got a bad used lens..

[480sparky]

Yes some lenses rattle, but those are never the ones that you want to own. A person who buys a rattling lens and keeps it likes failure.

None, and I will repeat this for your benefit.......NONE......... of the lenses I have that rattle produces failures, unless the failure is on MY part. I don't blame crappy photos on my inability to use good equipment.

 

[PondJamesPond]

Yes some lenses rattle, but those are never the ones that you want to own. A person who buys a rattling lens and keeps it likes failure.

None, and I will repeat this for your benefit.......NONE......... of the lenses I have that rattle produces failures, unless the failure is on MY part. I don't blame crappy photos on my inability to use good equipment.

Contact Nikon for me, and find out which lenses that they make are supposed to rattle. Let me know the answer.

 

[AKUK]

A list of my lenses that make a noise:

Pentacon Domiplan 50mm f/2.8 rattles and is in mint condition.
Zenit Helios 44-2 58mm f/2 rattles - both copies in fact.
My old Nikon 35-70mm f/2.8 AF-D which is the same lens the OP had a rattle to it and functioned perfectly.
My 80-200mm f/4 Ai-s rattled. Worked perfectly.
My Nikkor 300mm f/4 AF rattles when shaken. It's the aperture blades as Derrel referred to.
My 105mm f/2.8 VR has a slight rattle when shaken. It's the VR system. It works perfectly. My dad's is exactly the same.

Some lenses do make a noise. It doesn't mean there is anything wrong with them.

 

[Derrel]

Contact Nikon for me, and find out which lenses that they make are supposed to rattle. Let me know the answer.

Lemme see...let me me pick up a few and shake them and listen...which Nikon-made lenses rattle?

For starters... the 28-80-AF-D, 60/2.8 AF-D Micro~NIKKOR, 24/2.8 AF-D, 50/1.8 AF, 85/1.4 AF-D, 105/2 AFD DC, 135mm f/2 DC, 100-300 f/5.6 Ai-S....and dozens and dozens of others, you mo**nic troll... oh and let's look at these few lenses...the 80-400 VR Nikkor rattles...and so does the 70-300 VR Nikkor...huh...

Look, it's obvious to me that you're a photographic noob, but if you don't know the answers to really dead-easy questions, stay off the internet until your Mommy can be there to help oversee your activities and maybe help you understand all the big words the grownups use.

 

[PondJamesPond]

[
Contact Nikon for me, and find out which lenses that they make are supposed to rattle. Let me know the answer.

Lemme see...let me me pick up a few and shake them and listen...which lenses rattle?

For starters... the 28-80-AF-D, 60/2.8 AF-D Micro~NIKKOR, 24/2.8 AF-D, 50/1.8 AF, 85/1.4 AF-D, 105/2 AFD DC, 135 2 DEC, 100-300 f/5.6 Ai-S....and dozens and dozens of others, you mo**nic troll... oh and let's look at these few lenses...the 80-400 VR Nikkor rattles...and so does the 70-300 VR Nikkor...

Contact Nikon Darrel, ask them for the list of lenses that they made that are supposed to rattle, like a baby toy. Get back to me with the official answer from Nikon, not your opinion, which has no value to me or the OP who is returning his rattling lens whether you like it or not.

 

[AKUK]

This is a strawman arguement @PondJamesPond. I'm quite sure that Nikon does not maintain a list of lenses that are "supposed" to rattle, as if it is some kind of deliberate or accidental design attribute. Lets be realistic, the nice lady at the end of the line isn't going to put me or anyone else on hold for 25 minutes or even call me back, while she runs around a warehouse opening up lenses and giving them a good shake to satisfy this query. Why? Because it's idiotic at best.

The lens the OP is returning is no longer made by Nikon. If it is the AF version then it's been out of production since 1992. The AF-D since 2007. Mine made a noise and was fine. I have numerous lenses here, some of them Nikon brand, some of them that aren't which makes a noise. @Derrel fired off a list of many lenses he owns that have a rattle to them. The fact of the matter is that some lenses do make a noise and are perfectly fine, irrespective of the OPs problematic lens. It is most likely out of calibration. The fact that the aperture mechanism may make a noise is completely separate and inconsequential.

Not trying to lambaste you here, simply countering your viewpoint which is most likely based upon your lack of experience of lenses. Some people here have been photographers for decades. Myself, about 5 years. During that time I have probably gone through at least 50 different lenses. Many of which made a variety of rattling noises. Only one was faulty. The front element on an 80-200mm f/4.5n which had come loose and was fixed in under two minutes. The aperture still made a noise but, the lens worked perfectly and was a beautifully sharp lens.

