70-300vr error with z6

[darkside]

I decided to go ahead and order the z6 kit, and I’m loving it so far. My only issue is that my 70-300vr is not working at all with the z6. When I mount it with the FTZ and turn on the z6, the lens makes a horrible almost grinding noise. I have tried turning the lens vr and autofocus switches off, none of this fixes it. While the noise is happening the vr and autofocus do not appear to be doing anything. After a few seconds, the noise stops and I’m left with the error message “Error. Press shutter-release button to reset”. When I press the shutter button, it starts the noise again. And the cycle continues. If shooting in auto or one of the user modes, I get the message saying no lens is attached or the attached lens is a non cpu lens.... this is the older af-s Nikkor 70-300mm 1:4.5-5.6G but is still afs, so I thought it should work fine. The lens and all functions work fine on my D700, D80, and my sisters D7100. Anyone else have a similar issue? Any ideas on a fix, or do I need to go shopping for a replacement 70-300?

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[gryphon1911]

Firmware updated on the Z6?

 

[darkside]

Firmware updated on the Z6?

Yep. Upgraded to Firmware 3.0

 

[Pa]

Do other lenses work with your FTZ adapter?

 

[darkside]

Do other lenses work with your FTZ adapter?

Yes, I have a Tamron 70-200 which seems to work perfectly, I've also used it on a few AiS lenses and it worked as well as it's supposed to. I also tried my sister's DX 70-300 and it worked just fine only cropped to DX.

 

[darkside]

Here's what it sounds like.

 

[BillM]

I have a Sigma 150 f/2.8 macro (old version) that will not auto focus on the Z6. It is a known problem and cannot be fixed. The same lens supposedly will not auto focus on a D850 either. The lens works fine on my D4 and D500 and can be used in manual focus mode.

But since this is a Nikon AF-S lens, I would expect it to be compatible. Could it be a dirty contact? I would try some Deoxit or similar electronic contact cleaner to see if that helped.

 

[Pa]

Could it be a dirty contact? I would try some Deoxit or similar electronic contact cleaner to see if that helped.

Wouldn't hurt to try that, but he says it works fine on three other Nikon cameras.

 

[BillM]

Wouldn't hurt to try that, but he says it works fine on three other Nikon cameras.

Agree, but a dirty contact might make up on the other cameras and not on the FTZ, or the dirty contact might be on the FTZ lens or camera side. Camera plus lens = 2 sets of contacts to clean, camera plus FTZ plus lens = 4 sets of contacts to clean. Also, it would not hurt to try another FTZ adapter if it is available.

 

[Palouse]

Agree, but a dirty contact might make up on the other cameras and not on the FTZ, or the dirty contact might be on the FTZ lens or camera side. Camera plus lens = 2 sets of contacts to clean, camera plus FTZ plus lens = 4 sets of contacts to clean. Also, it would not hurt to try another FTZ adapter if it is available.

Worth a try, If that fails it's time for an exchange.

 

[darkside]

Thanks all, I’ve tried cleaning the contacts on the 70-300. I haven’t messed with the ftz or z6 contacts yet. My sister just purchased a z6 and ftz as well, so when it gets here I’ll try it on hers to try to isolate the problem and go from there. Unfortunately as the lens is more than 11 years old at this point I doubt Nikon could do anything to help. Looks like I’ll be going shopping.

 

[acnomad]

Here's what it sounds like.

It looks like the distance scale was not moving, so I'm guessing that the aperture is opening and closing repeatedly? Or do you think it is the AF motor? Making that distinction would narrow down the issue a bit.

 

[darkside]

I'm still not entirely sure what is causing it, but I was able to stop it by attaching the lens, then gently turning it back clockwise (like taking off the lens but without pushing the release) and it stopped and seems to work as intended.

 

[acnomad]

I'm still not entirely sure what is causing it, but I was able to stop it by attaching the lens, then gently turning it back clockwise (like taking off the lens but without pushing the release) and it stopped and seems to work as intended.

I've also had problems in the past where a misaligned or slightly loose lens mount resulted in electrical contact issues. Since your camera body and FTZ are new, the issue is probably in the lens mount. You might be able to resolve it by loosening the screws a bit and retightening.

 

[jose_q_h]

Just came across a very similar issue myself today but found a way to fix it and will share. First to make sure, we're on the same page - I have a Nikon Z6ii with FTZ adapter (only used a handful of times) and 70-300mm VR lens that I've had for many many years and bought used. Both my camera body and FTZ adapter have the latest firmware.

When I first attached the 70-300mm VR lens to my Z6ii with the FTZ adapter, a very similar thing to that shown on the video happened - the noise was the exact same but I believe the error message I got said something about a shutter error - can't remember exactly.

Here are the things I did that I believe contributed to the issue being resolved.
1. Removed both the FTZ adapter and lens from the Z6ii
2. Put just the FTZ adapter back on the Z6ii and turned on the camera to make sure I didn't get any errors with just the FTZ and I did not get any errors.
3. Turned off the Z6ii with FTZ adapter attached to it.
4. Took the 70-300mm VR lens and used the focus ring to focus to infinity, turned the lens to *manual mode*, turned *off* the vibration reduction and moved one of the switches on the lens from active to *normal*.
5. Then I attached the lens to the FTZ adapter which was still on the Z6ii.
6. Turned on the camera - and fixed. No noise, no errors. I was able to take several photos and use the auto focus capability without any problems.

It's possible that only a subset or a single of the steps above is necessary but I don't know if that's true or which would be the specific steps needed.

Hope this works for you as well.