Autofocus switches

“Oh noes! The autofocus on my super-expensive lens has stopped working! I’m in uncontrollable panic!”

What if one day, the autofocus on your camera/lens suddenly stops working for no apparent reason? You had your camera safe inside your bag, it didn’t fall, it didn’t get wet, but the autofocus just doesn’t work. You panic, you start to think about the time that your gear will be in repair, and the amount of cash you’ll pay for the repair service.

What to do?

First of all, don’t panic. I learned from experience (very recently) that maybe it’s nothing to worry about. In my case, I didn’t panic, but that’s because I’m pretty good at it: not going into panic.

Second, here are a few things to check before rushing into your dealer to send your camera/lens for repair.

Manual focus is on

The little bastard

Yes, this may sound ridiculous, but most of us had this “problem”. Most of the modern lenses have a switch to change focus mode (see image at the beginning of this article). If your autofocus stops working, check if this switch is in autofocus mode.

If you have a Nikon SLR camera, also check the small switch by the lens mount that allows to change between manual and auto focus. This can be very easily triggered by accident, without noticing. It is known that this happened to many keen photographers, like Ken “The Master” Rockwell (check “Focus Malfunctions” here).

Lens or camera contacts are dirty

Contacts on a Nikon lens

You can notice this problem if your camera works fine with one lens, but the autofocus is slow (i.e. “hunts” a lot) or doesn’t work at all with a different one. If this happens, probably the lens contacts are dirty. Make sure that you clean both the lens and the camera contacts.

But be careful with what you use to clean. Use a small (dry) brush or, just place the lens on the camera, unlock the lens mount and move the lens from side to side, while still on the lens mount. This method is easier and faster, but not recommended since you’re not actually “cleaning”. Although the dust is no longer in the contacts, it’s still in the camera, so when you have the chance, do a proper cleaning.

After you’ve done this, check again if the autofocus is working.

Is it working?

If it is, then congratulations! You’ve mended it with your own hands!

If you checked all these issues and the autofocus is still not working, then expect some bad news. You probably have a “real” problem either with your camera or your lens, so check with your retailer to figure out what’s wrong.

That’s it! Feel free to share your experience with these kind of problems.