Cosmos in Winter

slpollett

My 50mm macro lens is acting up (OK--it might be operator error :scratch ) so I played with it a bit today to try to figure out the problem. I've noticed the last few times I've tried to use it that it seems to have trouble focusing. I've been shooting in manual, btw. Sometimes the focus mechanism seems to just whir back and forth without ever actually focusing. Doesn't seem to matter whether I'm trying to do a close-up or a landscape or bright area or darker area.

Today when I tried to take a few pictures, I wasn't able to adjust the shutter speed after taking a couple of snaps. I could change the f-stop but not shutter speed. I even asked another photographer friend to take a look. He couldn't get it to work either, so I figure it's not just me being a noob. If I change lens, everything on the camera seems to work fine. When I change back to the 50mm, it focuses nicely and lets me change settings for a couple of snaps then won't let me change the shutter speed again and has trouble focusing. That's why I figure it is the lens.

I then set the camera on one of the auto presets to see if the lens would work properly on any of those settings. It seems to work just fine & focus just fine on any of the presets, but as soon as I turn the camera to manual I have the problem again. I'm sure not happy about that.

Anyway to get to the point of all this verbage, I noticed a lone Cosmos plant still blooming in my yard. We've had several hard freezes in our area over the last month or so and all the other flowers have died except this one plant and it's still blooming! The blooms are smaller than normal (about the size of a quarter), but it's blooming. I used the blooms as an excuse to try to troubleshoot my lens. Here are a couple of shots from today while on manual. What do you think?

Any c&c or advise on the lens problem would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks for looking.

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Thanks,
Sherry

Lord Vetinari

Lovely light and colour in shots.

Can only suggest the lens may have a contact problem. Try giving the electrical contacts a gentle rub with a pencil eraser.
Brian V.

slpollett

Thanks! My other photographer friend suggested the same thing--I just haven't had a chance to try that yet. Hopefully this week...and hopefully my little brave cosmos plant will still be blooming so I can try again!

Sherry