I have experienced similar problems in the past. I totally agree with Peter and Boris' comments about resetting the electronics by removing the power for several minutes. It could also be the connection between the camera and lens. I have had a lens not link up properly even though I thought I had heard the "click" of it setting into position. The istD also does not like to have the aperture ring out of the A position, so you might check that if it happens again. In short, there is a lot of variables that can go wrong, and will do so at the worst possible moments. I hope you are able to get it figured out.
David Madsen mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.davidmadsen.com -----Original Message----- From: Tanya Mayer Photography [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2004 11:43 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: FA 50mm f1.7 This is one of my favourite lenses and I find myself using it more and more since the *istD effectively makes it a FA 75mm f1.7. BUT, yesterday whilst shooting inside the church following the ceremony, my lens refused to Auto Focus. It would turn as far as it could go and then just sit there. It was acting basically the same as when I try to autofocus on a subject that is too close. Anyways, I switched it to manual focus and it worked fine. So I switched it back to AF and it still did it. Oh, and there was PLENTY of light in the church, I shot most of the ceremony with available light, handheld at ISO 400, so it surely wasn't that. Anyways, after a few minutes of switching back and forth from MF to AF, it suddenly came to life and started working. THEN, during the bridal waltz, with very little light apart from the candles and fairy lights etc, I wasn't able to focus at all, either manually or automatically. It was showing the little red focus confirmation square in my viewfinder, but when pressing the shutter, the camera wouldn't fire (as if it couldn't get a lock on the focus). So, I turned on the AF360fgz (yep, got it back!), and even with the AF assist beam, it wouldn't focus. I had the camera settings on ISO1600, at f1.7 and handheld at 1/8. I was extremely embarrassed to admit to the couple that I wasn't able to get even one or two decent shots of their very first waltz together! I stayed at the reception until 10pm just for that shot (the bride had hired a smoke machine and really wanted a great shot!), and totally missed out on it! Then I had to drive the 2 hour drive home! I had to pull off the road about 3 times to pour some water over my head and wake myself up, I was THAT tired! Anyways, I am wondering if these two incidences are related (ie not able to AF in the church with plenty of light, and then not being able to get a lock on focus at all in low light even with an AF assist beam), or separate. Should I send it off to CR Kennedy (I am becoming their best customer!) for a repair, or was the church thing a one off incident and the waltz thing was just due to low light? tan.
