my afs lens wont auto focus!

[Alyssa15267]

I have a Nikon af s 50mm prime lens that's dx and it wont auto focus on my Nikon d5100. It won't let me take a picture on auto focus.. But when I switch it to manual it works fine. But my other af s dx lenses don't work either...is there a setting on my camera that I need to change? Is there' something wrong with my camera/lens? Has this happened to anyone else?

 

[480sparky]

Check the AF switch next to the lens mount. With the camera facing you, it will be in the 5:00 position.

What camera? BTW, Nikon doesn't make a 50mm DX.

 

[Alyssa15267]

Are you talking about the m/a button? And it's the Nikon af s 50mm 1.8 g. It also doesn't auto focus with my kit lens and my 55-200

 

[Alyssa15267]

Your right oats not a dx

 

[480sparky]

Are you talking about the m/a button? And it's the Nikon af s 50mm 1.8 g. It also doesn't auto focus with my kit lens and my 55-200

The switch on the camera, not the lens.

 

[Alyssa15267]

I'm looking at my d5100 and I see a little black button I'll try it and see what it does

 

[Alyssa15267]

Still nothing.. I can take a picture when the switch is on m mode but when I put it to m/a mode the shutter gets stuck.. Like it won't let me push it down

 

[Alyssa15267]

I tryed messing with my settings and it only works if the focus mode is on af c. Why is that???

 

[Alyssa15267]

But it doesn't autofocus it just lets me actually take the picture(push the shutter button all the way down)

 

[480sparky]

I'm looking at my d5100 and I see a little black button I'll try it and see what it does

The D5100 doesn't have a switch for AF.

 

[Derrel]

Hold down the MENU and the INFO buttons simultaneously for a few seconds, and do a hard reset of the camera.

Or, use the alternate, menu-based method, described here. How do I hard reset my Nikon D5100 - Nikon D5100 - iFixit

 

[Alexr25]

Sounds like you have activated "back button focusing", to de-activate it go to the "Custom" menu "Controls" and then make sure that "f:2" is NOT set to "AF-ON". This will give auto-focus control back to the shutter release button.

 

[Derrel]

I was gonna ask...was there any wine involved with this problem?

 

[nerwin]

Its probably a good idea to do a reset and see if it still does it and if so, its possible your autofocus system has just straight up failed which is very very rare, so I kind of doubt its that. My money is on a setting.

 

[wfooshee]

Here it is Friday (in a few minutes) and no "still not working" or "YES! THAT FIXED IT!"

I'm betting on back-button having been set like Alexr25 said. AF-C defaults to release priority and AF-S defaults to focus priority (actually on that camera only uses focus priority,) which would explain being able to snap the shutter without focusing when in AF-C mode.

To the OP, go into the menus, the Custom Settings menu, then the f:CONTROLS menu, and the second control there, the AE-L/AF-L button. You'll probably find it set to AF-ON, and you want to return it to its default setting, the first choice on that list.

What setting it to AF-ON does is remove auto-focus from the shutter button. The camera will not focus until you press that button on the back of the camera. Its intended use is for photographers who want to set their focus, then let go of the button and re-frame the shot before hitting the shutter. In the default mode, the camera refocuses when you hit the shutter, ruining all that careful focusing done earlier. It's called back-button focusing, and many, including myself, think it's the greatest control option available. If you don't know what it is, and you're expecting the camera to focus with the shutter button (which you obviously are) then it feels like the camera's broken.

If you want to put focus back to the shutter button, set that menu to the first choice, and AF automatically returns to the shutter. If you'd like to play with it as is, now that you know how to focus, you may discover that back-button focus is what you've wished for all these years.

And again, the reason the camera shoots in AF-C but not AF-S is the setting called "Release Priority." The D5300 has no setting to adjust the priority for AF-S focus. It will not take a picture if the subject is not in focus in AF-S mode. However, in the Custom Settings menu a, the first option, you can set the priority for AF-C mode. It defaults to "Release" which means the camera shoots without caring about focus. If it's changed to "Focus" then AF-C behaves like AF-S and no shutter click unless the subject is in focus. You probably don't need to adjust this setting, I'm just telling you why the camera behaved as it did.



Summarizing, nothing's broken, you just have one non-default setting you weren't expecting. You can learn to use back-button focus or you can turn it off and go back to the shutter button activating auto-focus for you.