F100 and Tamron 200-400 causes AF Problems

Hello,

 

I bought this lens recently after makeing a good testfilm using my F90.

AF worked fine during the testfilm.

But now I've been going to use it with my F100 and I noticed that the AF performs great at 200mm but it's getting poor from 250-400mm.

Under normal conditions like bright sun, the AF works fine on all focal lengths. But using it indoors, the AF is not quite satisfying.

Between 300 and 400mm there is no chance of getting a sharp picture while my F90 is doing the same job under the same conditions well.

 

Is this a problem of the camera or the lens ?

 

thanks

günter

A lens with a maximum aperture of f/5.6 is not a good choice for indoor photography. Hunting may easily result, and 3rd party lenses usually are worse in this respect than AF Nikkors. What kind of subjects do you shoot? I suggest getting an 80-200/2.8 (any of the current Nikon models should do well, but the AF-S model accepts TC-14E and -20E teleconverters which may give you better AF).

 

The F90 has a large-area focusing sensor while the F100 does not. This may explain why it works better. If you're unhappy with the F100, please send it to me ... I will pay for shipping. :-)

Sounds similar to my problems with a Sigma on my F100:<br>

<a href="http://www.thepeaches.com/photography/Sigma.htm">http://www.thepeaches.com/photography/Sigma.htm</a>

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There's something about five sensor bodies that changes the way the lens focus interacts with the body. If you're achieving satisfactory focus in sunlight (are you sure the problem isn't masked by increased DOF?), your problem isn't as pronounced as mine. It might be worth contacting Tamron to see if they know what's going on or can offer a fix.

Im curious ,what do you shoot indoors with a 300-400mm lens?

If you are having a problem when using a third party lens with your Nikon body you can be almost certain that it's a compatibility problem caused by the lens.

Günter,

 

I had this same problem. Send the lens into Tamron and they will fix it. It turns out that some of the early 200-400 Tamron's had a faulty D chip in them. They worked fine with the N50/60/70/90 cameras that only had a single focus sensor. However, on all bodies with multiple sensors like the N80 and F100 (I have both) it would have focusing problems. I called them about it and they knew exactly what it was. Sent it in and 10 days later I had a working lens back. They didn't charge me, though I don't know if it was because ofthe warranty or because it was a real defect in the camera.

 

In any case, Tamron will replace the D chip and then it'll be fine on the D100.

 

Scott