85mm Loud when using AF

[jenniferk]

<p>Last week when photographing a sleeping baby I noticed how loud my 85mm lens is when auto focusing! I actually switched to manual because it was disturbing the baby, granted the room itself was very quiet. Now a couple days ago I was on the phone but playing with this lens and changing the ISO and shutter speed to see if it made this buzzing hum at all settings when autofocusing. My friend could hear the noise thru the phone and asked if someone was switching the vacuum cleaner on and off in the background! Maybe I just had a good connection but I will surely consider what I do while on the phone in the future!</p>

<p>Have I just never been in a similar situation to notice this before? I have now switched to other lenses and some have a lower toned hum when hunting or focusing but my 85mm is by far the loudest. This is the D model 1.4 lens if that makes a difference.</p>

[ilkka_nissila]

<p>The AF-S versions of the 85mm lenses are quieter.</p>

[dave_petley2]

<p>I have the 85 1.4 D lens it is not loud at all if it is that loud sent it to nikon. good luck with it. it is a nice lens to have, </p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>Did you try other AF lenses that are not AF-S? The noise could be the lens, could be the engine driving the lens in the body. Trying with another AF/AF-D lens would tell.<br>

And some lenses do make more noise when focussing. My AF-D 85 f/1.8D makes a high-pithced weird whirring sound, while I hardly hear the AF-D 80-200 f/2.8.... Both work fine, though.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>When using my old 50/1.8 D, the mechanical focusing mechanism is enough to make dogs turn and look at me from 50 feet away. Sometimes that's helpful, but usually it really annoys me. I'm very glad for my quieter Nikon AF-S and Sigma HSM lenses. Essentially silent (and faster!).</p>

[hans_janssen]

<p>My old 85/1.8 is very noise too and it is partly the lens alone, you can hear ito when I manual focus. The focus ring is not turning smoothly either, but that is only a problem on my lens.</p>

<p>All my other AF(D) lenses(primes) are rather quiet, but the 80-400 makes a nasty sound.</p>

[jenniferk]

The lens seems to function fine. I just have never noticed how much noise it makes. I was just curious if others using the

85 had noticed if they were typically noisier. Can't imagine what might have made it louder recently so I assume I have

never fully heard it due to my environment. I don't have a large selection to compare but it is louder than my 35-70mm

and 300mm neither are S version lenses.

[peter_gaunt]

<p>My old 85/1.8 (pre-D but same optics) has been rather noisy since I bought it used about five years ago. It's the only screw-drive lens I have which is that noisy but works well. I put it down to being about a million years old.</p>

[mark_stephan2]

<p>A little noise while focusing any screw drive auto focus lens is normal. All of my lenses from 20 f/2.8 through 180 f/2.8 are a bit noisy with the 20 being the worst. The 85 D lens is quiet compared to other lenses but still makes a little noise.</p>