D850 focus anomaly

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I have a brand new D850 with less than a hundred frames on the clock and I'm noticing the occasional failure to focus. Every now and again, I press the focus button (using back button focus) and I see the VR activate, there is the slightest (expected) noise of the VR but then the lens doesn't focus. So far I have tried it with a 105mm Micro and a 50mm f1.4, both Nikkor and the problem has manifested itself with both lenses. Today I'll go out in earnest as I've just been messing around indoors since I got it last Thursday. Have I set something that occasionally conflicts with what I'm doing, is this a common occurrence or should I be looking at returning the camera immediately for replacement?
 
Do you get the same issue using the shutter button rather than BF button? Wondering if it's a button issue or more serious.
 
Hmm . . . sorry to hear that Martin - it doesn't sound good does it? :(

Mine has been without issue with all the lenses I've tried on it and has been super fast in acquiring focus in all cases including at 850mm.

I can't think of any setting that could cause it . . .
 
Is this when the image is very oof? If so - it's a common thing for Nikon cameras in select circumstances - I believe Ken Rockwell mentioned this a while ago on this site. I've come across this before on Nikon cameras - but only when the image was very oof and in select circumstances, rare enough that i didn't notice a problem.
 
When I first noticed it, I was outside in good light and only last night did it do inside.

Have been out this morning and it didn't show any signs of the problem. I will keep monitoring it and I suppose it's possible that there was a bit of a manufacturing film on one of the lens contacts which hopefully will now have worn off with lens changes. I just thought I'd post the question in case there was something I'd missed, the D850 seems to have different things from the D810 I used to have and finger-trouble is an ever-present menace :) .
 
did you cleaned the camera contact points?
 
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realspeed said:
did you cleaned the camera contact points?
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I haven't done that per se because the camera is spanking brand new and really shouldn't need it but changing the lenses a few times will have had the same effect.
 
How is the focussing when doing video?
 
gman said:
How is the focussing when doing video?
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Don't know, never really use video.

Have been out an about today and taken about fifty photographs without a problem so (fingers crossed) it may well have been a slightly filmy contact on the lens connections. I'll have to wait and see now.
 
I never had an issue with my D850 not focussing but what focus mode and focus point(s) are you using? Not all focus points are cross type and this can cause issues in certain scenarios. I did an experiment with a striped subject and it would focus in portrait orientation but not landscape due to the orientation of the stripes and line type AF point.
 
ShinySideUp said:
Don't know, never really use video.

Have been out an about today and taken about fifty photographs without a problem so (fingers crossed) it may well have been a slightly filmy contact on the lens connections. I'll have to wait and see now.
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Not the best idea but my thinking was that with video the AF would be constantly working to maintain focus if set accordingly, so if there was a hardware problem then hopefully it would be easy to spot and documented as well?

But it sounds like maybe it's ok now. Would the contacts have any sort of anti-corrosion coating applied for whilst in storage prior to sale?
 
gman said:
But it sounds like maybe it's ok now. Would the contacts have any sort of anti-corrosion coating applied for whilst in storage prior to sale?
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Hope that's it.
 
Here's a bit of irony! I was just reading a review of the new Nikon 70-200mm FL ED and a bit about decentering caught my attention and I followed a link about testing a new lens and it does in fact mention about grease being on the contacts from new.

Here's a quote from it and also a link. Hope this helps!


2) Clean the Rear Mount and Connectors​

Every single lens that I have bought new had some grease (some had more than others) on the lens mount, which is normal. This grease is in fact added by the manufacturer to allow for smoother mounting / dismounting and to diminish the chance of metal pieces shredding off when they come in contact with the metal camera mount. However, in some cases there is just too much grease (especially on the lens contacts), which can potentially affect the communication between the camera
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LINK
 
gman said:
Here's a bit of irony! I was just reading a review of the new Nikon 70-200mm FL ED and a bit about decentering caught my attention and I followed a link about testing a new lens and it does in fact mention about grease being on the contacts from new.

Here's a quote from it and also a link. Hope this helps!
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Interesting, I think I'll have a clean of all my lenses tomorrow and have a good look at the connectors on my camera. Thanks for that link.
 
Further to the above, I have an update.

