yet another victim of D7000 focus issues - brief question regarding the repair

[martynas_photo]

<p>hello everyone,<br /> just bought the 7000 on ebay - everything is ok, save for the famous back focussing issue. I was prepared that some of my lenses might need some AF Fine tuning, but I did not expect that ALL of them will have this problem with a camera. I tried 50mm f1.4, 24mm f2.8, 80-200 f2.8 and 28-70 f2.8... All lenses are Nikkor and all work perfectly on d100, d200 and d700 (not to mention F5). Adjustments as high as -20 (default +specific lens) are needed and even then the problem persists. Naturally, focus is spot-on when using live view. <br /> Since the camera is past the warranty period, I need to decide whether I return it and look for another, with potentially same problems, or do I take it to Nikon centre for recalibration. Does anyone have experience with that and what was the price you have paid for such servicing (I'm in Europe, so that info would be most useful)? The camera is 1 year old (I believe the ordinary warranty was good for one year only) and is otherwise in pristine condition with some 4000 actuations. The original owner claims he never had any problems using kit lenses. <br /> Thanks.</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>Sorry, but what is this "<em>famous back focussing issue</em>"?<br>

There are a lot of internet stories on D7000 AF issues, together with handheld shots to test the AF accuracy, false assumptions on how AF works and tests done on shiny subjects with little contrast and more such testing.... an actual really existing confirmed issue with D7000 AF actually never surfaced. I'm mostly saying this because it means trying to claim a free warranty repair with Nikon "because it is a known issue" is very likely not going to work. Just to be sure: don't expect Nikon to accept the internet as a reliable source for their technical problems ;-)</p>

<p>Now if you are sure your testing is done in an accurate way (tripod, not too close to minimal focus distance, test subject with proper contrast etc.) and all your lenses are off, you should get the body repaired. However, since you got it second hand, there is no warranty in some countries as the warranty is not transferable and hence only applies to the original owner. In other countries, there might be - so you will need to check this point with your local Nikon office (I have experience only with items bought in Netherlands and Italy, and for these countries, it is different already).</p>

[martynas_photo]

<p>Wouter,<br /> thanks for your response. the camera does not AF properly, there's no doubt and no point in discussing the testing involved. I just wanted to ask, perhaps someone on photo.net has come across this issue and could share the info about the associated repair costs on a non-warranty D7000. I have limited time to return the camera and such info would help me decide - return it or keep and send it for repair (I got it for a fairly good price and do not mind a little extra to have it properly calibrated). Aside from being unable to achieve focus - this camera is great and I would be happy to keep it.<br /> its that simple actually.</p>

[andylynn]

<p>Well, if you can't get a warranty service, and it needs service, you really just have to do some math. What does it cost to get it serviced, and is that plus what you paid more or less than buying a D7000 that you can confirm is calibrated?</p>

<p>And, one other thing - if you bought it on the Bay, what about the seller? If the seller will give you a return just because you ask, or will cover all or part of the cost of getting it calibrated, great. If not, did the seller say in the listing that the camera has a focus problem? If he did, you can't make him give you a refund. If he didn't, and you feel like forcing the issue and you can document that there is a problem with the camera well enough to satisfy an the Bay customer service person, you can usually force a refund.</p>

[elliot1]

<p><em>"</em><em>the camera does not AF properly"</em> Return it! (this is not normal operation for a D7000).</p>

[martynas_photo]

<p>Andy, exactly - I just need some figures to do my math. The seller said nothing about any issues and would (unwillingly) accept the camera back. Price was good and if calibration/repair is not too expensive - I would have a working and individually adjusted camera. I have played with various AF tuning options today - after I set the in-camera AF fine tune to -20 - the 50mm lens becomes perfectly usable (unfortunately, the adjustment does not work that well for other lenses, especially the 80-200, which remains unacceptably back-focused from ~135 to 200mm).<br /> Elliot - still thinking about it, thanks:) I really like the images from this camera +fine tuned 50mm.</p>

[elliot1]

<p>Martynas, there are plenty of D7000s around.</p>

[martynas_photo]