 

[Derrel]

As covered extremely well by AKUK above., where he wrote: "The fact of the matter is that some lenses do make a noise and are perfectly fine, irrespective of the OPs problematic lens. It is most likely out of calibration. The fact that the aperture mechanism may make a noise is completely separate and inconsequential."

The OP's 35-70 zoom lens might produce a "rattling sound" when he holds it up to his ear and shakes the lens. I've not owned that specific zoom lens model, so I cannot say with any certainty if what he hears is normal, or highly abnormal, but the test photo he got looks substandard. But even there, in that case, it's hard to ascertain what the root cause is. But looking at the sort of soft, blurry look to some of the plant leaf clusters, I suspect a lens element issue, probably the result of an accident, or an anal-retentive, obsessive noob owner who might have owned the lens, and who absolutely could NOT live with the thought of 10 or 15 visible specks of dust inside his second-hand lens...so he disassembled the lens, brushed out the 10 to 15 dust bits, and then re-assembled the lens, and did the re-assembly procedure improperly...

"Some" zoom lens designs are prone to decentered elements after hard knocks or drops, others lens designs are more robust. The 35-70 is a relatively old lens...if it's an early production model, it could easily be headed toward a quarter-century old, which would be plenty of time for it to have developed any number of common lens faults. But the OP posed a question about a "rattling" sound...but a rattling sound in and of itself is simply NOT any kind of proof whatsoever of anything being wrong with any number of lenses.

 

[480sparky]

Yes some lenses rattle, but those are never the ones that you want to own. A person who buys a rattling lens and keeps it likes failure.

None, and I will repeat this for your benefit.......NONE......... of the lenses I have that rattle produces failures, unless the failure is on MY part. I don't blame crappy photos on my inability to use good equipment.

Contact Nikon for me, and find out which lenses that they make are supposed to rattle. Let me know the answer.

Since you're the obvious expert on the subject, why don't you explain why no lens (of any quality) should rattle.

 

[jcdeboever]

yeah i had it set to single point and the outline on the house numbers. lots of out of focus photos, the farther away you get form something the worse it got, close to stuff it did just fine.

i dont know, the guy called me after i sent him a message and he instantly refunded my money and sent me a shipping label to send the lens back to him.

Glad they sorted that for you Danny. Used online is always a crap shoot, especially eBay. I got a bad one (Tamron 70-300 VC) from KEH recently and the guy blamed it incompatible with my D3300 and he was dead wrong. Mine rattled too and would not focus well at all.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[PondJamesPond]

This is a strawman arguement @PondJamesPond. I'm quite sure that Nikon does not maintain a list of lenses that are "supposed" to rattle, as if it is some kind of deliberate or accidental design attribute. Lets be realistic, the nice lady at the end of the line isn't going to put me or anyone else on hold for 25 minutes or even call me back, while she runs around a warehouse opening up lenses and giving them a good shake to satisfy this query. Why? Because it's idiotic at best.

The lens the OP is returning is no longer made by Nikon. If it is the AF version then it's been out of production since 1992. The AF-D since 2007. Mine made a noise and was fine. I have numerous lenses here, some of them Nikon brand, some of them that aren't which makes a noise. @Derrel fired off a list of many lenses he owns that have a rattle to them. The fact of the matter is that some lenses do make a noise and are perfectly fine, irrespective of the OPs problematic lens. It is most likely out of calibration. The fact that the aperture mechanism may make a noise is completely separate and inconsequential.

Not trying to lambaste you here, simply countering your viewpoint which is most likely based upon your lack of experience of lenses. Some people here have been photographers for decades. Myself, about 5 years. During that time I have probably gone through at least 50 different lenses. Many of which made a variety of rattling noises. Only one was faulty. The front element on an 80-200mm f/4.5n which had come loose and was fixed in under two minutes. The aperture still made a noise but, the lens worked perfectly and was a beautifully sharp lens.

Then Nikon lenses are not supposed to rattle, which is why the OP returned his lens. The fact is that there are people who want others to believe that lenses are supposed to rattle, and or that this is normal, because they want to engage in the sale of defective camera products.
The end.

 

[dannylightning]

what i was hearing was more like a clunk, say there was a rock inside of your lens and you turned the lens upside down and the rock hit against each side of the lens as you turned it right side up and upside down..

 

[480sparky]

Wow. If we're all a bunch of losers making great images with defective lenses, think about how fantastic we could be if we bought Rainbow Unicorn Leprechaun lenses that don't rattle.