Just been to France and the camera performed mostly very well but there were occasional times when the little focus square disappeared and the camera wouldn't focus and I had to just move the lens in the mount the tiniest bit to get it to work. Today, I went out to Plymouth and it did it again so I decided enough is enough as with this fault I can't be absolutely sure that when I lift the camera to take a shot -- which might be the most important shot ever taken (probably not, but you never know) -- only to find that the camera chose that moment to not focus. I have returned it for replacement at LCE emphasising that the fault is highly intermittent, indeed, they couldn't get it to fail in the shop, which I'm not at all surprised about, it can go wrong twice in an hour then not for a week. If it was a second-hand job then I'd probably live with it but it's brand new and cost me the price of an adequate second-hand car so it has to work perfectly.

They've taken it in an ordered me a new one, I really can't fault LCE for quality of service.
 
ShinySideUp said:
Further to the above, I have an update.

Just been to France and the camera performed mostly very well but there were occasional times when the little focus square disappeared and the camera wouldn't focus and I had to just move the lens in the mount the tiniest bit to get it to work. Today, I went out to Plymouth and it did it again so I decided enough is enough as with this fault I can't be absolutely sure that when I lift the camera to take a shot -- which might be the most important shot ever taken (probably not, but you never know) -- only to find that the camera chose that moment to not focus. I have returned it for replacement at LCE emphasising that the fault is highly intermittent, indeed, they couldn't get it to fail in the shop, which I'm not at all surprised about, it can go wrong twice in an hour then not for a week. If it was a second-hand job then I'd probably live with it but it's brand new and cost me the price of an adequate second-hand car so it has to work perfectly.

They've taken it in an ordered me a new one, I really can't fault LCE for quality of service.
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Always good to hear of excellent customer service. Did you take a note of the lens serial number just in case they accidentally send you the same one back?
 
gman said:
Always good to hear of excellent customer service. Did you take a note of the lens serial number just in case they accidentally send you the same one back?
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It's the camera not the lens, but yes, I did take a picture of the information on the box. I don't think they'd try to fool me into accepting the same camera though, accidentally or or otherwise as their documentation records the serial number and \i have a receipt for that.

I do wonder about modern technology sometimes. I had to do this with a Fuji X100V a couple of years ago in that there was a problem with the electronic viewfinder curtain after six months and when it returned from repair it had a worse fault than the original (rear screen display would switch itself off at random and only show a slight blue tinge). LCE changed the whole thing for me at that point and gave me a completely new guarantee. It's no skin off their nose as these are warranty repairs and returns and it's the manufacturer that has to sort things out. It's just a tad annoying that the two latest (and highest tech) cameras have both had manufacturing faults on them; makes you wonder about quality control in these modern times, fifty years of cameras for me and only problems in the last two. Still, if there's more to go wrong then the chances are higher that they will.
 
ShinySideUp said:
It's the camera not the lens, but yes, I did take a picture of the information on the box. I don't think they'd try to fool me into accepting the same camera though, accidentally or or otherwise as their documentation records the serial number and \i have a receipt for that.

I do wonder about modern technology sometimes. I had to do this with a Fuji X100V a couple of years ago in that there was a problem with the electronic viewfinder curtain after six months and when it returned from repair it had a worse fault than the original (rear screen display would switch itself off at random and only show a slight blue tinge). LCE changed the whole thing for me at that point and gave me a completely new guarantee. It's no skin off their nose as these are warranty repairs and returns and it's the manufacturer that has to sort things out. It's just a tad annoying that the two latest (and highest tech) cameras have both had manufacturing faults on them; makes you wonder about quality control in these modern times, fifty years of cameras for me and only problems in the last two. Still, if there's more to go wrong then the chances are higher that they will.
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Oh, I thought it was the lens we were talking about. Wouldn't have expected that from a D850, but I guess the tolerances must be so precise with this stuff then the odd fault can be forgiven?
 
gman said:
Oh, I thought it was the lens we were talking about. Wouldn't have expected that from a D850, but I guess the tolerances must be so precise with this stuff then the odd fault can be forgiven?
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It is almost certainly the registration of the contacts between lens and camera as a slight twist of the lens would fix it -- until the next time.
 
Well, a week down the line and I now have my replacement D850 in my sticky mitts. So far it is working as expected although I haven't yet used it in earnest but at least it didn't show any problems on the first few test shots so here's hoping for the best.
 
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