Nikon Nikkor 50mm 1.4D Repair // Fix, originally uploaded by cngodles.
My Nikon 50mm 1.4 is cursed. I've had the thing for at least three years, and it's needed repairs at least 3 times. The first time I dropped it, and the focus ring was all out of whack. I sent that to Nikkor for warranted repair, and it came back fine.
Then a year later, we took a family trip to Myrtle Beach. At the beach, while pulling the camera out of the bag, the lens was on top of the camera strap and came along for the ride. The same thing happened, the focus ring wasn't working well, as it was getting stuck in the middle focus range.
I wanted the lens for the beach, so when I got back to our hotel, I started messing with it. In no time at all, I removed the front piece of plastic (by removing the focus band and some tape). After twisting it for a while to see if I could work it back into being right, the lens assembly just fell right out. opps.
So then I tried to push it back in. Well, the deal goes, while it may come right out, you are not getting it back in for whatever reason. I didn't know this. I bent the aperture control and busted up some electronics.
I took the lens to a repair shop back in Pittsburgh and they said they could do it for $140. The lens cost $330 new, so I went for it. I was going to sell it afterwards to cover the loss, but after using it again, I just had to keep it.
I later bought the D7000 that I use now, and going from 6MP to 16MP, I could start to see something wrong with the lens. The middle just wasn't focused good. The D70 was fine, the D7000 hated the lens. Even when you mount the lens to the camera, it struggles to get attached. I think something is off.
Fast forward to this past month. I went to focus the lens, and again, it was stuck.
Shit.
Anyway, I've been thinking about either getting it replaced, repaired, or getting a new one. I settled on buying a Nikkor 50mm 1.8G this time around. It's coming Monday. So in the meanwhile, I've been looking at the lens. I can't sell it broke, and I don't want to pay to fix it, so I decided to give repair another try.
Here goes.
I took the front part off again. I removed the tape and memories of last time came back. I twisted and twisted, hoping to find something blocking up the focus threads. Nothing. Then it happened again, the front fell out.
But this time I was ready. I wasn't going to try to just put it back in. I searched the Internet for repair options, and I could find nothing. There is a manual you can buy for $4 online, but I didn't find that until after I was done. In fact, if you search for repair of this lens, this is where you'll probably end up.
I looked at the threads, and it looked like there really was no way to just screw it back into the body. So I put the parts aside, and started to take screws out of the mount.
The mount consists of the metal mount ring, a plastic inner ring, and an electronic contact piece for the camera to get information from the lens. I removed the ring and plastic piece, but the contact piece is attached to the lens shell. You must remove the plastic insert before you take off the ring. Once that is all open, it looks like the photo above. There is a metal aperture changing piece that is missing from that photo. It sits to the left side of the ring and is the piece that is moved by the aperture ring.
So again, I tried to screw in the element. Again, didn't work. The electronic piece was still in the way. The right side, a little higher in the photo, is this piece. I removed two screws and let it hang off to the side. I also removed the aperture ring to make some room. The auto focus gear (bottom left) needs attention as well, and I suggest removing it and setting it aside so you don't lose it.
Once this was out of the way, the two sliding rails were in the way. These are metal pieces that stick into where the element housing sits. two screws apiece, I carefully removed them. I tried again, and almost got it! The aperture feeler was in the way. I was able to lift it into the center of the housing to get it into place, and finally, it was back in! I screwed it in until the rail holders were in the proper location (1 turn or less I think).
I then put the rails back in to mate with the element housing in both places. So at this point, since all three contacts where in place for the housing, I took the lens and replaced the front pieces. I put the plastic focus turner in place, then reapplied the tape, then put the rubber focus ring back in place. I wasn't about to have this fall out again. I turned the focus, it seemed better!
So really, I didn't "fix" the lens. I tore it apart and put it back together. After that, it was fixed. I never identified what was messing it up, but I probably reset it when I did the tear down.
Now that the rails were in place, I put the electronic piece back in. I replaced the AF screw and I replaced the aperture ring metal piece. This was tricky to do, and I suggest getting a good look at it easy on before you take this thing apart. I put the aperture ring back on and made sure everything worked. I then put the metal mounting ring on first and put the screws in. Then the plastic insert. I was done, and the lens was back to normal!
Almost normal. The focus indicator that slides inside the lens was not showing the correct values. but the lens was focusing correctly on the camera. I never really use the indicator values anyway, so good to go.
And to finish, a photo of my daughter taken with the lens after repair:
