irritated with nikon

[katie h.]

I've never had a problem with my Nikon cameras until I got my D70

about a month ago. I've shot for several weeks with the D70 and my

Nikon 80 1.8 lens and a cheap Quantarey 28-90 4-5.6 lens that I had

laying around with great results, but recently when I tried to use

my Sigma 80-200 2.8 lens with the D70 I noticed serious back focus

shift issues. The point of focus that showed in the veiwfinder

would always record as blurry while areas behind it would be sharp.

If I focused on something several feet in front of what I wanted in

focus, it came out sharper. I took one shot with the D70 and one

with my film camera (with the lens set to the same focus point) and

the D70 came out with a backwards focus shift while the film was

tack sharp. I emailed Nikon about this problem and I got the

response I had expected- You're not shooting with a Nikon lens so

we're not going to do anything about it.

 

Now I am very hesitant to use my D70. How do I know what lenses

that I buy will or won't work with the D70? How do I know that my

pictures are really sharp at all (the focus shift showed up worst at

200 and less noticable at 80)? And is it right for Nikon to deny

responsibility for the camera's malfunction just because I can't

afford a $1500 Nikon 80-200 2.8? I got the response from Nikon that

I expected but I am still disappointed. Does anyone feel the same

way?

[raymond bradlau]

Your trouble is with Sigma not Nikon, the lens you are using will not function without a

"chip" upgrade, the good news is Sigma will do it for free.

 

regards

ray

[gaius1]

Your Nikkor lens works on your Nikon body just fine. Your Quantaray lens works on your Nikon body just fine. Your Sigma lens does not work, so you blame the body that works just fine with all your other lenses?

 

C'mon, kid, this is not rocket science.

[ShunCheung]

The body-lens electronic communication protocol is proprietry. Third-party lens manufacturers can only reverse engineer the protocol and that is not precise. Whenever Canon or Nikon, etc. makes a small change, there is a chance that your third-party lens will suddenly become incompatible. Several years ago a friend of mine bought a new Canon Elan body and his Sigma 400mm tele would lock up the new body. In that case Sigma wouldn't do anything and he had to sell his Sigma lens and then bought a Canon lens.

 

That is one of the main reasons (beside optical/mechanical quality) that I wouldn't buy any third-party lens.

[Michael R Freeman]

Katie,

 

This is one reason why a Sigma lens is not the "bargain" it appears to be. Sure you may be irritated, but you should be annoyed with Sigma, who rather than pay a license fee to Nikon for the lens CPU protocols reverse engineer it and "hope for the best" with respect to future updates. What you experienced with your Sigma lens is very common. A new lens that will work today on a current body might not (and probably won't) work on the next generation body.

 

Nikon's response to you, although blunt, should not be unexpected. See the last paragraph on page 191 of your D70 manual.

 

Should Ford be responsible for problems with your car if you install Chevy parts on it?

 

As to which lenses will work on your D70, EVERY autofocus lens that Nikon has EVER made (except for the TC-16A) will work on the D70, including those made nearly 20 years ago. As long as the F-mount continues, any Nikon lens you buy today will work on a future Nikon body. Nikon lenses are much more expensive than 3rd party offerings, but that is the price you pay for backward and, more importantly, forward compatibility.

 

BTW - a used Nikon 80~200/2.8D can be found for $700 or less.

[prince_alfie]

Well if worse comes to worse, use the old manual focus Nikon lenses on your D70. They are affordable and better than Sigma. Of course, if you want to, use a Pentacon/Ekatka to Nikon adapter and use medium format lenses from Russia.

 

Sigma isn't bad but I wouldn't recommend some of their stuff.

[gaius1]

Over on the Canon forum they say that Sigma means <b>Sig</b>nificant <b>ma</b>lfunction. Their dodgy practices are not limited to their lenses for Nikons.

[patricks]

Katie, i understand your irritation, but as stated above, it is somewhat misdirected. "best" solution would be to sell your Sigma and buy a used Nikkor 80-200/2.8

[ilkka_nissila]

A Nikon 80-200/2.8 is much less than $1500 new let alone used.

[ellis_vener_photography]

Sometimes going cheap is the most expensive way to go.

 

As everyone has pointed out, the problem is the Sigma lens and how it communicates with

the body , not your Nikon D70. Nikon has no control over how the Sigma performs and if

your other

lenses, especially the Nikkor, are working well withthe D70 then that pretty much confirms

it. Another

thing you can do to test this is to put the camera on a tripod, set both body and lens to

manual focus and then test the focus both by eye and using the electronic focus aid in the

D70.

