D70 Body + AF Nikkor Lens Issue

[Driver]

Firstly... Hi all!

I am new here and this is my first post (so be gentle).


To the issue at hand... I have purchased a D70 body and have an existing F601 with an AF Nikkor 35-70, 1:3.3-45 lens.

I want to use this lens on the D70, however the display flashes "fEE" when I put the lens on.

~ I have locked the aperture at f22 before turning on the D70.
~ I have fully charged the battery.
~ I have formatted the memory card.

Is this lens incompatible?

I had a quick search for the lens on nikon.com.au and is shows the above lens as not AF. Is this an IX Nikkor lens?

However, the plot thickens...

After a short visit to Maxwells, I was advised that the lens is incompatible as it has four electrical contacts, a gap, then one electrical contact. If it had four electrical contacts, a gap, then two electrical contacts then it would be compatible. They tried the body with a new lens and it works perfectly, so at least the body is fine!

Nikon technical help had come back with a response saying that the lens should be compatible!? Maybe they confused my lens for a different AF Nikkor.

The search button didn't yield any info on this so I hope you can help.

John... out

[birddog114]

Welcome!
The lens (AF Nikkor 35-70, 1:3.3-45 lens) should be compatible with the D70 and should work as well, I have one and tried it on one of the D70 at one of our mini meets (I don't have the D70).

problems could be the contacts on the lens mount are dirty and needed to be cleaned, other issue is maybe the minimum (f22) is not exactly work (malfunction), or the contacts are not well aligment with the contacts on the D70 body mount.

Maxwell Techs said the lens is incompatible?
I don't think they knew what they were talking about.

Try to get into one of the meets and I'm able to tell you what wrong with that, of course a fees is applied a cold beer

How's zat sound?

[Glen]

Welcome John,

I have all the same gear as you and can confirm it works, just tried it now. Assuming yours is a D70 body not D70s.

The lens is AF (auto focus), that is why it is in the name of the lens. There have been previous versions which weren't.

My lens has only one extra contact, not two, just like yours and works perfectly. The serial number of my lens is 4454058. There was two versions of this lens. The first in serial no's approximately 3000001 thru to 3447831. The second in 4070967 thru 4681132. If yours is in the same range as mine it should work.

I think Maxwell was fobbing you off You need to find another D70 to confirm if it is the lens or body. If it is the lens, you probably wont get Maxwells to give you a free warranty call on a 15 yr old lens The call is worth more than the lens. If it is the body, they should fix it for free. If you came to a minimeet, held monthly, you will meet many others with D70 bodies, there would be no problem to try the lens on different bodies.

Hope this helps.

[gstark]

John,

How old is the lens?

On the back of the les - inside the mount - is there a small "screw-head" that can be used to drive the AF for this lens?

The 601 is, as you, something like 17 years old, and some of the features found on the newer bodies will not be compatible with older lenses. That said, I have an F801, and most of the lenses that I uopgraded to when I purchased that camera - 17 years ago - retain most of their functionality with the D70.

That said, I've since been upgrading my lens collection to take advantage of some of the newer features: VR, for instance, is just such a wonderful technological advancement.

Could you perhaps post a photo of the rear of the lens?

[barry]

This is one of the good things about this forum, so many knowledgeable people.

Barry

[birddog114]

This is one of the good things about this forum, so many knowledgeable people.

Barry

O/T:

Barry,
You haven't upgraded your sig.

[Driver]

Wow! That was quick...

Maxwell Techs said the lens is incompatible? Shocked
I don't think they knew what they were talking about.

That was what I was afraid of, so I thought I would ask the question here.

Try to get into one of the meets and I'm able to tell you what wrong with that, of course a fees is applied Laughing a cold beer Laughing

How's zat sound?

Sounds good! When is the next meet?

How old is the lens?

14 years old

On the back of the les - inside the mount - is there a small "screw-head" that can be used to drive the AF for this lens?

Yep, there sure is.

I will get back with serial number and photo soon. I have a feeling there is something awry with the lens as one of the priority modes has been mucking-up on the F601.

Thanks for all the help and feedback team... and for the warm welcome! It is much appreciated.

John

[robboh]

The word bollocks springs to mind regards incompatability.

I have the same camera (F601) and lens (35-70) at home, so will doublely confirm for you tonight, however Im positive I have previously used that lens on my D70.

Sitting on the aperture ring on the lens is a little thumb button which needs to be pushed in and rotated once you have the aperture set to f22. I know you say you have done it, but I was forever knocking it out of lock, bad design. Having said that, just setting the aperture to f22 should be enough.

I occasionally had the same F-EE problem with my 2ndhand 70-200 VR when I got it. The mount had enough wear on it and was misaligned enough on my D70 that twisting the lens even slightly would produce the same F-EE error. A replacement of the mount on the lens was ~$100 if I remember rightly.

You could also try cleaning the contacts with a pencil eraser.

Edit: the aperture lever might be sticky or bent, which could cause this too? Try actuating the lever on the lens and make sure it moves freely from wideopen to stopped right down.

[petermmc]

I also have the 601 with the 35-70 and have used it successfully with the D70 very recently. Shots were a bit soft compared to the standard 18-70 but that could just be my copy. I purcahased my 35-70 at the end of 1990 which makes it about 16yrs old.

Regards

Peter Mc PS the look and feel of the D70 reminds me a lot of the 601.

[PiroStitch]

I think that's the same lens I have as well and it works fine on the D70...not as sharp tho

[Driver]

Thanks for the input team!

Further to queries above, here are a couple of shots of the troublesome lens...


At the very top of the picture you can clearly see the group of four contacts and separate single contact.


Again, just from a different angle

The serial number of the lens is 4190195.

As an aside, I bought the D70 kit lens and boy it is sharp compared to my old shots using the F601 + AF Nikkor 35-70, 1:3.3-45 lens!

Next on the shopping list...
- Tripod
- Remote
- Longer lens

[birddog114]

I still have this similar lens, and it was back in the 90 with my F90.
It works fine on D50/ D70/ D2h/ D2x and maybe future of D3 or FF.

[Glen]

John, looks just like mine and as Birddy says, no reason why it shouldn't work