Question About my New Lens

SG8 · Jul 2, 2018

So my new lenses arrived. I've only tested my 35mm f/1.8G DX Nikkor lens and it seems to be working pretty well. I got it from Adorama in "ExcellentPlus" condition.

When it arrived, I looked it over and it had a small spec of some sorts below the surface of the outer lens (so it can't be removed with a cleaning cloth). However, after taking a few dozen photos, I don't notice the artifact, so I'm not going to return the lens because of that.

However, when I take photos, only one of the 11 "focus points" on my Nikon D90 camera seem to be auto focusing. It's located off to the side, so if I want to take a picture of someone's face, I have to purposely aim the camera up, down, or to the side, so that focus point (I think Nikon refers to it as an AF point) is on the person's face.

Am I doing something wrong, or is there something wrong with this lens?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

tirediron · Jul 2, 2018

Minor dust inside the lens is common, even in brand-new lenses; as you can see no effect, it's nothing to worry about.

As for the question of AF points... that's a bit puzzling. Do you have your AF point selector locked by any chance? Can you select normally with other lenses?

SG8 · Jul 3, 2018

tirediron,

I just put in my trusty 18-55mm lens and I noticed the same problem. I then realized I was in aperture priority mode, with the problem going away when I switched to auto mode. I was able to replicate this observation when I put the 35mm 1.8G lens back on.

So perhaps I unknowingly adjusted a setting on my D90 when in aperture priority mode?

Thanks!

Overread · Jul 4, 2018

Auto mode basically disables most user custom settings so yes it sounds like you have enabled a specific focusing mode which is thus going to likely affect most of the other modes in the camera. I would suggest checking the manual for how to control the AF and work through the menus to see what you've changed. An ideal time to play around with the AF settings and see how to control and adjust them.

You can also check the factory reset command as well, since if you can't work out what you have done and get in a muddle you can just reset back to normal and the camera will adjust all those settings back to what they were when it came out of the box

SG8 · Jul 4, 2018

Ok, I'll do some playing around. Thank you all for your help!

SG8 · Jul 4, 2018

Update: I did some digging and found the setting where only one AF point was being used for autofocusing. The problem has since been fixed.

Thanks against for your help!