85mm f/1.8 Focusing ring

[PHTYZ]

I just recently bought this lens and I notice that on AF the focusing ring is rotating when shutter is half-press. It rotates with the AF motor. Is this normal or a possible defect? Hope to hear you advise. Thanks

[Jer]

It's normal..nothing wrong with your new lens.

[psychobiologist]

Originally Posted by PHTYZ I just recently bought this lens and I notice that on AF the focusing ring is rotating when shutter is half-press. It rotates with the AF motor. Is this normal or a possible defect? Hope to hear you advise. Thanks

yes its normal!!!!

[PHTYZ]

Cool, Thanks for the quick reply. I guest I'll just get use to it. This is one great lens

[lsisaxon]

Originally Posted by PHTYZ Cool, Thanks for the quick reply. I guest I'll just get use to it. This is one great lens

Just make sure you don't load the camera's AF motor unnecessarily by holding on to the focusing ring accidentally during AF. And if you need to MF, you should disengage AF drive shaft by flipping the AF-MF switch on the body to M.

[PHTYZ]

Originally Posted by lsisaxon Just make sure you don't load the camera's AF motor unnecessarily by holding on to the focusing ring accidentally during AF. And if you need to MF, you should disengage AF drive shaft by flipping the AF-MF switch on the body to M.

Thanks for the advise. Thats what im afraid of but i think ill get use to it

[lsisaxon]

Originally Posted by PHTYZ Thanks for the advise. Thats what im afraid of but i think ill get use to it

one way is to start off by gripping lightly, so at least if your thumb or finger gets into the focusing ring area, it will still slip when the ring turns during AF.

[Override2Zion]

Originally Posted by PHTYZ Thanks for the advise. Thats what im afraid of but i think ill get use to it

If I am not wrong, brushless servo motors are used in the bodies of our cameras that drives the focusing mechanism on your lenses. Traditional motors using contact brushes will causes a "short" circuit condition when the the rotation action is jammed.

The brushless servos contains no brushes as the name suggests. It shouldn't cause any electrical problem if you should jam or induce resistence to the mechanism. It might cause additional strain to the mechanical parts though, so do exercise care. Happy shooting =)

[huggable]

That is the case (rotating focus ring) for all Nikon AF, and AF-D lenses.

On the AF-S (minus the 18-55) lenses, the focus ring will not rotate while the camera AF.

[mrbinks76]

hmm I dun think my 80-400 lens' focussing ring rotates when it is focussing. It's not an AF-S lens.

[lsisaxon]

Originally Posted by huggable That is the case (rotating focus ring) for all Nikon AF, and AF-D lenses. On the AF-S (minus the 18-55) lenses, the focus ring will not rotate while the camera AF.

The focusing ring on those AF-D lenses with AF-MF switch on the lenses to disengage the gear will not rotate during AF. Examples I know of are 80-200/2.8, 28/1.4, Micro 60/2.8, Micro 105/2.8, DC105/2, DC135/2, 85/1.4. There may be other similar lenses which I have not listed.

[jffry7]

The 85mm f/1.4 with AF-MF ring would have been a great option (AF ring doesnt rotate) but the price is 3x the f/1.8 version. I'll bare the idea of rotating ring they are both sharp lens anyway.