Nikon E-series focus ring is STUCK

M. Gilden

M. Gilden

Canon DSLR Moderator
My first negative experience with vintage lenses! :Drogar-Sick(DBG):

I have a Nikon E-series 75-150mm F/3.5 zoom lens that I like for my narrow end, but today I went to put it on, and found that the focus ring (which also controls the zoom) was stuck.
I couldn't focus, and even sliding the ring to adjust the zoom was met with a LOT of resistance.

In a moment of panic, I took it off the body and forced it until it started moving. But if feels like I'm grinding something inside when it moves now, which can't be good!

I'm at a loss as to how to proceed from here. Have you guys got any suggestions? Is this lens a goner? If so, I don't have anything past 55mm now... :(
 
David G. Smith said:
http://www.google.com/search?q=new+york+"lens+repair"&hl=en&num=100&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images&tbs=

I would take it to somebody for an estimate.
Click to expand...

Is it worth trying to repair such a lens? Its not some fancy Zeiss glass or anything... I bought mine from B&H's used shop for $99, but I've seen them on ebay for $50+. Is it even possible that a lens repair specialist would charge less than $50 for their time? If so I'd shop around, but I never considered it an option for the price.
 
robmneilson said:
How long ago did you buy it? B&H usually has a pretty good return policy, I'd imagine they would take it back.
Click to expand...

I think it was back in January- almost 4 months ago. What is their return policy normally like? For used equipment, probably not very good...
 
Did you ever get this fixed? I Bought one today and had the opportunity to take exactly two snaps with it before the focus ring got stuck. At first it sort of "clicked" when turning the ring towards infinity and when i turned the ring to its closest setting it got stuck. The seller was kind enough to offer me a refund and didn't even want the lens back, so I thought that if the fix was easy, I would pay him again...
 
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It just sort of started working one day after forcing it a bit.
Still not a smooth focus, but it worked well enough to use for a basketball shoot recently.
 
All in all... how do you like the look from the lens? I have an E series 100mm and I really like the image. What do you think?
 
Re. The look of Nikon Series E 75-150mm f3.5
First, apologies for stealing this old thread, but i got my lens working (opening the lens up and tightening a screw that halted the run of the focussing front glass and, additionally, managing to put the lens together again!) so I had to take some test images.

There is pretty much written about this lens, especially by the well known Nikon lens testers on the net, (going by the first names of Ken, Thom and Bjørn) and the often iterated story about Galen Rowell using it on his Nikon on his "morning runs", but I haven't seen too many actual images taken with it.

One aspect is 'out of focus areas'. The following snaps are taken at about two meters distance from some crystal with the focus ring set to about unlimited.
At f3.5 it lends an almost perfect circle that is pretty neutral and pleasant to watch.
But already at f4 (not marked, but it feels like a 'half click' away from 3.5, you already see the geometry of the seven bladed aperture ring).
At f5.6 it is fully prominent.

This is handheld at ISO 100 on a 550d at the 150mm setting. In the series I tried to adjust shutter to keep exposure (I1/250 at f3.5, 1/160 at f4 and 1/100 at f5.6).

Other than this I haven't really tried it on yet.

About the feel of the lens, apart from being messed with by me, the combined focus ring/zoom feels pretty smooth when focusing, but it is really loose when zooming (this is a well known problem with this lens). From a tip I found on the net I found out that putting strips of Dymo tape (the old kind that you might have used as a kid to label stuff with) works pretty well to give a smooth feel to the zoom too! I think this will be a useful lens, especially wide open if I want to have nice backgrounds at tele settings. I have also read that people like it with close up lenses making it a nice macro option as well.

75150_35.jpg75150_40.jpg75150_56.jpg
 
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I posted some example shots I took with mine for a flash-sale website here:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?201760-The-Vintage-Lens-Thread&p=2411624&viewfull=1#post2411624

In those shots, I think I was shooting with the aperture wide open. I was experimenting with DOF, and knew they would be web-sized so I figured it wouldn't matter much.
Meanwhile, it seems much sharper than my Tamron Non-VC 2.8 zoom when set to the same aperture (3.5).

I have some video shot with it I could share, but I really only use it for small parts.
 
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