[homecinemaman]

Katie,

 

This is a perfect example of why we should buy OEM. When we go on the net looking for lenses, shop eBay etc. we forget that we are buying electro/optical devices that are not only optical devices but also electronic devices. This was and is a common problem with all 3rd party lenses. If you investigate this you will find that many if not all 3rd party lenses hide a dark secret, that is, they can not guarantee 100% compatability with OEM bodies. Many of us forget this and buy that 12-24mm Sigma instead of the 12-24mm Nikkor to save $300-$400. But as noted above, a future body could render that Sigma lens unusable. If you are on a strict budget, I suggest you think of buying a like new previously owned lens. My 70-200vr and 12-24 Nikkors still look like brand new! Just buy with care. I paid $1,200 for my VR and $800 for my 12-24 (That included an $80 Nikkor UV filter.)

 

 

 

Regards and "Good Luck"

 

Jeff Morris

Homecinemaman

[erickpro]

Yup, cannot blame Nikon for that. You shouldn't be irritated with Nikon.

 

Nikon is good, nikon is awesome. Especially their D2x :)

[fourfa]

wow, prety harsh responses. if a chip upgrade to the Sigma works, why sell it? why take a philosophical stance against third-party goods?

[Michael R Freeman]

Harsh? Maybe. Sure, a chip upgrade now will work for the D70, and is certainly the most economical option. But if Katie eventually upgrades 5 - 10 years from now to a new as yet unannounced Nikon Dxx body, there is no guarantee she won't be faced with the exact same situation. And this time, a chip upgrade likely won't be an option.

 

Of course selling the Sigma may also not be an option, as it will surely sell for a significant reduction from the new price (much greater depreciation than an OEM equivalent), and any potential buyer may find themselves in the same predicament.

 

I can understand why many buyers are limited to third party lenses. Photography is a very expensive hobby, and not everyone has the extra disposable income to afford OEM. Things like the rent/mortgage and food for the table come first. I have purchased 3rd party myself in the past (including a Sigma 400mm, and I was very unimpressed). However, when I started to slowly assemble my Nikon system a few years back, I made a conscious decision to go OEM only for lenses (primarily for build quality, but also for forward compatibility), even if I had to wait until I could afford a particular lens. It has cost me more *initially* (it helped that I purchased everything used), but I now have a quality system with superb optics and I know my 80~200/2.8 will work on any Nikon body in the foreseeable future.

[ilkka_nissila]

The thing is that used OEM is usually comparable in price with 3rd party new, has higher optical and mechanical quality, and is often not any worse than a new lens. These days you can get absolute bargains in manual focus lenses, so there isn't much point in going 3rd party.

[ky2]

Katie, send your lens to Sigma. They'll chip it for free. They were quick and efficient with my Macro lens when it didn't work on my EOS/3 a few years ago.

 

People, don't slam Katie nor Sigma for this. It's a common trade off when you buy 3rd party. FYI, Sigma is nicer to communicate with than Nikon USA, and they do have quality lenses, at least their higher end is comparable to Nikkors.

[raymond bradlau]

With the Sigma bashing going on I think its important to compare apples to apples, No

that $100 Sigma wont stand up to the build of the 300 2.8 AFS, but the 120-300 2.8 does

a very good job of it. I have both and use the Sigma more BTW, what can I say it zooms

and 300 on a Nikon DSLR can get a bit long sometimes.

 

Oh and that 120-300 I bought was used, but Sigma DID NOT CHARGE ME for a CLA, It

worked out for them I have a new 70-200 HSM on order (selling the Nikkor 80-200) and

man do I want Sigma to offer a NON VR/OS version of the 200-400 f4 or even better a

300-500 f4 HSM (around $4500 would be very nice)

 

No third party thread can go with out the mention of the Tokina 12-24, without question

the best $500 I have ever spent!

 

PS Nikon could learn something from Sigma, Im still waiting for an answer to a question

about one of my 2 D2h bodies (now well over a week)

 

regards

Ray

[efusco]

For a slightly less terse response let me suggest that you do some formal testing for a backfocus problem. Use your Nikkor lens first since it should be 'perfect'.

 

There is a focus test sheet here:

http://www.photo.net/learn/focustest/scale45.jpg

 

You set it up at a 45 degree angle, focus carefully on the center at your largest aperture then look at the photo to see where the image is actually in sharpest focus. If it is dead center with the Nikkor there's no problem with the D70. You can retest with the Sigma and Quantray and see if they're off. If all 3 are off then you may need to send the body back to have the back-focus problem fixed...this isn't unheard of.

 

That said, I think Nikon's response is appropriate unless and until you've found that the problem is consistant with all 3 lenses.

--evan