D700 Focus Motor Dead

<p>I stuck my nifty 50 on my D700 and the AF motor appears dead. Same lens works on the D7100, so I think its the D700's internal AF motor that has died. I can't think of any setting other than the lever on the side S / C / M that would prevent the motor from actuating. Its the only non-motor lens that I have so I don't have any other way to test.</p>

<p>Has anyone had a repair done in the US and can share what the cost to fix it is? Given thats my only non AF-S lens, I will probably just live with it.</p>

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Did you make sure the lens was fully locked on the camera, if not, the screw drive that turns the focus mechanism on the

lens will be recessed and the camera will think it's a manual focus lens. Also, with the lens off, does the screw drive head

stick out from the mounting flange on the camera? It stould stick out a little more than 1/16" or about 2mm.

Another thing to try, when you mount the lens on the D700, rotate the focus ring until you hear a click, but be gentle. The click is the screw drive head popping into the slot on the lens.

<p>KEH charges a flat rate of $230, but for that kind of money, since you don't seem to need the feature, I would suggest you sell the lens and upgrade to the AFS version which would take care of your issue and also give you improved IQ over the older version.</p>

Elliot, Stephen's problem is with the body not the lens, as he says.

Although avoiding the problem is a viable alternative to fixing the problem.

<p>Perhaps like Eliot suggests, it is time to switch to the AF-S lenses ?</p>

<p>as you say: "<em>I will probably just live with it." </em></p>

<p>Try to rotate gently the little scredriver on the D700 body, with lens removed and camera turned OFF. Possibly you could dislodge a particle or whatever makes it not moving ?</p>

<p>UPDATE: The lens is locked in and I see the screw on the body sticking out prior to putting the lens on, but the motor itself is not dead. If I carefully rotate the focus ring it will eventually just turn on and take off and drive the lens until its in focus, but then I have to repeat again. So no AF-C for this lens... I can't seem to find a pattern as to when it will do that so I'm not sure if the drive is simply sticking or has a different problem, but I think it might be about 50% better than when I first found the problem, so I'm thinking sticking or issues with starting up. When it does drive you can tell its got plenty of power. I would think its the lens, but the D7100 drives it without any issues. I'll have to try it with another lens. Maybe for some reason its just a bad combination.</p>

<p>Thanks for the KEH info. At $230 you are right, might as well just sink that money into an AF-S lens. I don't really use my 50mm that much. So perhaps its time to put that into an 85 1.8.</p>

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<p>A brand new 50mm/f1.8 AF-S lens is $220. That seems to be the much better way to spend your money.</p>

<p>You might examine the screw slot in the lens that the drive engages. It sounds as if the drive is not engaging the lens until you turn the manual focus ring and everything lines up.</p>

<p>Sounds a bit like a problem I have with my AF 180mm f/2.8 - every now and then, the AF just won't engage, and I need to force the lens back to AF (the AF/M switch doesn't stay put all too well), and/or remount the lens. And then it goes again. Since I've got several AF-D lenses, I know it's never been the motor or the body screwdriver - all my other lenses work fine. So I assume it's wear and tear and the lens. The screw on the mount looks good, but maybe there is some play that makes that it won't lock onto the screwdriver... well no idea really (I got the lens for a relatively low sum on ebay, and otherwise it works well, so I can live with this quirk), it just seems to be worn out.<br>

Regardless, it would be worth trying a second non-AFS lens, to be sure what's what. Even if for your uses the screwdriver isn't important, not having it work would dent the resale value of your camera, I think. But if you know that you'll keep this body until it falls apart, then getting the f/1.8G 50mm is easily worth the money; it's a much nicer lens than the f/1.8D.</p>

<p>Thanks all. I have not tried a different non-AFS lens yet. But I'm hoping its a tolerance issue with this lens. Another thought is that the screw drive that sticks out might not stick out far enough. Since its spring loaded an AFS lens keeps it held down, I'm thinking there is some sort of switch/indicator at the screw that tells it if it should turn. Not sure if the body just gets the info from the lens from a sensor / switch at the screw.</p>

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