I traded up a defective Nikon F90 for another better condition F90 only to discover later that there is a very prominent whirring/whistling noise when the camera racks two of my lenses from close-up to infinity. The noise is not coming from the lenses because I didn't notice it from my previous F90. What causes this noise? Should it be a cause for concern to have it repaired/replaced?

-- Ronald R. Gregorio (gregorio@ksc.th.com), May 26, 2000

Answers

It could be a problem with the focusing motor. My F90 is quite quiet when it focuses (although not as quiet as more modern cameras). I played with an F801s recently that made a high-pitched noise while focusing and it seemed to be a lubrication problem with the AF motor.

-- Jim MacKenzie (photojim@yahoo.com), May 26, 2000.

Yeah, I think it's definitely the focusing motor. When I changed to new batteries, the sound got worse than before. My question now is, would this affect the focusing of the camera (i.e. slow focus, or eventually lock up)? If not, I guess I can live with it.

-- Ronald R. Gregorio (gregorio@ksc.th.com), May 26, 2000.

The Nikon rep says the whirring focus noise is well know problem with the N90s. It results from lubrications in the AF gear cluster drying up. He also said it could be re-lubricated, and not relubricating it would not result in any problems until the camera is very old.

-- Chuck (chaohui@msn.com), May 27, 2000.

Thanks for the replies. I just have another follow-up question. I read somewhere that the Nikon N90s has 1/3 shutter speed increments while the N90 only has 1/2 increments in Manual Mode. I checked this out with my N90 and from what I understand, going from 1/60th to 1/125th is one full stop.

How can it get 1/2 increments on the N90?

Also, does the N90 have a stepless shutter speed system in Program and Aperture Mode?

-- Ronald R. Gregorio (gregorio@ksc.th.com), May 29, 2000.

The F90/N90 is in full-EV steps in M and S mode, not 1/2 as you thought.

The shutter is stepless (as are almost all) in P and A mode, though.

-- Jim MacKenzie (photojim@yahoo.com), May 29, 2000.