I know this has been discussed to death on several threads, and I have read the hundreds of websites and write ups about this issue already, but yesterday I bought a D800 got her home and did some AF testing with my 24mm f1.4 and 14-24mm f2.8 and found the dreaded left focus problem.

I called the store right away and went straight back. They had 2 more in store and I tested all of them in the store (not a very throrough test however as I didn't have the space, lighting, or setup to do an accurate test) and all 3 exhibited the problem, with one however seeming to be much better than the other 2. This morning I gave this new camera a thorough testing with about 200 frames using focus charts mounted on my wall, camera on a solid tripod, manual exposure at 1/500 at f1.4 ISO 100, and this camera has a disastrous left AF problem as well.

I'm gutted, and surprised as I have read reports of people testing as many as 12 bodies and finding maybe 2 having the issue, but it would seem all 3 of these cameras have the problem. Serial numbers are within a few hundred of each other so maybe they were all from the same build line at the factory but of course we'll never now.

The thing is, when I put the 85mm f1.4 or the 70-200f2.8 vr2 on the camera and actually use the camera like I would normally I don't really seem to have any issues with the focus not being where I need it. The irony as well is that whilst having the focus charts setup on the wall I thought I would run the same test on my D4 so I could see how a non issue camera performed and it would seem my D4 has a left AF problem too!!
I was blissfully unaware of the D4 problem until I bought the D800 damn it.


I'm curious to know how many of you have done this level of testing and have found the left AF problem but also don't really see much of an impact on real world shooting scenarios.

I'd also lilke to hear from people who have had their D800 AF problem successfully repaired by Nikon. Was this a difficult and long process to go through?

I'm in 2 minds about taking this camera back to the store as well, but I hustled them hard for a very good price (that I wouldn't get anywhere else) on the camera and they fast tracked the 3 bodies to the store for me to choose 1. Plus after having already taken 1 back and having spent 3 hours in the store yesterday playing around with the cameras I feel obliged to keep this one and maybe go down the Nikon service centre route.
What would you guys and gals do?

The retail stores can always send back defective Nikon products without any problems. I suggest you take it back and wait for a few more months before you buy it again.

take it back and wait a week or two.

would this be a burgess hill store?
or?
just so i dont go and buy a bad one anytime soon

simom

parsons wrote:
would this be a burgess hill store?
or?
just so i dont go and buy a bad one anytime soon

simom

No Simon. Not Burgess Hill mate. But the problem is, they shipped 3 to the store for me. 2 from other stores and 1 was from brand new stock from the warehouse which is the one I currently have on me now. This one had the newest serial number but has the problem in a big way. Most Jessops don't hold the D800 in stock so they may get one in from elsewhere and it really is hit and miss, but so far my testing on 3 different bodies shows that the problem is clearly very wide spread!

oh, jessops.
theres the first problem

My d800 exhibited the issue with my 24 and 28 mm lenses. With 50 and above it was dead on. I recently sent it to El Segundo and had them fix the issue. The camera came back in perfect working order. Both left and right sides are equal and none of my lenses require AF microadjustment.

parsons wrote:
oh, jessops.
theres the first problem

Lol. Do they not get their stock from Nikon like the rest of the retailers?

Bruce Sawle wrote:
My d800 exhibited the issue with my 24 and 28 mm lenses. With 50 and above it was dead on. I recently sent it to El Segundo and had them fix the issue. The camera came back in perfect working order. Both left and right sides are equal and none of my lenses require AF microadjustment.

Thanks Bruce. It appears that the Uk service centre for Nikon is only 45 mins from so I will give them a call tomorrow and talk it through with them first. I may run both my D800 and D4 up their if they acknowledge and accept there is a fault.

mshi wrote:
The retail stores can always send back defective Nikon products without any problems. I suggest you take it back and wait for a few more months before you buy it again.

+1 - very good advice!

why not just send it straight to Nikon?......that way you can be sure the issue was fixed..........trading it at the store, there's still a chance that you will get another body with the same problem.

lexdiamonnyc wrote:
why not just send it straight to Nikon?......that way you can be sure the issue was fixed..........trading it at the store, there's still a chance that you will get another body with the same problem.

Will call them tomorrow to see what they say.

Any other D800 owners had their AF issues resolved through Nikon?

i have contacted nikon, sent them fotos of the LF issue through their web site, and had confirmed LF problem. they request i send the camera in..that was two months ago. i have not yet since i use the camera so much, and wanteded to see the fix issues resolved.

i am leaving for singapore again to first shoot in sumatra, then will turn it in this late november.
Will keep those posted if in deed nikon el segundo has an fix.

I've had and tested a total of 6 D800s now.
Only 2 have not shown the Left AF issue.

I received a defective D800 (not left AF) from Amazon last week, they shipped out a replacement.
The original defective one had perfect left/right AF, but I had another problem as posted in a thread earlier.
The replacement worked fine, but the left/right af was not accurate.

I returned both this morning.

A new batch of D800e are arriving and I am expecting to receive one this week. Hoping that this new batch is free of any problems.

These problems do not impact my photography. However, I tend to do a lot of selling/buying (switching to Canon and back) of used equipment here on FM. I do not want to have to deal with selling a defective camera.


On the other hand, the D600 that I did not like the ergonomics of seems to be working perfectly fine. I had initially thought the left AF on that camera was a bit off, but when testing along with the D800s. It was clear, the D600 (atleast the one I have) had no such problems.

I spoke with the retailer this morning and they are going to try and source a brand new one fresh from the factory to see if that has any such issues.

On the D4 front I spoke with NIkon Service in the UK just now and they have said I can send both the D4 and D800 back to them, free of charge, and they will calibrate them both, turn around of 10 days.

I will wait to hear form the retailer but will most certainly get my D4 back to them once I get hold of a working D800.

The last post was October 1 - are people still experiencing this problem from new batches? I bought a "like new" D800 from Roberts Camera through Amazon a couple weeks ago and the left side is very blurry on a 50mm prime, okay with a 85mm and dead on at 105mm. I spoke with a Roberts employee who told me they got their like new cameras from Nikon and that they are returns. I presume a lot of these cameras were returned because of the left sides AF defect.

You can wait forever. Just buy a defective camera, send for repairs and have a good working one within 14 days (or less). It's a pity they can't solve the problem in factory, but al least the repairs are swift.

i agree with hendrik. i ended up taking my USA camera in to singapore nikon tech services, (i live here part time) and they adjusted, and got both the right and left focus to be dead on. But the spot on center was now off...spent some time with the tech manager when i picked it up and checked. together we tested the lens with their new programming. it took four tries of focusing with 1 micron adjustments according to the manager, before he got the center focus spot on and matching right and left. Reflecting on the difficulty of getting the left af to perfection, i think i would have been happy with the center and right focus operating flawlessly to avoid all the hassle. the camera is amazing bill

Just read on Thom Hogan's blog today:

Now consider this message from Nikon to a D800 owner this week (I've now collected several such Nikon responses along the same lines): "we are forwarding your images to Japan for further review. We are recommending that you do not send your D800 in for service. We are recommending for the time being that you use center or right focus."

http://www.bythom.com/

... but Thom went on to say that this was an indictment of the Nikon customer service rather than the camera. Newer cameras seem to be ok but many older cameras are being returned a first or second time as users finally discover the problem that was always there.