Photography question regarding a Nikon lens...?

[kendi]

I have recently purchased a Nikkor 85mm/1.8D AF Lens for my Nikon D40 DSLR. I know it's compatible withmy camera, but I am concerned now after further review that it will not autofocus with my camera. Will I have to use the manual settings on my camera when I use this lens? Any help that can be given would be greatly appreciated. I need this lens for my cousin's senior portraits, and if it's not the right one, I want to fix it immediately! Thank you for your time!!

[Dr. Sam]

This is a wonderful lens and you will find that it's not so hard to focus manually with that f/1.8 working for you. If you do not trust yourself, read this from the D40 manual: "If the lens has a maximum aperture of f/5.6 of faster, the viewfinder focus indicator can be used to confirm whether the portion of the subject in the selected focus area is in focus. After positioning the subject in the active focus area, press the shutter release button halfway and rotate the lens focusing ring until the in-focus indicator is displayed."

Be sure that you engage the little switch that locks the diaphragm at the smallest aperture (f/16) so the other automatic functions will work correctly.

[MixedMojo]

The lens you have chosen will work perfectly fine, without autofocus. Many of nikon's best lenses do not feature AF-S drive motors, the one's that do are too expensive, IMO. You will not have to use manual settings other than focusing manually, which isn't a big deal. The lens will still couple and meter with the camera with no problem. AF lenses without a focus limiter can be tedious in low light conditions, if you had the ability to autofocus them with your camera. I use AF lenses all the time with my D80, and even though I have the in body AF drive, I use manual focus instead. I don't care for how some AF lenses hunt from infinity to close, nor the sound it makes when it does. The 85mm f/1.8 has great, if not the best optics for its price and size, you should be more concerned with that aspect than autofocus, IMO.

EDIT:

A word of advice also, keep your aperture ring set to f/16 and locked, otherwise your camera will go nuts, then error out [fee]. The lock will only engage if set to f/16 and the camera will automatically set it, so leave it set to f/16 (for the camera's sake)

(personal experience with a 50mm f/1.8)

[Edwin]

Your lens does not have the AF-S (Silent Wave Motor) and your camera lacks an internal focusing motor so you'll have to use Manual Focus for your lens. In their telephoto line Nikon offers a 200mm with the AF-S but that's a bit long for portraits.

If AF is that important to you then you should look at either the AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor f2.8G IF-ED or the AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 28-70mm f2.8D IF-ED.

[Carmen C]

As said before all functions are supported except AF. Now the D40 has an indicator which works very well so focusing manually should not be a problem.