Nikon ED AF-S Nikkor 300mm Problems/Questions

<p>I recently bought the above mentioned lens to use with a Nikon D2Xs. Originally, I had the F EE problem but resolved that by setting the aperture ring to 22, and now can take pictures. The problem I'm having is that when the aperture ring is set to 22, the image in the viewfinder is dark and grainy. I have used the same lens I think (from someone else), as well as the newer 300mm VR and had no issues with the dark image in the viewfinder. The shots will come out with good exposure, but the darkness of the viewfinder is quite a distraction. If I set the aperture ring to 2.8, the image is viewed just fine. Is this something I have to live with or is there a setting I don't know about?</p>

<p>The viewfinder should be the same brightness, regardless of the aperture ring setting.</p>

<p>I sounds to me like the stopdown lever on the back of the lens might be slightly bent. Either that, or the body stopdown lever is slightly out of alignment. If your other lenses behave normally, then the fault will be with the lens. If that is the case, the lens stopdown lever would not rest properly on the body stopdown lever, which forces the lens aperture wide open no matter what the aperture ring setting (f/2.8, f/22 or anything in between).</p>

<p>This is not normal, and there is definitely mechanical damage / misalignment between lens and camera.</p>

<p>Check this lever. It should be straight, and should move freely without binding throughout its full travel range with the aperture ring set at f/22. When the aperture ring is set to f/22, when you pull it (down or up) with your fingertip and release it, it should immediately snap back to rest position ...</p><div></div>

<p>How familiar are you with Nikon lenses?</p>

<p>That lever should stick out from the rear end of the lens. It is spring loaded so that when you set the aperture ring to f22, you should be able to use a finger to gentally press on it to open up the aperture diaphragm.</p>

<p>Is that mechanism working properly?</p>

<p>Thanks for the responses...I have a Nikon 17-55mm that behaves normally. The stopdown lever moves freely through the entire range with no effort. So it must not be catching on the body...</p>

<p>The two levers are definitely not engaging, otherwise you would not have a dark viewfinder. This problem is entirely mechanical and something (or things) is out of tolerance.</p>

<p>If the body lever is bent ever so slightly to the left, and the lens lever is bent ever so slightly to the right, the combination can be such that the levers will not engage. A lens with a slightly bent stopdown lever can still appear to function correctly (i.e. move freely and snap back under tension).</p>

<p>I have never handled the AF-S 300/4, but it appears the lever should be dead straight coming out of the lens. You might want to check your body lever to see if it appears to be straight.</p><div></div>

<p>Thanks Michael. I bent the camera body lever slightly and now it seems to be engaging properly. Checked my other lens and DOF is still engaging so all looks to be good. Your help is definitely much appreciated.</p>

<p>This is happening to my D300 even without any lens attached to it...<br>

Did you guys heard anything else over this issue...<br>

will be much appreciated...<br>

danielpelatos@gmail.com</p>

Michael,

 

Thanks for this post. I had this happen on my d4 only when using my Nikon 85mm f1.8g lens. In my case I bent the lever in the camera box forward a bit. No more dark viewfinder.

I know this is an old post, but when I first bought my D800, most AF lenses wouldn't open back after the first shot.

 

I did initially bend the stop down lever in the mirror box SLIGHTLY. It fixed the problem, but probably only got 200 more shots before the tab broke off completely. Fortunately, the seller had it fixed for me, and since the 150K actuation camera(I paid well under current market rates at the time because of that) got a CLA, a new shutter, and new rubber covering as part of the repair I agreed to split the ~$300 cost of it. That works out as well as I got basically a new camera for ~$1150 in the pre-D850 days when D800s were reliably $1300-1400 used.

 

I haven't counted recently, but it wouldn't surprise me if I have close to 100 working Nikon bodies(film and digital) made between ~1962 and ~2014 plus a nice "boneyard" of mechanical film, electronic film, and digital bodies that for whatever reason aren't practical to repair and are parts donors. That number does include a half dozen or so N65s, N80s, and D200s that say "Kodak" or "Fujifilm" on the pentaprism housing, but they're still Nikon bodies regardless of what the prism says. The only other one on which I've touched the stop down lever was on an F2AS, where the lever was bent just enough that it would "bind" on its channel, stick down, and prevent the mirror from retracting.

 

Use your judgement on how badly you want to try and do this yourself, though. From playing with parts bodies, the stop down lever is pretty darn tough in old cameras(think F/F2/F3 era) and seems to be less so on newer bodies. I suspect part of this has to do with the crazy frame rates that cameras are capable of now-every little bit of mass you can shave reduces the inertia in the camera's mechanical components to allow things to cycle faster. The F2 maxes out at 4fps with an MD-3, and that's with the mirror locked up(it's more like 3fps with a 10-cell pack and the mirror returning after every shot).

It's a shame the administration doesn't trust we peons on this site enough to allow us to edit a post if we realize we made a mistake outside the 15 minute edit window. That was a thought I meant to go back to and finish fleshing out.

 

I guess that all also rolls into the fact that I can't be trusted to post more often than once every 5 minutes...

It's a shame the administration doesn't trust we peons on this site enough to allow us to edit a post if we realize we made a mistake outside the 15 minute edit window. That was a thought I meant to go back to and finish fleshing out.

 

The admins do sometimes fold in corrections for us, though. As a general feature, I assume it's there so that people won't make replies to previous comments, then have the content of the thread change under them. It's generally nice to be able to link permanently to a comment without expecting it to change, too. But we've all spotted an error too late.

 

I guess that all also rolls into the fact that I can't be trusted to post more often than once every 5 minutes...

 

That seems unrelated - I can certainly post frequently, which I'm sure some bemoan. To post twice in one thread I sometimes have to hit refresh between posts - try that? Otherwise I'd raise it on the help forum - there may be a cookie issue.

Those bloody biscuits always get in the way...