Focus Issue

[Simon-]

Wasn't sure whether to pos this here or in the Ikelite section.

Using a D90 with a 105mm in an ikelite housing, and over the weekend had intermittent focusing issues. It was as though one of the controls was partly depressed. Each half push of the shutter button resulted in the LCD screen lighting up, and sometimes no auto focus. Camera and lens both set to auto.

Never had this issue before. Checked to ensure none of the control arms were where they shouldn't be. Turning the camera on and off a few times would solve the problem for a short while, but after maybe 10 shots, no focus again. The lens did not even appear to be hunting for a subject, just nothing.

Any ideas?

 

[AZTinman]

I experienced a similar issue with my D7100 a couple of years ago. My issue was a partially depressed control button. I don't remember which one it was because it was a while back. As I recall, it didn't take much pressure to prevent the camera from auto-focusing.

Hope your issue is something this simple.

Then there was that time where a boat crew guy accidentally switched the camera into manual focus mode when he was passing the rig down to me after I entered the water.

-AZTinman

 

[Simon-]

My first thoughts were a control arm, but I checked, checked and checked again that none were pressing on buttons.

 

[AZTinman]

Do some out-of-water testing to see if your D90 focusing problem persists. Just assemble your rig minus the port and shoot some photos. If the camera behaves properly, move your control arms around applying light pressure to different control buttons on the camera body. See if you can recreate the problem.After revisiting my notes, I found what had happened with my D7100. The problem was the shutter lever putting light continuous pressure on the shutter button. The spring on the shutter lever had slipped off and the lever was simply lightly resting on the shutter button. The lever was barely touching the button. I've noticed that the shutter lever can get a little 'gummy' even when the spring is attached like it's supposed to be.Again, I hope your problem is as easy to resolve as mine was. I think my focusing issue happened on the same trip when I did a hasty lens change on the boat, dropped down with a couple of other divers and could see nothing through the view finder. One of the divers pointed at my dome post. When I looked, I could clearly read Nikon on the lens cap I had forgotten to remove. I missed some really good photo opportunities on that dive.-AZTinman