Nikon 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 AF Nikkor - Users Manual Req'd

[osztertag]

<p>Hello All<br>

I just picked up a very gently used Nikon 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 AF Nikkor lens, and I was wondering if anyone would have PDF version of the User's Manual that they'd be willing to share. <br>

In particular I'd like to understand the purpose of the FULL / LIMIT switch on the lens<br>

Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions<br />Steve O </p>

[dbcooper]

<p>AFAIK a full/limit switch speeds up the autofocus in the 'limit' position at the expense of not using AF at closer focusing distances (~under 5m). At least that's the way it works on my 80-400 VR and 70-200 VR II.</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>The full/limit button limits the AF distance range to reduce the amount of AF hunting.</p>

<p>If you are at least somewhat familiar with Nikon AF-S lenses with VR, you should be able to get by without the manual for the 70-300.</p>

[orourke]

<p>As stated above, the limit switch reduces the amount of hunting the auto focus has to do. On that lens, the 75-300 those limits are 10 feet to infinity and 10 feet to macro (or M). In other words, depending on where your lens is focused before you engage the limit switch, those are the limits the AF will start and stop at. Obviously Full gives you the full range of focus.</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>I just realized that we are talking about the AF-D 75-300mm zoom with a built-in tripod collar. That lens has no AF-S and no VR.</p>

[orourke]

<p>There is another switch on that lens you may want to be aware of. It is the minimum aperture lock lever and it is located forward of the aperture numbering and to the right. It's rather small. In programmed auto or shutter priority auto shooting you'll want to stop the lens all the way down to f32 and engage that switch. I attached that lens to a D50 a week or so ago and kept gett a fault reading on the camera's display until I stumbled across that switch.</p>

[Michael R Freeman]

<blockquote>

<p>"<em>In particular I'd like to understand the purpose of the FULL / LIMIT switch on the lens..."</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p>To the best of my knowledge Nikon has never made a pdf copy of the manual for the AF-D 75-300mm available to the public on-line. The scan below is from the AF 80~200/2.8D manual. The text in the manual for the 75~300mm will be essentially the same, although the limit distances quoted will likely be different.</p>

<p>Basically, if you engage the LIMIT switch...</p>

<ul>

<li>when focused above the <em>x-</em>m limit distance (3m for the 80~200), autofocus will be restricted to the range between <em>x</em>-m and infinity. </li>

<li>when focused below the <em>x</em>-m limit distance, autofocus will be restricted to the range between <em>x</em>-m and minimum focus.</li>

</ul>

<p>The first option is quite useful when working at distances well beyond the close focusing range, as it limits how far the optics need to move if you lose focus and the lens needs to hunt back and forth to find and lock focus again.</p>

<p>When the switch is set to FULL, the lens will autofocus over the full range from infinity to minimum focus.</p><div></div>

[zoid]

<p>I have this lens. It's a nice optic. A steady hand can get good shots on the long end, but a monopod/tripod is a good friend for the 75-300mm AF.</p>

<p>That said, the FULL / LIMIT allows the lens to use its 'macro range' as part of the focus search. The 'macro range' is the part of the focus distance scale and it is shown as a solid orange bar along the lens distance scale. Obviously, this orange bar is on the short side of the distance index. By setting the Lens to LIMIT, the lens will stay out of the focusing range that is more useful for macro work, which will speed up its AF use because the lens is locked out of that last bit of close focusing. This feature really works well on this lens, and the 28-105mm AF-D, which also has a FULL / LIMIT switch. I own both lenses, and love them both for this feature.</p>

<p>When I'm using this lens for general shooting at long distance, I always set the LIMIT / FULL switch to LIMIT. That way, the lens will cycle faster to lock in focus. When I want to make use of the lenses macro feature (and I actually have an 11x14 wall hanger from this lens in macro mode), I set the switch to FULL so I can focus more closely. As far as I know, there are no other reasons to utilize this switch, or secret tricks.</p>

<p>I was sorry to see the lens disappear from production. For what uses it was designed for, it works very well. I hope your sample works as well, or better than mine. I will probably never get rid of my version of this lens.</p>

[osztertag]

<p>Awesome, thank you all very much for your speedy responses.</p>

[emiliogtz]

<p>Just adding my two cents: That's a nice lens, heavy, well built. I used to leave that switch at the LIMIT settings since in my humble opinion image quality degraded notably on the macro range. I used it almost exclusively on the 100-200 range, where it performed really good. Above 200mm it got too soft for my tastes (even when tripod-mounted).</p>

<p>Perhaps it was my copy but the guy I sold it to is perfectly happy with it.</p>

[kevin_mahabir]

<p>I have a similar query, slightly more subtle: I received this 75-300mm AF Nikkor, attached to an FM2 as a gift and it seems to be stuck in the upper limit of the focus range, from 10' or so to infinity. Shifting the switch has no effect.Is it possible that it was set to this upper limit while it was attached to a newer camera with AF capabilities and needs such a camera to undo it? There is a zzz-zzz sound when focusing that makes me think that something is engaged and it should be "free-wheeling" when used manually. I would really like to use the close focusing distance range. I am new to this forum, so if this message needs to be asked in a new thread, please indicate.<br>

Thank you,<br>

Kevin</p>