Okay, so, the other day I was messing around with my Nikon Z50, you know, just doing my usual thing, taking some shots, when all of a sudden the autofocus just stopped working. It was like, one minute it was fine, locking onto subjects like a champ, and the next, nothing. The motor just wouldn’t do its thing. Total bummer.
I tried all the usual stuff first. You know, turning the camera off and on again, switching lenses, making sure the AF settings were all correct. I even went into the menus and reset everything back to the factory defaults, just in case I had accidentally messed something up. No dice. The AF motor was still dead as a doornail.
Next, I popped out the battery and the memory card, thinking maybe it was some kind of weird power issue. I left them out for a good ten minutes, just to be sure. Put them back in, fired up the camera, and… still nothing. I was starting to get a bit worried at this point, not gonna lie. This camera wasn’t exactly cheap, and the thought of having to send it in for repairs was not a happy one.
Then, I remembered reading somewhere online about someone having a similar issue with their camera, and it turned out to be a problem with the lens contacts. So, I took a closer look at the contacts on both the camera body and the lens I was using. They looked a bit dirty, so I grabbed a soft cloth and some lens cleaning solution and carefully cleaned them up. I also blew on the contacts. It’s not useful, but I also don’t know why.
After that, I reattached the lens, held my breath, and turned the camera back on. I half-expected it to still be broken, but then, I heard that familiar whirring sound of the AF motor doing its thing. It was working! I couldn’t believe it. Such a simple fix for what seemed like a major problem.
So, yeah, that’s my story of how I resurrected my Z50’s autofocus. If any of you ever run into a similar issue, definitely give the lens contacts a good cleaning before you panic. It might just save you a whole lot of trouble and maybe even some money.
Here’s a quick rundown of what I did:
- Tried turning the camera off and on.
- Checked and reset the AF settings.
- Removed and reinserted the battery and memory card.
- Cleaned the lens contacts on the camera and lens.
- Panicked a little.
- Celebrated when the AF started working again.
Hope this helps someone out there! I should get back to shooting now. Catch you later!