 

[AKUK]

Then Nikon lenses are not supposed to rattle, which is why the OP returned his lens. The fact is that there are people who want others to believe that lenses are supposed to rattle, and or that this is normal, because they want to engage in the sale of defective camera products.
The end.

Christ on a bike!!! This isn't some mass conspiracy. @480sparky, @Derrel nor I, are part of the used lens mafia, passing off broken optics to unsuspecting buyers. The TRUTH is that some lenses including Nikons DO rattle, naturally. They aren't defective in any way, shape or form. It's just an unintended attribute that many lenses have. It's not something that Nikon or any other lens manufacturer will actively document because it's pretty inconsequential. Just because your particular lens(es) doesn't do it, proves absolutely nothing.

Yes, the original posters lens is faulty. That is clearly evidenced by the photographs he provided. From his description, it sounds very much like an loose internal element. He describes this himself as a "clunk". As he inverts and rights the lens, one glass element is floating about and hitting against another element inside the optical formula. That is very different from a rattle, which has now been documented by 3 different photographers, with multiple different lenses on here as a normal feature of their perfectly functioning lenses. I don't understand what you are not getting here and can only assume you are being deliberately obtuse, in a failing attempt that your claim holds any water.

 

[PondJamesPond]

Then Nikon lenses are not supposed to rattle, which is why the OP returned his lens. The fact is that there are people who want others to believe that lenses are supposed to rattle, and or that this is normal, because they want to engage in the sale of defective camera products.
The end.

Christ on a bike!!! This isn't some mass conspiracy. @480sparky, @Derrel nor I, are part of the used lens mafia, passing off broken optics to unsuspecting buyers. The TRUTH is that some lenses including Nikons DO rattle, naturally. They aren't defective in any way, shape or form. It's just an unintended attribute that many lenses have. It's not something that Nikon or any other lens manufacturer will actively document because it's pretty inconsequential. Just because your particular lens(es) doesn't do it, proves absolutely nothing.

Yes, the original posters lens is faulty. That is clearly evidenced by the photographs he provided. From his description, it sounds very much like an loose internal element. He describes this himself as a "clunk". As he inverts and rights the lens, one glass element is floating about and hitting against another element inside the optical formula. That is very different from a rattle, which has now been documented by 3 different photographers, with multiple different lenses on here as a normal feature of their perfectly functioning lenses. I don't understand what you are not getting here and can only assume you are being deliberately obtuse, in a failing attempt that your claim holds any water.

Actually, when someone says the least imperfect thing about Nikon, they are attacked from all sides. No Nikon lens has ever been designed with a rattle, yet Darrel is clearly saying that rattles in Nikon lenses are normal. This if true needs to be confirmed by Nikon, or it is a lie. That simple. Why lie? Well that's easy, if you can get people to believe that rattles are normal they will buy the falling apart lens.
PS. Rattles are also not normal in car and truck transmissions, if you hear one, you have problems.

 

[AKUK]

So you're saying that we are only disagreeing with your stance because we are Nikon fanboys??

I shoot Nikons. I am also highly critical of a lot of the shortcomings in their equipment. Problems with the D800, D810, D600, 300mm f/4 VR, 200-500mm VR in recent years alone. Things I have been vocal about both here and other social media sites. Things the other guys have been critical of too. If I was such a Nikon fanboy, I wouldn't own a Tamron lens. So your claim is quite frankly absurd.

Obviously no lens designer is going to create a lens with a rattle on purpose. However, depending upon the design of the lens mechanisms inside, you are going to get certain sounds that you cannot stop from happening or it would just be too cost prohibitive to silence them. Just as you can hear the sound of the VR kicking in, these rattles are perfectly normal. A lot of older lenses are more prone to these noises, such as the OP's 35-70mm f/2.8.

These are predominantly caused by the aperture blades which can "breathe" and also the levers that actuate the aperture blades. Not all lenses are designed the same. Older Nikon lenses such as the Pre Ai, Ai, Ai-s and AF-D have an aperture ring and mechanics to manually adjust the it. Modern lenses are gelded (AF-G) so lack the moving parts which make a noise in AF-D lenses.

Just because your 18-55mm doesn't make a noise, doesn't mean that other Nikon lenses shouldn't make them. They do and have done so since they were constructed and left the factory. If you cannot grasp and digest this wealth of knowledge and information from experienced photographers, I can only assume your head has something small rattling about inside it and should probably get looked at.