Lens issue

gary0519

I just got a new 55-200mm lens, and my camera won't take a photo, but if I use the 18-55mm it does. What am I doing wrong?

bruto

If the camera won't take a photo, it suggests it is not achieving focus, or it thinks it is not achieving focus. I presume there are no error messages, so the first thing to do is to switch the lens temporarily to Manual and see if it takes a photo then. Can you manually focus the lens? Is the result in focus?

Don't try to force manual focus when the lens is set to AF, but if it does not manually focus when set to M, or if it moves but does not result in sharp focus, the lens has a problem.

If it passes the above tests, put it back to Auto focus, set your camera's AF to a single point, center the single point (with the [OK] button), and aim it at a distant object, and watch the lens to see if the AF is moving. Now aim at a close object. You should see and hear the AF working as it changes focus. If you do not see or hear anything, it's likely the AF is not working at all.

If the lens focuses sharply in manual mode, and the AF is working, then I'd suspect that you just had a problem with aiming, and need to find more suitable targets on which to focus. You will likely never get reliable AF aiming at the sky, or at other targets which lack contrast, definable edges, and the like.