operation

[mike_dunn2]

<p>I own a Nikon D90 and have been having difficulting using my Nikon 24-120 VR lens. When I attempt tp shoot the camera does not function unless I readjust the zoom. It seems to work fine when I'm at home but both indoors and outside I don't know when it will function and when it won't. I have attempted to change the setting from Apiture priority to Shutter priority to automatic. It just seems to shoot when it wants to. I believe its the lens not the camera. Will be trying a different lens later today when I will be on a day trip.</p>

[jose_angel]

<p>It may sound stupid but... Is the lens in M/A mode?</p>

[mike_dunn2]

<p>Yes it is. I even switched on and off to make sure it was working. After posting question it still works at home as do a couple of others I tried. Also some of the pic's I took a couple of weeks ago when this all started are out of focus. On Sat. I went to a parade and had the same problem.</p>

[mike_halliwell]

<p>Could you confirm..</p>

<p><strong><em>'does not function unless I readjust the zoom.</em></strong><br>

<strong><em> </em></strong><br>

the zoom? Really.. never met that one. Does <em>function</em> in this case mean, not focus, ie no lens movement, or the VR doesn't appear to stabilse, or the shutter button has no effect? or maybe all 3!</p>

<p>All I can think of is that it's set on something like trap focus and adjusting the zoom brings it into that region.<strong><br /></strong></p>

<p>Do a complete 'hard reset', fully charge the battery and try it again. Power issues often throw up some pretty hinky errors.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Or perhaps something as simple as dirty contacts on the lens and/or the body, and the act of grabbing hold of the zoom ring and twisting a bit is wiggling those grubby contacts just enough to make the camera/lens electrical connection happy enough to re-convince the camera that there's a lens attached to it. It can never hurt to clean those contacts, as a test.</p>

[Andrew Garrard]

<p>Matt jumped in just as I was going to say exactly that, and with the same reasoning. I don't trust your contacts: give them a wipe (gently). If that doesn't work, maybe there's a loose connection in the lens. It's definitely worth confirming that it <i>is</i> just that lens, though.</p>

[ted_raper1]

<p>+ one more for what Matt and Andrew say; that problem sounds so weird that it almost has to be an electronic glitch, and most likely the lens contacts. Clean the contacts, do the hard reset, put in a fully charged battery. If the problem still exists, use the substitution method to narrow it down: put another lens on the body and try it, and if possible try the suspect lens on a different body. If the new lens does the same thing, the problem is likely in the camera body; if the problem follows the lens, lens problem (which brings us back to the lens contacts).</p>

[Jerry_]

<p>The lens may have a distant cousin. The one I have (and seldom use....) takes a quick *remove from the camera and remount* when it hangs up and then it seems to work OK. When it decides to lock up is a good guess. It may be possible that Nikon's chip for that one line of lens is not at 100 percent, 100 percent of the time.</p>

<p> </p>

[robert_hooper1]

<p>If just a wipe of the lens and camera mount gold contacts makes a difference, I would swab down those same contacts with a Q-tip dipped in isopropyl alcohol. Sometimes those contacts get mysteriously gunked up with a greasy or oily substance.</p>

<p>Good luck, Mike. I hope it's not something more serious.</p>