broken aperture ring tab

Hi there. I just received a lens from KEH (Nikkor 180mm f/2.8) after

advice in <a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0068P6">this

thread</a>. This was rated "bargain" glass, has bit of wear but clean

glass. Problem is, the aperture ring coupling tab is broken off.

Here's a picture I found in another thread:

<br><br>

<img src="http://www.photo.net/bboard/image?bboard_upload_id=12794684">

<br>

How much money am I looking at to fix this or have it fixed? Is it

something I can do myself? How do you all suggest dealing with KEH on

this? For the moment, I've jury rigged the camera with a piece of

matchstick to hold the coupling switch on the body open (this is just

the switch that tells the camera the lens is set to the smallest

aperture). <br>

thanks,

I forgot to clarify - with my jury rig, everything works great.

You also failed to state which camera that you are using. None of my cameras, N8008s, N90s, and F5, engage this particular tab. This tab was origianlly used as the drive tab for the DS-12 aperture drive servo for the F2AS. I am not sure, but I think the only model that might have used this particular tab was the FA, or maybe the EM.

 

Look at the corresponding area on the camera body and see if this tab engages a lever on the body. If the body does not have anything to engage this tab then you don't need it.

sorry, it's an N80 and it does need it. Before I did the trick with the matchstick, all I could get was a flashing "fEE" error code.

The tab that you are referring to is the minimum aperture tab. It signals to cameras without AI coupling the fact that the lens has been set to the minimum aperture. N4004, N5005, N50, N55, N60, N65, N75 and N80 need this tab. Other bodies generally don't.

I had the same problem with a Nikon 80-200mm lens. It costed about $35-$40 to replace the aperature ring at a local camera repair store. Tab is exposed even when the rear lens cap is in place and can be easily damaged.

That post is precisely what Scott Warn said it is. Nikon however has found another use for it. It was on AI lenses before the cameras listed were on the drawing boards. It�s proper name is "EE Servo Coupling Post." I did a quick computer scan of the F80 manual and found no occurrence of the word "tab" or "post." It was added to the AI lens aperture ring for the Nikon F2As and DS-12 EE Aperture Control Attachment. Just a little Nikon history.

 

I would send the lens back. I think bargain grade should be fully functional and having that tab broken off is not fully functional at least in your case. Most people who would use the lens would have no problem with it being missing. Perhaps you should opt for "Excellent" grade instead.

 

Cheers!

thanks folks. my dilemma is this: I'm leaving for a three-week trip in the canadian rockies tomorrow (in a few hours really), including a lot of photography. I'm going to try to work with KEH to find a solution, like refunding me the cost of a repair, then get it fixed when I return.

IMO KEH should either accept a return or pay for repair, which should be pretty simple unless you send it back to Nikon, which would probably charge you a lot of money. But it wouldn't be fair to KEH if you use the lens for 3 weeks and then return it.

 

In my 26 years of using Nikon, I personally have never had any serious mechanical failures in the lens mount areas. But I am reading more and more about broken AI follower tabs, broken coupling posts, etc. I am convinced that these old-fashioned mechanical couplings is the source of a lot of reliability issues.

I buy a lot of KEH 'bargains'. I think this particular 'failure' just slipped below their radar, I know it would get by me as I don't own any cameras / accessories that care about this tab (and I own a lot of Nikon cameras).

 

Talk it over with them, but here's the way I would lean: it has a 60 day warranty. It was defective when you got it. Use it on your 3 week trip and then send it to them for warranty service. They do have a repair capability, so they'll probably fix it up fine. If for whatever reason they decide they don't want to repair it, they can refund instead.

Couldn't resist eh Shun? Talk to Canon users about problems with electrical shorts between the body and lens...actually read the posting today about the Nikkor 80-200 and the D1.

Well Mike, I have been using Nikon AF since 1989. In those 14 years so far, I have never had any electronic coupling problems between body and lens, not even once. I am talking about 5 AF bodies from N8008, F5 to D100 and at least 15 AF lenses. As I said earlier, I have never had any serious mechanical coupling problems either over 26 years.

 

But somehow I don't think my experience is typical. I wonder whether other people have more mechanical or electronic coupling problems.

Shun and I have discussed this before, and of course my experiences are opposite, more odd 'electronic interface' faults than AI faults.

 

The internet and forums like this tend to 'amplify the negative'. Let's face it, these forums would be deadly dull if I posted "Yes sirree, another trouble-free assignment with my 80-200 f/2.8 AFD" each time it didn't let me down. For most people, this lens performs day in and day out without trouble. But if you search around for comments on it, you'll find threads on awful 'falloff in the corners', plastic filter threads, etc.

I have had some issues on Canon EOS cameras as you might have guessed from my post...really one of my main reasons I "went luddite" with MF Nikons, the others being the viewfinders and modern camera interfaces. I wasn't going to gamble on another brand of AF...maybe not a totally founded decision but one I do not regret so far. I certainly do not have the years to back up either statement compared to Shun's experience...heck I'm only 31!

 

It could be from the type of outdoor (wet Vancouver) use I subjected my cameras to before I left the west last month for good. You are a nature photographer too, right Shun? Surely you must beat your gear up to some degree in the outdoors.

<em>"I am convinced that these old-fashioned mechanical

couplings is the source of a lot of reliability issues." --Shun

Cheung<br>

</em><br>

Shun, Ive never had a failure of any of these parts in 33

years but then I dont and never have smoked and fortunately

never spilled a stick liquid on a camera. Problems with the meter

coupling lever are easily fix and almost always related to

contamination with a sticky foreign substance. Besides tar from

cigarette smoke sticky liquids like coffee, coke or beer can

cause this, I image desert silt is no help especially when

attached to something sticky, otherwise this is a non-issue. The

Nikon lens to body interface has proven reliable over decades of

use.

"The Nikon lens to body interface has proven reliable over decades of use"<P>

Yes, but it nevertheless could be replace by what costs less, is just as reliable, and offers much more portential.

It's a feature, not a defect... just think of it as a "G" lens!

It won't work as a G lens. G lenses electronically transmits the fact that its a G lens to cameras like N80, as a result G lenses don't need to couple to the minimum aperture tab on the N80. Non-G AF lenses don't do this, and still need this to work with N80.

Uhhh... it was a joke, Chuck...