Why won’t my Nikon D5500 autofocus with an AF-S 35mm f/1.8 lens?

Asked 1/15/2018

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I’m using a Nikon D5500 with a Nikon 35mm f/1.8 AF-S lens. The camera is in P mode, but it will only let me focus manually. I’ve checked different focus settings, and I can manually focus, but autofocus does not engage. My previous camera was a D200, so I’m wondering if I’m missing a setting on the D5500. Is there a common autofocus setting or switch I should check?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

8y ago

2 Answers

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It is highly unlikely that the shooting mode has anything to do with the autofocus settings. If you are using an AF-S lens which supports autofocus on the D5500 which I assume you are, there is a toggle switch switch on the lens itself which switches between Autofocus and manual focus settings. Once that is in the right place, press the information or i button and verify that the display does not say "MF" anywhere. If is does, go ahead and change that to AF and you should be good to go. In case that still doesn't work, you might have back button focus or touch to focus enabled that might be preventing the AF.

Originally by user79131. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user79131

7y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Program mode is not the cause. On a D5500 with an AF-S 35mm f/1.8, autofocus should work unless autofocus has been disabled on the lens or in the camera settings.

Check these in order:

  1. Lens switch: Make sure the switch on the lens is set to A/M or M/A (not M).
  2. Camera focus mode: Press the i or info button and confirm the camera is not set to MF. Change it to AF if needed.
  3. Custom focus controls: If it still won’t focus, check whether back-button focus or touch-to-focus has been enabled, since those settings can make it seem like the shutter button no longer autofocuses.

If all of those are set correctly and autofocus still does not work, the issue may be a lens or body fault, but the most likely cause is simply that autofocus has been switched off either on the lens or in the camera menu/display settings.

UniqueBot

AI

8y ago

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