D5000 Backfocus...

splendid101

Hi,

My D5000 has a focusing problem. It's out of warranty and I got it second hand.

In live focus is fine. Everything is sharp as it should be.

The problem is only when focusing through the lens.

When I focus through the lens using auto or manual focus, thing look right but when I look at the taken photograph on screen or on my computer, it is badly out of focus.

This leads me to believe that the mirror is out of alignment slightly. Or could there be a problem with the phase detect system as the contrast

detect of live view is clearly working. I use it a lot with non AF-S lenses and for video work so I focus using live view a lot.

It took a pretty heavy fall not long ago but I'm not 100% sure if the problem was around before that.

The problem is with all lenses.

I took the camera into Conn's Cameras the other day and the guy said he'd never come across a similar problem. To get it repaired by Nikon in the

UK through them you need to pay €50.00. It's non refundable if you don't want to repair. The guy in Conn's said all the Irish repair guys were

crap. Not sure about that as I used a guy in Dublin here for sensor cleaning and he did a good job and seemed reliable and is a nice guy too.

Actually the Conn's guy mentioned a chap in Meath whose company is called SLR who is good apparently.

Has anyone else out there come across a similar problem?

I saw a webpage where a guy fixed a similar problem on a D70 by twirling some black knobs behind the mirror. These are on my D5000 but I don't really fancy giving that a go. Can't find that page again right now.

The camera set me back €280. A repaid with postage etc. could approach that amount fairly easily, I'd imagine. It might be uneconomical to get fixed. Also, it's not my main camera and I do use live view with it quite a bit as I mentioned above. It is handy as a lightweight option. I got a 35mm f/1.8 recently which combines with it perfectly if in working order. Using liveview is not my preference as focus is much slower. I went to a wedding this week as a guest and brought the D50 + 35mm instead but I would have loved to have been able to use the D5000.

Thanks for listening and for any feedback!

Alan

p.s. I've posted this on other forums to try get as much info as possible so sorry if you see this elsewhere!

pixbyjohn

Send ZEROHAMSTER a pm. He repairs cameras. give him a call.
Also the guys in Meath are official Nikon repair centre

SLR Service Centre
Rathmolyon
Co Meath
Eire
Tel (Eire) 04695 57151
http://www.europe-nikon.com/en_GB/service_support/Repair%20Centre/Support_Authorised_Repair_Centres.page

zerohamster

I wouldn't take all you hear from Conn's to heart as it is funny he should say that everyone here is crap at repairs when he's trying to make €50 himself just for posting something for you

SLR service centre are the Nikon ASF here in Ireland so if you want to go the ASF route give them a shout (as far as I know their estimate is free but they would charge for postage if you didn't go ahead with the repair/servicing).

If you are near Greystones Id be happy to have a look for you if you wanted.
An impact or even just age combined with a poor initial calibration could cause a few things to go wrong which would most likely either be:

1. The mirror and sub-mirror angle could be off and would usually offset the image in the viewfinder slightly to the image captured on the sensor (check the dead centre of the image on live view corresponds to the centre on the viewfinder)
2. The AF sensor has shifted slightly upward causing the back focus.

Sometimes a camera coming out of the factory will be barely within the passing tolerance for calibration so it could have always been like this. I haven't seen any images from the camera so it is hard to tell how bad it is.

Hope that helps a little.