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Weird autofocusing on D5500

focus d5500 autofocus

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8 replies to this topic

#1
dswan

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It's D5500.  Now and again, when I push the button to kick in the autofocus, it goes crazy, focuses in and out a couple times and generally lands not where I want to focus.  It's way OUT of focus.  

 

I've tried cleaning the lens and the sensor, cleaned any filter that I have on and checked for things like twigs foreground of the field of view.  If it doesn't settle, after a few choice cusses, I turn off the camera, retract the lens to it's "off" position and then restart.

 

Any clues as to why this would happen?



#2
TBonz

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It would be helpful to know the specifics on the lens...Did you clean the contacts between lens and body?

 

I am not sure what you mean by the off position for the lens, but I am interested in understanding..



#3
Merco_61

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Is the active focus point over a good target? Sometimes if you aim at something with low contrast or a busy part of the scene with different distances between elements, the autofocus will not find a good target and simply hunt for focus.  
 

It doesn’t surprise me that the D5500 has trouble focusing sometimes as it has the Multi-CAM 4800DX focus module from the D7000 that was notorious for this behaviour in soft light.

 

What lens is it, and at what approximate focal length does it occur?


Tom, the newer kit lenses are retractable…



#4
TBonz

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Interesting to know that Peter.  Thanks!

 

I have had something like the issue happen quite some time ago.  Also interesting in that it might have been on one of my D7000 bodies...In that case I had moved to a different direction to test the focus and it worked fine...



#5
g4aaw pete

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I get this sometimes on my D3300, using my 85mm Micro / f3.5 SWM lens. Usually I tweak the focus manually, & then it focuses correctly.

Also with other lenses in low light. I think Peter has explained that situation.

 

I put it down to the 85mm being in a bad mood.



#6
dswan

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It would be helpful to know the specifics on the lens...Did you clean the contacts between lens and body?

 

>>It's an 18-55 zoom and the camera is very clean.

 

Is the active focus point over a good target? Sometimes if you aim at something with low contrast or a busy part of the scene with different distances between elements, the autofocus will not find a good target and simply hunt for focus.

 

>>Yeah, generally the target is at least 100 feet away.  Sometimes it happens if there's a closer twig intruding into the field and sometimes it doesn't need anything but grass in the foreground in a greenery picture.

 

Oddly, if I aim and shoot real fast, it doesn't seem to have enough time to get crazy and the focus will be OK but I do like to have enough time to compose an image.  It's not a constant, but once it starts I have to retract the zoom lens all the way inward to its "off" position and restart the camera, kinda like re-booting a 1993 DOS computer.



#7
Merco_61

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Which version of the 18-55? There have been at least six over the years.

#8
dswan

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The camera is about 5 years old, it's a kit lens labelled as Nikon DX VR, "Nikon AF-DX Nikkor, an 18-55 mm zoom.  I don't see any other identifying version number.  It's been a workhorse other than these focusing episodes.  I keep the camera and lenses very clean.

 

It doesn't happen if everything is far away, but in the real world, having something like grass or a sidewalk in the near field is unavoidable.  Generally, if I do just quickly aim at some clouds in the sky and push the shoot button a couple times, it clears, otherwise I need a "reboot".



#9
dswan

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I almost thought I had it cured, but no. The camera was really acting strange, so, lacking a better strategy, I took off the UV filter that I mainly use for physical protection in troublesome environments.  I put on the lens hood that was in my bag.  It seemed like it was cured for about 15 minutes, then started up again, without the filter and with the hood.

 

I'm thinking that my next step is to throw the damnable thing in the river and claim that it was an accident.