# nikon d7000 focus issues really a problem ?



## enerlevel (Jul 8, 2013)

Hi all, 
 I would start up with a little history about myself , please read the whole post before saying that its my technique and not the camera... 
I have used plenty of pro equipments with my last one being the Nikon d800 for weddings therefore I am very much familiar with what I am doing . I have also switched brands many a times only to compare camera like 5d mkIII vs d800 or D3s... Along with lens .. But that was all when I had cash to burn... And I never had issues with them ever!!! 
Then I had to stop all of this and sell all my gear to finance my education ... (I still have my insurance for the cameras LOL) .. 

After saving plenty I got a d90 along with 35mm f1.8G , 18-105 vr and 55-200 vr.
Plenty happy for months..  Now again saved plenty enough to get my hands on a second hand D7000 so I went on with my search for a preowned d7000. 

Up till now I have already checked 6 D7000 bodies and none of them have been able to focus properly with the 35mm.. When doing close ups, everything seems to be normal but as soon as you start to focus something 2 feet away or more , it seems to auto focus the wrong thing... Even the other lens 18-105 seems to be soft as compared to my D90.. 
I also tried the 50f1.8G and that also acts strange with the D7000. Its also strange how the owners never felt the softness of the focus until I snapped the same photo with my D90 and compared it to their D7000.. 
Have any of you had any problems like these ? I really don't have any cash now to experiment around anymore.. And because these bodies are preowned, I believe Nikon would not take them under warranty. Also would auto fine tune AF solve this problem as it seems to focus just right under 2 feet ..
Thanks I'm advance for all your inputs.


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## goodguy (Jul 8, 2013)

My D7000 acted up with soft pictures.
After trying all the tricks in the book I sent my new camera to Nikon and they serviced it.
Camera worked much better but still not up to my expectation so I fine tuned each and every lens I have to the camera and now the results are impressive.
AF is not perfect on the D7000 to be sure.


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## SCraig (Jul 8, 2013)

goodguy said:


> My D7000 acted up with soft pictures.
> After trying all the tricks in the book I sent my new camera to Nikon and they serviced it.
> Camera worked much better but still not up to my expectation so I fine tuned each and every lens I have to the camera and now the results are impressive.
> *AF is not perfect on the D7000 to be sure.*


I've never seen the need to fine-tune any of my lenses.  I'm perfectly content with mine just the way it is.


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## CaptainNapalm (Jul 8, 2013)

I had the same issue with a 35mm lens on a d7000 body a few months ago.  you'll likely find find my thread about it floating around these forums. The in camera AF fine tune feature corrected the problem for me.


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## cgipson1 (Jul 8, 2013)

I never had any issues with my D7000.


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## TheLost (Jul 8, 2013)

I'm going against some of the things I've said in the past...  But i think the D7000 has the 'potential' of having 'focus issues'.

What do i mean by potential? 

1) It has a complex AF system that if you don't understand it will cause you problems (#1 cause of 'focus issues' = user error)

2) Running through a program like 'focustune' i found that most of my lenses needed around +18 focus adjustment.   Some lenses would report +20 which made me think i still wasn't getting the best focus.

3) Looking at the 30k+ of photos i took with the D7000 i keep finding shots that are 'almost' in focus.  I always filed those images away as motion blur or user error (95% of those 30k images are taken at sporting events) but after looking through the images in detail i see a pattern of back focus. 

4) of those 30k photos i have lots-and-lots of amazing keepers.

5) With the ~5k+ images I've taken with the D7100 i don't see any that fall into the #3 category.  

If you add all that up... you get a big load of "doesn't mean anything".  however..  I know that even after 3ish years of being out you still see tons of D7000 focus issue threads on all the forums.  I know that looking at my 2 years of D7000 images has made me question my 'no-D7000-focus-issue' stance.  

I know that there are no focus issue problems being reported on the D7100 in the interwebs (or any problems in general).

The D7000 is a great bargain right now..  If you think you have focus issues just send it to nikon.  If you don't want to deal with any of that then just get the D7100.


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## goodguy (Jul 8, 2013)

SCraig said:


> I've never seen the need to fine-tune any of my lenses. I'm perfectly content with mine just the way it is.


Lucky.
I went through a pile of cr_p till I got my camera to work fine.
I love my D7000 but seriously there is no call for a brand new camera to give its owner so much grief as mine gave me.
And I know most lenses I will buy for it will need to be fine tuned as well.
Its not a big deal but I don't know why I will need to do it while others simply slip the lens in and shoot away.


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## enerlevel (Jul 8, 2013)

TheLost said:


> I'm going against some of the things I've said in the past... But i think the D7000 has the 'potential' of having 'focus issues'.
> 
> What do i mean by potential?
> 
> ...





a lot of cameras have complex focus systems not only d7000. but they all seem to focus well enough. i have never had any focus issues with my previous D800 or d3S But the D7000 is seriously driving me nuts. 
like i said i am on a budget and i am getting preowned D7000 which means they cannot be send under warranty. i guess alot of ppl think this is BS because maybe they never happened to pixel peep or they havent really compared the pics against a camera which is focusing well. 

i saw another D7000 today and it was behaving the same.. front focusing this time... its really a shame that the deals i am getting is superb (400 quid mint condition) but sadly i cant buy them due to the focus issues .....


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## DarkShadow (Jul 8, 2013)

I was one  of the unlucky one's that got stuck with one that had big focus problems. The AF fine tune did nothing at all.I sent to nikon and seemed to be a little better when I got it back but nowhere as sharp as my D3100. @1200.00  I was very disappointed in performance.On top of that my battery was going down quick.I could not even get half of what they say on shots per charge and thats no use of the onboard flash.


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