I'm on my 2nd body and both required substantial AF fine tune. -20 for my 70-200 2.8 and -10 for my 24-70.
Is there any one else here experiencing this much adjustment on this body, what about other bodies? Are you satisfied with this much adjustment? I'm worried that since I had to go -20 on one lens, what happens in the future if I get a lens where -20 doesn't do the trick?
Should I just send this to Nikon, or are these adjustment levels similar to what others are getting?
I've never fine-tuned any of my lenses with the D7K and haven't experienced the AF issues so prevalent at DPR.
1st D7K received upon introduction of the camera. No focus issues but suffered complete electronic failure and was returned. No bodies available so I waited.
2nd D7K finally purchased, just didn't like the ergonomics and the consumer body was beneath me No AF issues, sold it and went back to a D300.
3rd D7K arrived after I reviewed files from D300 and previous D7K cameras. Liked the D7K files noticeably better. No AF issues with third body which is now my primary camera. I have a love/hate relationship with the blasted machine but its output is just so good.
The D7K reminds me of a '68 Triumph Spitfire I had. It pisses ya off on one hand and puts a smile on yer face when ya start pushin' it hard
My kit is mostly consumer lenses with a splash of pro glass added for good measure. The D7K works nicely with everything I've got.
And you have no idea how much it pains me to say this
MalbikEndar wrote:
> Is the AF issue with the D7000 still this wide spread?
dpreview.com says it is. Operator error Everyone I know is knocking on 100% in focus shots.
I have 16 lenses and NONE need AF fine tune on the D7K, none. Threads like
this get real old real fast. Learn your camera, it's not good to go right out of the box.
This is my first body that allows AF fine tune.
A dangerous feature in the wrong hands. Seriously.
It's a given, the D7K's sensor likes good glass AND technique.
That's not to say consumer glass can't give excellent results in
the proper hands. I'd be more inclined to send your lenses in...
both fast zooms and both misalignment prone with any rough handling.
One thing I neglected to ask of the OP is how he/she determined there was an AF issue. Was this conclusion subsequent to normal shooting scenarios resulting in poor images or after testing specifically for AF troubles?
If it was the latter, please describe your testing procedures as this will help us help you.
When I first got my D7000 I could not get it focus, guess what not a camera problem. My problem. Yesterday wife had a bridal shower. As you would guess I left. Set camera on the counter told her to push this button. You know which one it was. D7000, 50mm 1.4 and a SB400 and not one picture was out of focus. If fact wish I would have stayed around. She did a good job of getting some nice pictures of the new bride.
...Ummmm.....I don't think this is the result of me not knowing the camera, or some rookie mistake. I taped a card with text on a door. I placed the camera on a study bogen tripod. I never moved the camera. I used the self timer to avoid camera shake caused by pressing the shutter button. I placed the lens at 70mm and used the view finder with auto focus. I then switched to live view and did the same thing. I then moved to the 135mm position and did the same thing, then on to the 200mm position. you get the picture.
Every shot taken with live view was a sharp as sharp could be. This totally discredits any lens "rough handling" misalignment issue. So many people want to blame this cameras issues on the users instead of focussing on the real problem...hahah..no pun intended. Same kind of talk over at DPR, but there were some good responses also. I'm surprised I didn't get the use the search feature of this forums and post my stuff in the 1 of xxxx number of D7K focus issues posts.
In order to get the view finder shots to match the live view shots i had to adjust the 70-200 to -20 and my 24-70 to -10.
I had to adjust my 85/1.8 to -3, and every other lens (with one exception, which is a lens problem, not a camera problem) has been perfect. The AF on my D7k is phenomenally accurate. Worlds better than my 5Dmkii.
AF Fine tune is to temporarily correct a rogue lens in your lineup.
Sounds like you have been doubly unlucky. Only extra thing you could do is try someone elses D7000 with your lens just to prove there isn't some special magnetic field at your house altering your AF...
Focusing issues with the D7000 are not without merit. I beleive that no camera-lens combination should need focus adjustment in the camera. However,my D7000 would not focus with any lens and I use some of Nikons best. I sent the camera back to Nikon (after conciderable testing with a lens chart) and they repaired it. They acknowledged that there was a problem and they fixed it. Now my D7000 works fine. The auto color balance was also off and they corrected it. So, don't assume that just because it is a new Nikon that something can't possibly be wrong with it. While many complaints may be due to operator error some are really in the camera. Test your camera thoroughly and if theirs a problem send it back.
Seems like the early adopters had more AF issues. Perhaps Nikon tweaked the QC
on more recent offerings, as the # of complaints for REAL problems has tapered off.
My advice...buy a fresh one from Adorama/B&H you'll most likely get a higher serial #
and any issues will be fixable once you take the time to learn the body inside/out.
If not, that's what the 1 yr warranty is for. I'd say 90% of us shootin' the D7K are
enjoyin' the hell out of the best DX IQ to date. Too busy sharing/selling to start a thread
on it's virtues. Me? I'm semi-retired, have the time and have been a tad vocal on it's worth.
when I bought my D300, 70-200 & 17-55 and 105 micro I wanted to be sure the focus was spot on,, being an astronomer of many years I had the knowledge and charts for lens testing,, this was also the first camera I have owned to offer lens calibration abilities,,
of the three lens the 70-200 was the only one needing a tad of help,, most shooters would never have noticed but my test charts did,,
I was not experiencing any issues but after a couple years use and thousands of photos I retested and they offered the same results as the first week out of the box,, I was not expecting anything but was surprised by the outcome,, guess that gold ring on the end of that lens does mean quality,,
I sent the camera back to Nikon today. Ill update this post when it returns. I also noticed oil spatter on the sensor when reviewing some of the photos I took. I asked them to clean this also.
He first is the back focusing issue being mentioned.
Worse, in my personal experience the D7k has fired off when focus was NOT locked in AF-s with focus release priority mode. This is ridiculous. On a side note, I found D7K AF hunting in same low light condition where D300s can lock on easily. Coincidence(of consumer product)?
No AF issues, sold it and went back to a D300.
Operator error 
Everyone I know is knocking on 100% in focus shots.
