1 reply to this topic

[ADAMPOKE111]

I recently purchased a Nikon D3300 which came with an AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II lens. I was playing around with a bit and noticed it's quite noisy when autofocusing. Not a problem for stills and I googled it and apparently AF-S lenses aren't as quiet as their AF-P counterparts, however, then I tried video and discovered bigger problem. 

When using manual focusing and adjusting the focusing ring myself it's very quiet: ( https://www.youtube....h?v=Hrt_vxSs7Vs ). So no problem there. When autofocusing with single-servo (half-pressing the shutter button) it's reasonably noisy but I can live with it, using an external mic for example: ( https://www.youtube....h?v=3L7v__LFRmI ). But when I use continuous autofocus the noise it makes is the same as single-servo but also makes a clicky noise and this awful grinding/stuttering noise which you can hear in the video: ( https://www.youtube....h?v=ZUSf_EAcpwI ).

 

If anyone knows anything I can do or what's wrong wrong I would be very grateful!

 

[Dogbytes]

There are some very knowledgeable people on here, who will come forward with the answer in due course, I'm sure. However, I must admit to a deep distrust of AF-S lenses in general. Someone once paid me for a job with a couple of lenses including a, lightly used, AF-S 24-70/2.8 - one of Nikon's 'professional' lenses. I tried it, briefly, on my D610 and all seemed well and then I put it on eBay. It sold for decent money but the buyer contacted me to say it made a squealing noise when autofocusing. Naturally I refunded him and got the lens back. After more extensive testing, sure enough, about half the time time it did make the noise. After enquiring with a couple of people, including Nikon, I was told that it could cost between £30 and £300 to fix - probably the latter as the focus motor was likely to be the culprit. I ended up selling it very cheaply, as faulty, to a guy who wanted to use it in MF mode for video. I have also read that some early AF-S lenses are unrepairable as the focus motors are no longer available.

 

I do have one AF-S lens, a 50/1.4, on the grounds that it would't be the end of the world if I had to fork out for a used one of those every so often but I would never even dream of buying an expensive AF-S lens. I just hope that Nikon keep making bodies with screw-drive motors in them!