Nikon service and a new toy

My 10-30mm VR is back from Nikon service. It took two weeks from the time they received it to the time it was shipped back. In those two weeks, I only received one email from Nikon saying it was received, followed by a snail mail letter a few days later. I have yet to receive any message from them that the lens was shipped back. If I didn't check their service site regularly, I would not have known that it was the lens was fixed. The last time I had something repaired by them, they sent me an email saying it was coming back on the day I received my item.

I've been trolling craigslist for a D5200 and managed to snag one at a decent price. It's not clean (LCD protector has a small chip) and it's missing some important stuff (batter, charger, caps, strap, manual) but nothing that I don't have extras (batter is the same as the one on the D3200). I'm lucky to have brought a battery to test the camera, otherwise it would have been a no go.

The one drawback of this bargain body is the smoke smell. I didn't notice it when I tested the camera, but it's bothering me now as it's strong when I bring the camera up to my eye. My fingers also have a lingering smell after using the camera and lens. I've got them in a bag with activated charcoal, which hopefully will do the trick. If that doesn't work, time to grab some baking soda.

So far the camera works. It has the same backfocus issue as the D3200, so out came the hex key to get it close to acceptable. I don't know what Nikon is doing, but they should consider equipping all bodies with AF Fine Tune (oddly enough I've never had to do it with the D3, which has the feature). The swiveling LCD screen is fun to play with, and reminds me of my old Coolpix 990 (great camera for candids because of the swivel).

I did notice that my 35mm DX still backfocuses even after calibrating the body. I wonder if it's the lens? I don't have any issues with the V1 and 35mm DX, but the AF system is different (on chip for both phase detect and contrast detect) and doesn't suffer from back/front focusing.

Nikon has some rebates going, and coupled with a cash back offer from Discover, I've placed an order for the 35mm f/1.8G FX. Yes, it's bigger than the DX and my old 35mm f/2 AF, but it would be nice to replace two lenses with one. It's on back order, so it may take some time before I get to try it out.

Now, does anyone want to buy a D3200?

Update: I took some pictures with the two versions of the 18-55mm on the D5200, and both have trouble focusing at 18mm unless there's a good target in the center. The D3 doesn't have that problem, but the V1 has shown this issue with the 10mm. Something to keep in mind. The activated charcoal has reduced the smoke smell, which is great.

I'm still looking for a buyer for the D3200.

What to do when your camera focuses way off the mark

Being a bit lazy over the holidays, I relied on my D3200 for the family snaps. Imagine my surprise when over 90% of the shots showed a bad case of back focus. My brother had shown me an image he had taken of his car a few months ago using the D3200 where nothing of the car was in focus. I thought the lens might be bad, but didn't have the time to look further into it. Paid the price for my procrastination.

I brought the body and lenses home to do some testing and confirmed that the camera was focusing about a foot behind the indicated AF point when using the viewfinder and the phase detect AF sensors. Switching to Live View and the contrast detect sensors gave perfect focus every time. A solution, but not a good one as contrast detect AF is very slow.

Phase detect AF: notice the camera equipment inside the cabinet is in focus

Contrast detect AF: The cabinet is in proper focus. Odd note that the AF sensor indicator for contrast detect is larger than that for phase detect AF. 

So now it's off to the interwebs to find out if there's a way to fix this without sending the camera to Nikon (warranty is over). Turns out there are a couple of cams that can be turned to adjust the AF of a D3200 (among other bodies). Made some adjustments (and managed to get a fingerprint on the sensor, ugh), and now the AF is much better. Still not perfect, but good enough.

Lesson learned: do a thorough test before signing off on the camera.

More toys

Just a short update, since this blog hasn't been too active.

I've added a bit of hardware over the last few months, mostly sourced from craigslist (home of the occasional bargain). I managed to snag a D3200 with less than 10k clicks. Having 24mp is going to be fun, although the images I've taken so far have that Sony look of the D100 and D200. The shutter is pretty quiet, and the body is rather compact. The large file size puts a strain on my ancient Dell XPS 420, and forces me to use Lightroom (which is horribly clunky compared to ACR). After having used it a few times, it makes me re-evaluate the V1, as the D3200 is small enough compared to the D3.

I also added a 50mm f/1.8G and 35mm f/1.8DX. I couldn't resist the 50mm as it's the Df version with the chrome ring, bringing back the classic 70's Nikkor look. The 35DX functions as a portrait lens on the V1, and a normal on the D3200. More on these two lenses as I get to use them on both bodies. Drawback of the 50mm is the need for a 58mm filter, a size that's not in my kit.

With the arrival of the new body and lenses, I've been trying to sell my D2H and 50mm f/1.8 AF on craigslist, with very little success. It might be time to try eBay.