Argh 28/1.4D

[Peter Forsell]

Damn, my 28/1.4D has developed the dreaded fracture in the A/M ring. It is already 90 % broken. I wonder whether there's still spare parts? 

[Erik Lund]

Sorry about that!

You need to ask Nikon Service about that.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Apparently all lenses with this particular A/M selector ring are bound to end up with a cracked ring. The crack can develop so the lens splits into two halves. Experiencing such mishap is no fun. I have had it with 105 DC and the 200/4 AF Micro.

Whether spare parts for repair exist is an open question, that only your Nikon repair facility can answer. Nikon could supply parts for my 200 Micro but not for the 105 DC.  Any repair is going to be costly, though.

The easiest and by far cheapest solution is to forgo any AF operation in the future. No big loss as its AF is noisy and slow. To prevent the ring from splitting completely, which tends to happen at the most awkward moments, I recommend sealing the ring in place with judicious amounts of sticky 'tar' tape, the kind used for ice hockey sticks and bicycle handlebars. This tape will literally weld itself over time so keeping the lens safely together. I have done that measure on every lens in my possession having the tendency for A/M cracking.

[Akira]

Oh, Peter, sorry about that!  Hope you find any solution...

Whether spare parts for repair exist is an open question, that only your Nikon repair facility can answer. Nikon could supply parts for my 200 Micro but not for the 105 DC.  Any repair is going to be costly, though.

It is surprising that the spare part for 105DC is not supplied.  It is not yet a discontinued model (although I'm not sure if it is still "produced").

[Bjørn Rørslett]

My 105 DC appears to be one in a long row of items developing cracks. Thus the inventory of this particular part became depleted prematurely.

A close friend got the 105 DC for free, pushed the two halves together, and somehow managed to get the lens working in AF, no manual focusing. He taped down the cracked ring in order to keep the lens as an entity.

I purchased another sample and immediately applied the tape "fix" to that copy.

[simsurace]

Why does the lens come apart as the ring breaks? Is there nothing else inside that holds the lens together? If not, then maybe the ring is under stress and thus cracking inevitable? Looks like a major design flaw and I'm surprised that there has not been any pressure on Nikon to fix this.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

I have used eight Nikkors with the thin A/M ring over the years and only one of them cracked; it was the AF 80-200/2.8D N. Nikon repaired it for free.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Some of the affected lenses do fall apart, like my 105 DC. Others expose a very ugly opening straight into the internals of the lens, through which dirt or stray light may enter.

The design of the A/M was introduced in the early stage of the AF era and Nikon, for some inscrutable reason, probably thought the selector would be set to 'A' all the time ? Nobody really knows, though. And for reasons explained below, it really doesn't matter whether the ring was used.

The crack comes as a result of material fatigue, because the ring on some models simply is a little on the wide side (designated play to make altering the setting easier?), and there is only a single screw that keeps it in position. Over time this leads to the infamous crack. In fact, the A/M ring will develop a fracture even in the case it never has been used, that happened with my 200 AFS Micro after 11 years of non-use.

Some time during the early 00's, the design was altered and never seen on newer models.

[Øivind Tøien]

My AF 60mm f/2.8 developed a similar crack, and the ring has been taped down in manual mode with several layers of electrical tape ever since Bjørn made me aware of the consequences.

[David H. Hartman]

Would it be effective to epoxy a strip of stainless steel across the screw so plastic fatigue at or near the screw does not cause a failure. I'm thinking a small hole might be drilled in the stainless steel strip and a dot of mold release placed on the head of the screw so it might be accessed if need be. I believe I own three of the lenses with this style A/M control. In particular I don't want to loose my AF 70-180/4.5-5.6D ED Micro-Nikkor.

Thank you for considering this.

Dave Hartman

[MILLIREHM]

The AF-S 600 mm f/4 VR and the 200 mm f/2 VRII (and probably the 500,400,300 from the same series) also have  got a plastic ring for VR on-off setting -  hopefully nikon had learned and there is not   the same weak design behind that as the AF-D lenses are facing. So far I had no issues.

These kind of flaws are intolerable for a top-quality lens producing company as Nikon

[MILLIREHM]

Funny that I have recently warned about the plastic ring issue in connection with the AF 28/1,4 D

I have preliminarily taped my 70-180 and 135 mm DC lenses for prevention purposes. A-M switch is still usable. Dont know if that is sufficient on the long run

[Erik Lund]

I have never seen such a crack on any of my lenses with that design and as motioned earlier, many times, I believe there has been a silent update for the ring at some point in time - The 'big' tele lenses had a much wider ring.

Yes, a support strip or even better a ring could keep the plastic-ring together in one piece..

The ring doesn't hold 'two half's' together,,,

[Peter Forsell]

Phew it turned out that Nikon Finland still has spare parts. That's good news, since the turnaround will be quick. The estimate is €150 including parts and labour. I will pay for it but immediately on return I will tape the ring on my 85/1.4D, 135/2DC and 28/1.4D as suggested.

Does anyone else think that the price actually seems a bit lowish? Maybe there's some goodwill by Nikon in play? 

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Does anyone else think that the price actually seems a bit lowish? Maybe there's some goodwill by Nikon in play? 

Well, the lens was very expensive when it was on the market and it has this kind of a weak part which is reported to break in normal use. So it is a kind of embarrassment for Nikon and they should show good will to the customers who run into such problems. Nikon's service in Finland has
been excellent in my experience for as long as I've been their customer (whether it is outsourced to JAS or handled by Nikon themselves).