Nikon D7000 AF factory defects

[jean_paul_gauthier]

<p>Andy:<br>

Of course I can manually focus a DX camera wide-open. If I couldn't I wouldn't be noticing the discrepancy I'm discussing.<br>

If the auto-focus had been working properly I probably wouldn't have resorted to manual focus. I am using manual focus because the auto didn't seem to work well. That's how I discovered the optical defect.<br>

Using a tripod and a non-moving subject, manual focus is no great trick. Perhaps you thought I was shooting a moving subject?<br>

Thanks for the replies, but apparently noone has any ideas. Oh well. Perhaps the replacement camera will work as designed.</p>

 

[jean_paul_gauthier]

<p>Andy:<br>

Of course I can manually focus a DX camera wide-open. If I couldn't I wouldn't be noticing the discrepancy I'm discussing.<br>

If the auto-focus had been working properly I probably wouldn't have resorted to manual focus. I am using manual focus because the auto didn't seem to work well. That's how I discovered the optical defect.<br>

Using a tripod and a non-moving subject, manual focus is no great trick. Perhaps you thought I was shooting a moving subject?<br>

Thanks for the replies, but apparently noone has any ideas. Oh well. Perhaps the replacement camera will work as designed.</p>

 

[andylynn]

<p>What do you want me to say? "You're right, your camera is crap!"? That wouldn't be productive either. I'm commenting that I (and most people I've seen writing about the subject) find it very difficult to get accurate manual focus without an electronic assist on any of the DX DSLRs (from any company, with maybe a few exceptions at the high end). This isn't unique to the D7000. The screens they put in now aren't very good for it and the finders are small (which is why you see a lot of Canon enthusiasts who use lens adapters wanting adapters with focus confirm compatibility and Katz Eye screens). The only decent solution I ever saw was a replacement screen.</p>

[jean_paul_gauthier]

<p>Good points, Andy. Thank you. You seem to know more about cameras than I do.<br>

It is indeed quite difficult to manually focus this camera, and I would rather not do it. The auto-focus through the viewfinder is not working well though, so I tried manual focus to rule out the auto-focus as the cause of the problem and noticed that neither seem to work. <br>

I can use autofocus fine-tuning but fear that will not work well with my zoom lens. Is that a valid fear?</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>Even back in the 1970's when I was a teenager, I needed the split-image focus assist to focus manually, on bodies such as the FT3, FE, etc.</p>

<p>Today, if you are using a tripod, I would use live view to focus manually. You can greatly magnify the image on the back LCD to fine tune the focus. At least I find that far more accurate than any method before live view was available since 2007 (on the D3 and D300).</p>

[jean_paul_gauthier]

<p>That is definitely true. I feel that the viewfinder auto-focus should work though, since they went through the trouble and expense of producing it. If that worked I wouldn't even be thinking about manaul focus. <br>

One of the 'features' of this camera is the relatively nice viewfinder. If people can't use it becuase neither auto nor manual focus is reliable, then i'd call that a problem.</p>

[keith_lindquist1]

<p>Wow...its amazing how many photographers here want to blame user error on the D7000's low light focusing problems! <br>

Please explain this to me:<br>

I shoot a lot of events at night to help pay the bills, and I've experienced inconsistent focusing results with the D7000 in low light when I know it can't be my technique. You see, I shoot 2 or 3 shots of each grouping of people --- standing right in front of me posing --- with AF-assist on the SB600 and Single, yet invariably one of the images is out of focus. <br>

Why does the D7000 not provide consistent focus for consecutive identical shots?<br>

My old D200 works beautifully at these events, so I've gone back to it for these kind of shoots. But thank you Photo,net...If Nikon can repair this, I'm sending it in.</p>

[dusko]

<p>There is definitely a problem with the focus. I bought new D7000 before about 8 months and I can say that the body is definitely bad calibrated ... I tested the AF in controlled conditions and when the AF Fine Tune is set to -16, the result is the closest to that obtained when the focus through Live View. If the lighting is worse (tungsten), it is need higher value AF Fine Tune, probably more than -20. Tomorrow I send the body is calibrated and we'll see what the outcome will be...</p>

[mark_lewis8]

<p>Hi all im new to these forums, I would just ike to say when I 1st got my D7000 I was chuffed to bits with it, I was getting very very good results. Then after about 8 months I started getting frustrated as the images where not as good a quality as they used to be (and this was a sudden change in the quality) I looked in to it and discovered this whole back focus issue and done some testing, in live view the AF was perfect as it was using contrast detection as per info provided by what the sensor was picking up, however then using the viewfinder to take shots I was finding that the camera would appear in focus but would be slightly out (AF wise) I also confirmed this with auto focus charts.<br /><br />I tried the usual AF fine tuning which worked to a certain degree but still want as tac sharp as I would like, I put up with it like this for over 4 months thinking it was just me being too judgemental over my images, until one day I thought "I've had enough of this" and took it back to the shop where the camera was purchased from (thankfully I had an extended warranty) <br>

Wilkinson cameras sent the D7000 off to Nikon who performed diagnostics and determined that work needed to be carried out, they performed a full clean and re-calibration of the AF mechanism and more importantly replaced the full mirror mechanism/carriage as mentioned in a few posts)<br>

Since getting the camera back I have fell in love with it again and im getting some awesome shots too boot<br>

<img src="http://www.mlpix.co.uk/Images/Privatefiles/DSC_0654.jpg" alt="" /></p>