Is there any hope for my AF 35-70/2.8D Nikkor?

[David H. Hartman]

It's showing blurring or flaring in only one direction, stright up when my D800 is horizontal. It does this left, center and right; lower left, center and right but it's fine across the top. I don't know when this might have happened. All I can guess is I must have fumbled a lens case and something was Jared out of place. The lens has no marks and doesn't rattle. The problem clears up about f/5.6-f/6.3 but that defeats the purpose of an f/2.8 zoom. Are internal alignment problems repairable or do I write it off?

Thanks,

Dave

[Bjørn Rørslett]

hi David - welcome onboard ....

The 35-70/2.8 AFD was well known for its flare propensity. Press photographers of the time frequently played with the lens flare to add spice to their portrait and other semi-documentary work.

If the flare induced is directional perhaps lens cell paint has come off somewhere? Shine a strong torch into the lens and slowly rotate the lens to see if anything untoward emerges.

Also, have you tried the lens with other cameras? There could be some interaction between the image projected by the lens and the mirror chamber of your D800. Not the first time such has happened.

[Erik Lund]

Post some images that show the issue. Then we can maybe see what is going on

[David H. Hartman]

I'm sorry about posting and then disappearing. Life just caught up to me. A friend who is semi-quadriplegic has had health issues for a years starting with a fractured wrist. The latest was she had a PICC line to her heart and infusions twice a day. I helped with the early morning ones and got home about 1 to 4 AM typically. There is more but I'll spare you. I'll try to get up some samples though I wanted to shoot good ones at 100 ISO as what I have I think was shot at 1250 ISO with my D800. The issue is the same with my D300s. The 35-70/2.8D Nikkor is the only zoom lens I have with this issue. I bought a 28-70/3.5-4.5D Nikkor to fill in. I may run out of my trial period soon but I'll pay up in January.

This looks like a great site. I hope it's going well.

Thank You!

Dave Hartman

[Akira]

Hi David, are you that David formerly known as Mr. Speedlight?  Sorry to be off-topic here outside of the "Introduce Yourself" section, but I'm glad to have you here!

[David H. Hartman]

When I first signed up for the internet in the late '90s a friend told to get a free account from Yahoo. I tried for dhartman and few others with hartman and all were taken. I don't know why but speedlight popped into my head so I went with it.

In former lives I was David H. Hartman at Photo News Network, Photo.net and Yaron Kidron's FilmLives. When FilmLives imploded I started the Flickr group "FilmLives (or at least it's Undead)", a bit of Halloween tongue in cheek. That should be enough of a typing trail to identify who I am.

I signed up here as mr. speedlight here but wanted to switch as this is a more serious group where I'd prefer being listed as David H. Hartman so I changed my display name. I hope that's what others are seeing.

Akira you are the Akira who was on both FlimLives Right? I went "walk about" from the FilmLives I started and never went back.

Dave

[Akira]

Dave, yes, I'm Akira from FilmLives and all. 

[David H. Hartman]

OK, here are the samples I have. f/2.8 ~ f/5.6 were shot at ISO 800 while f/6.3 was at ISO 1000. The shutter speeds were 1/250, 1/160, 1/80, 1/60. All were at a zoom setting of 70mm. I was bird sitting at the time, my paralyzed friend's cockatoo. I wanted to shoot a better series at ISO 100 but I don't know when I'll have the time. It's 4:12 AM as I type.

Dave

Postscript: woth my browser (Firefox 42.0) if you right-click and select view image then left-click with the magnifying glass over the image you'll be seeing it a 100% pixels. The image was shot with the standard PC in NEF and converted to TIF with ViewNX2 then cropped and combined in Photoshop CS2. I think CS2 will strip most of the EXIF.

[Erik Lund]

Looks like focus is off, try with different subjects with a clear AF target or MF on a tripod live view

[David H. Hartman]

It the focus were off the blurring wouldn't always be in the same direction and only in one direction. I think something is out of alignment in the lens. It's the only zoom lens I have that does this. It causes really weird artifacts when I tried to sharpen palm trees against a blue sky.

Dave

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Agree that the optics seem to be out of alignment. Very typical for zoom lenses as they are more vulnerable to knocks (in particular from the side) than most users realise. If you encounter similar behaviour with different cameras, the problem is unlikely *not* to be with the lens.

The halo (right-hand side can cap) apparently is due to spherical aberration so stopping the lens down will (always) help to mitigate its influence.

A decent repair shop might have access to an optical bench to assess alignment before they embark on a stripping-down of the lens assembly.

[bogrod]

Hi everyone, new to Nikon Gear, but glad to see David Hartman return and Akira as well (both from film lives).

David I have fond memories of your presence on photo.net in the Nikon forums too.

[Akira]

Hi everyone, new to Nikon Gear, but glad to see David Hartman return and Akira as well (both from film lives).

Hi, bogrod, I'm sorry I cannot recognize you immediately.  Is "bogrod" the same ID you used for FilmLives?  You may want to start a thread in "Introduce Yourself" section...

[David H. Hartman]

If one were to sell a lens with such a defect how would one list or describe the lens since since it's performance is limited to f/5.6~f/6.3 and smaller apertures. What would be a reasonable asking price? What should I accept? Should I give it way? I haven't check into repair as yet but I'm guessing it will cost more than I'd like to put into that lens.

Thank you for suggestions.

Dave

[Bjørn Rørslett]

You can either accept its drawing pecularities and learn to work around them (by stopping the lens down sufficiently), or put the lens up for sale at a very reduced price and explaining there is a problem with it. Or give it away to someone new to photography and keen to get a starter lens.