After many years of using manual focus lenses, I recently purchased my first auto focus Nikkor lenses to use on my N8008s. Even though the camera is in auto focus mode, I find myself wanting to hold the shutter release half way down and tweak the focus manually. Or when going from close focus to infinity, I sometimes instinctively rack the lens out manually before I compose the shot. Doing this sounds like it is turning the auto focus motor in the camera body.

Will doing this damage the motor in the N8008s? Will it damage the motor in newer bodies like the N90s or N80?

-- William H. Sherer (billandkathy@earthlink.net), August 13, 2000

Answers

I believe Nikon wants you to disengage the AF before manually focusing the lens. This is one of the attractions of the new AF-S lenses with the motor in the lens--you can tweak the focus manually, overriding the motor.

-- Ron Goodman (rgoodman@albany.net), August 13, 2000.

your straining the motor in the body, and will likely end up damaging it. The newer bodies are the same way. As the above poster mentioned, only with the S lenses on the newer bodies can you do this (Or if you buy a Canon outfit with their HSM lenses)

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), August 13, 2000.

Doing this with a non-AFS lens *will* damage your motor in the body. If you find yourself wanting to tweak the focus often, then you should seriously consider selling your Nikon system and getting a Canon. Canon has a pretty extensive range of low to medium end lenses using USM motors which allow full time manual focusing, and all but one of their high end professional lenses have USM.

-- Sriram (r_sriram@bigfoot.com), August 15, 2000.

Some Nikkors have a focus release ring on the lens that you can turn to disengage AF (e.g. 20-35/2.8D).

Changing to Canon helps this problem but doesn't solve it. Not all USM lenses permit full-time manual focusing. (As a rule, the more expensive, the better the odds.)

You will get used to the way your Nikon works.

-- Jim MacKenzie (photojim@yahoo.com), August 18, 2000.

WRT Canon USM lenses ...... all the ring USM lenses will allow FTM. The cheap micro-USM lenses will not. Exception is the 50mm f/1.4. It is micro-USM but will allow FTM. The cheap microUSM is only found on the low end lenses like 75-300 IS, and one or two others.

-- Bert Lee (beelee@netlink.net), August 29, 2000.