom-Nikkor 35-70 mm f/3.5 (62 mm

Filter Size)" in AIS here is a tip from <a

href="http://www.naturfotograf.com" target="_new"><u>Bjørn Rørslett...</u></a></p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>Tip: This lens can give an excellent macro setup, when a 6T

close-up lens is added and the lens then is reversed using

the BR-2/2A and BR-5 adapters. Adding the close-up lens is

necessary to yield top results, do not reverse the zoom on

its own. Zooming in the reversed position conveniently alters

image magnification that can go up to 3X.</p>

</blockquote>

 

<p>Shoot some film and have fun. I very sure the lens is OK.<br>

<br>

Regards,

Thanks for the info. I got the same reply from ym brother, who's a bunch more informed about this stuff than I am. The first click must be the f4 click, which has no marking on the lens, then the last click is the f3.5 mark. I never had a lens that did this before. I'll have to check my others to see if I've missed that.

 

JohnW

The click stop is definitely for f/4.