Need help troubleshooting

Abhi · Joined: 14 Jan 2009 Posts: 12

Hi all,

I am a new member on this forum. Before joining, I did find a lot of useful information here, so thanks so much for that.

Recently, I bought a Nikon to EOS AF confirm adapter from the seller big_is on Ebay. I also acquired a Nikkor-Q 135mm f2.8 and a Nikon SC 50mm f1.4 to use on my Canon 40D. I tested all the items yesterday. At first, the 135mm with the adapter worked fine on my 40D. I then used the 50mm+adapter and I found that the AF confirm was not working and if I press the shutter anyway, I get Err 01 (check the lens contacts). At first I thought the lens might be a problem, so I retried the 135mm lens and the same thing happened. So now, it seemed like the adapter was faulty.

After an hour, I retried the whole setup and found out that the 135mm+adapter combo worked perfectly several times, while sometimes I got weird lines on the photographs and other times Err01. However, the 50mm+adapter combo did not work even a single time.

Let me mention that this is first time using MF lenses with adapter. It seems to me that the adapter is faulty. But I'm also not too sure about the 50mm lens. I'm going to try and use both the lenses on some friend's Nikon body (35mm since these are non-AI lenses). Do you have some other troubleshooting recommendations?

I contacted big_is and was asked to ship back the adapter so that they can figure out the problem. I'm just a little frustrated because it means that I will have to wait one month before I get a new adapter.

I would appreciate some suggestions.

Thanks!
- Abhi

indianadinos · Expire: 2011-12-05

Hello,

Welcome to the forum ...

Don't have similar gear for testing (i'm a Pentaxian), but, according to the symptoms you describe, it seems like a false contact between your adapter and the camera body ...

If i were you, i would look for oxide traces on both the camera and the adapter contacts, eventually cleaning them with just a soft rubber (the kind you use for pencils) ... Be careful to the small bits of rubber that will fall in the body of your camera when cleaning ...

Hope this helps

Best regards

Abhi · Joined: 14 Jan 2009 Posts: 12

Hi Indianadinos

Thanks for the reply. What you describe seems very much plausible. However, I tried using both eraser (very lightly) and vodka on microfiber cloth for cleaning the adapter and the lens contacts. No improvement. The 135mm lens works intermittently and the 50mm does not work at all! Sad

best regards,
Abhi

hk300 · Joined: 30 Oct 2008 Posts: 1041 Location: Hong Kong

Try to only install the adapter, without the lens.

then check if the contacts of the AF confirm chip 'touch' the contacts of the camera.

very often problems will occur due to the af confirm chip to be slightly off.

Abhi · Joined: 14 Jan 2009 Posts: 12

Hi hk300

Thanks for the reply. How can I accurately check whether the contacts are touching or not? From just looking at it, everything seems ok, but how do I know for sure?

I'm still unable to diagnose the exact problem. Here's the current situation that hasn't changed much from the original. One of my lenses, the Nikkor 135mm f2.8 works more often than not with the adapter. At times, when the error message comes up, I simply restart the camera without taking off the lens and it works. The other lens, i.e. the Nikkor SC 50mm f1.4 does not work at all with the adapter. I used it on a D80 body and although the functionality was very crippled, at least you could take some shots. So it seems like the lens is not dead.

Any ideas are really welcome. This thing is annoying me to no end!

Thanks!

hk300 · Joined: 30 Oct 2008 Posts: 1041 Location: Hong Kong

Firstly, did you check if both lenses mount correctly within the adapter?
There should be a click/stop.

Also, i think that since the 135mm is heavier than the 50mm, it will twist the adapter just a little bit, enough to have the AF confirm chip to make contact to the body.

Therefore, you can try to turn the 50mm lens (already in the adapter) and installed on the body and see if there will be contact.

With the 135mm, when you have some problems you can also try to turn the lens (already in the adapter) and installed on the body and see if there will be contact.

If the above is the case, contact your seller and ask for a replacement, stating that the AF confirm chip is off position.

I would be surprised if the AF chip itself is faulty, it seems to be a relatively simple part.

Most chips will report 50mm and F:2.0 if these work. If not, it will show F:00

Also, most chips are glued on the adapter manually, so i can imagine that the precision may be off sometimes.

Abhi · Joined: 14 Jan 2009 Posts: 12

Oh man, you nailed it!!

I took cue from how when the contacts are fine the chip reports F2.0 and F00 otherwise. I mounted 135 f2.8 and initially it was reporting F00. As it should have, when I clicked, Err01 came. I tried turning the lens slightly and there was some very light noise and bingo F2.0 appeared and everything worked.

Now I repeated the experiment with the 50mm f1.4. This time, I rotated it both clock-wise and anti clockwise and all of sudden F2.0 appeared (although there was no sound as such). Finally I took one shot with this lens!!

So obviously the AF chip is slightly off-position. I will ask the seller for a replacement.

Thanks so much for your help. Can't express how much I appreciate it!! Smile