<p>well, thank you all for your time and responses. It turned out that the camera is still under manufacturers warranty (which is 2 years in Germany), so, hopefully Nikon will be able to fix it. I think it would be reasonable to attach the test images with descriptions, so that they immediately see where the problem is?<br /> on a side note - I went to a camera repair shop to have a professional do some focus testing. autofocus is definitely off, but manual focus appears to be ok. Another interesting thing - today I decided to shoot a theatre performance to see how it behaves in "real life" conditions. I tried switching between af-s and af-c focus modes and the latter produced a significantly larger number of well-focused shots (still, all shots were taken with with -20 default and -20 lens AF Fine tune adjustment). I usually shoot theatre with af-s, so don't blame this one on me:) Central point was used for focusing on all occasions. Is there any rational explanation why af-c is much better thatn af-s for comparatively static objects?<br>

also - can such erratic behaviour be due to the fact that most of my lenses are screwdriver focus type, not af-s? not to mention that I have no dx lenses.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Without some specific information we'd just be guessing. Can you provide some photos with EXIF data intact, or at least specific descriptions of the equipment, exposure settings, lighting, etc.?</p>

<p>Live theater is seldom completely static. I've typically used fast lenses and even a slight movement of the actor can move them out of the shallow field of relatively sharp apparent focus. Naturally AF-C - continuous AF mode - would work better for this. When I used 35mm film cameras in a blimp box and fast manual focus lenses I was continually adjusting focus to track even slight movements of the actors.</p>

[wilpenusa]

<p>Its not my call and maybe you have done this already, but I would reset all settings to camera default before I started looking for problems. Who knows what settings have been changed. For instance I shoot with release priority set to release, not focus which someone not knowing may think my D-7000 is not focusing properly. Just my two cents. </p>

[martynas_photo]

<p>William,<br /> thanks - yes I have done the reset a number of times (including manual going through menu to restore everything to defaults and the two button reset), but nothing changed. Unless there is some form of a true hard-reset on a d7000, but I've not been able to find it.<br /> Lex,<br /> what information are you referring to? the testing images or the theatre ones? testing was done with d7000 +50mm 1.4D (iso ~500, aperture 1.4, shutter - really fast enough, 1/800 or something like that. sufficient light (natural or artificial) - distance to target sufficient. The theatre shots were taken with 80-200 f/2.8 af-d @f4 (mostly, sometimes f3.5), iso 800-1600, shutter 1/160-1/320 (camera on tripod). Light - a range of temperatures from ~3000 to 5500K (plus filters, etc). By the way, I was very pleased by the Auto WB of the camera. Distance from camera to subject - 15-25m.</p>

[martynas_photo]

<p>Well,<br>

after testing the camera with five other lenses (all dx by the way) I must say that the problem was with my own optics. Although all of my lenses work flawlessly with d700/d200/d100/f5 etc, obviously the d7000 is a bit more demanding. It is strange, though, that some cheapskate kit dx lens works way better than a professional grade fx glass. on the other hand most of my lenses are old and have seen a lot in their life and the problems not apparent with 12mp might become obvious with 16mp on dx... don't know.<br>

Anyway, the camera is ok and is now gone. Thank you all for your input. </p>

 

[andylynn]

<p>Okay and now gone? As in, it turns out you were wrong about it and there was nothing wrong with it but you returned it anyway? Or did you go ahead and sell it on eBay?</p>

[martynas_photo]

<p>I have tested it with different lenses and all of them worked fine, with no af adjustments needed. However, since there was no way I could use the camera with MY lenses, it was sold to someone who is perfectly happy with the way it works. I now have another problem - what camera to get, if my old lenses are too old and "tired" for modern cameras like d7000... Can this whole thing be somewhat related to the screwdriver focus (all of my lenses) vs internal lens focus (all of the borrowed ones, which worked perfectly) motor?? especially, given the fact that all of my lenses are more or less ok when focused manually (using viewfinder focus confirmation)? with live view focus was spot on, but I know that's different.</p>