AFS 60 micro AF very sick

[PedroS]

Mine 60mm micro AFS is sick; it's an AF problem... 8 years old... 
Sometimes it works, sometimes it rests... and on all my bodies.
Yes, I have cleaned the contacts.

Question is; is this lens easy serviceable or should I send it to more knowledgeable people?

[Erik Lund]

Nikon service will take good care of it

[Frank Fremerey]

Mine 60mm micro AFS is sick; it's an AF problem... 8 years old... 
Sometimes it works, sometimes it rests... and on all my bodies.
Yes, I have cleaned the contacts.
Question is; is this lens easy serviceable or should I send it to more knowledgeable people?

I had that with my 60G after excessive use. AF was totally stuck. Nikon repaired it for roughly 100 Euros.

[PeterN]

Funny, mine is a year old. I have used it quite a few photos and experience similar problems.
Is this lens specific?

[PedroS]

Well from my big pack of AFS that's the only one with problems...

[JJChan]

Pedro
I've had 2 AFS lens failures in the last 18 months.

My 300 f4 motor failed and will cost too much to fix (estimated at AUD$500). That was from underuse?

My made in Japan 60mm which I used daily at work stuck around 30cm focus distance - I mainly use it from 30-100cm focal distance. It then stopped AF altogether. That was also estimated to cost AUD$500 to fix. I bought that new about 8 years ago.

I'm currently in HKG and picked up a new 60mm AFS - made in Thailand for AUD $620 - and it focuses far faster and much more smoothly than my previous lens did. I think it has been upgraded internally since it first came out.

So if you use this lens daily as I do, a new one may be better than an old one repaired (I can't get it fixed cheaply in Australia anyway)

JJ

[richardHaw]

you might've gotten a lemon

[Frank Fremerey]

you might've gotten a lemon

That makes 3 lemons in one thread....

[PedroS]

Pedro
I've had 2 AFS lens failures in the last 18 months.

My 300 f4 motor failed and will cost too much to fix (estimated at AUD$500). That was from underuse?

My made in Japan 60mm which I used daily at work stuck around 30cm focus distance - I mainly use it from 30-100cm focal distance. It then stopped AF altogether. That was also estimated to cost AUD$500 to fix. I bought that new about 8 years ago.

I'm currently in HKG and picked up a new 60mm AFS - made in Thailand for AUD $620 - and it focuses far faster and much more smoothly than my previous lens did. I think it has been upgraded internally since it first came out.

So if you use this lens daily as I do, a new one may be better than an old one repaired (I can't get it fixed cheaply in Australia anyway)

JJ

That's a fair point.
Thanks

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Yet many people complain when a new lens (105/1.4) doesn't come with this type of a failure prone motor. I don't understand. 

[PedroS]

That makes 3 lemons in one thread....

A lemon tree... perhaps 

[richardHaw]

one thing I can say is that many of the 1st gen AF-S lenses have developed some form of problems connected to the AF motor.
cases that I have knowledge about (friends/acquaintances,stories from the shop and reading the net):

28-70 (known)
17-55 (known)
80-200 AF-S (known)
60mm (from this thread)
70-200VR 1st gen (1 case, from a repairman friend)

what do you guys think? is it fair to put the earlier 60mm into the "known" list? my friends' 28-70 and 17-55 haven't developed any problems since but then i lost communication with some of them or they have sod their lenses. any opinions?

[richardHaw]

Yet many people complain when a new lens (105/1.4) doesn't come with this type of a failure prone motor. I don't understand. 

simple is best 

i wonder. will that give us new problems instead?

[Ilkka Nissilä]

The ring ultrasonic motor was introduced into camera lenses by Canon in 1987 (300/2.8 ) or so (first use by Nikon 300/2.8 in 1996 I think). A 2008 release (60mm f/2.8 AF-S Micro; 21 years after the first Canon lens) should  not be excused as suffering from "1st generation" problems of this technology.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

simple is best 

i wonder. will that give us new problems instead?

I would think that replacement is easy since the motor is at the side of the lens instead of around it.