Lens Problem with Nikon D5100

[John B.]

I have been using a Nikon D80 with several lenses for some time. Recently I purchased a Nikon D5100 and I find my Sigma 105mm macro lens will not work with it. It was fine on the D80. All my other lenses work well with the D5100. The camera will not power up with this lens attached. If I untwist the lens and twist it back in, the camera will power up and I can take a photo, but the Live Viewer tells me there is no lens attached. This lens is also auto-focus but will not autofocus when I do manage to get it to where I can take a photo, and it will also not wait long for me to take a photo without powering the camera down again.

In searching for an answer to this problem I found that a couple of other people have exactly the same problem. Does anyone here know of this problem, and if there is a fix for it, please?

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[TCampbell]

There may be nothing wrong with either the camera or the lens. 3rd party lens makers are pretty much on their own... they don't get any assistance from Nikon (and it's not just Nikon... Canon is the same way and probably everyone else.) They have to "reverse engineer" the workings of the mount to make a lens which works. Because of this, there's always the risk that a 3rd party lens won't work.

If you have the lens I think you have, the Nikon version doesn't have an internal focus motor (it would require a body with a motor.) Sigma has this note on their specs for the lens:

*Nikon Mount: NO built in motor lens: NOT compatible with D40, D40x, D60, D3000, D5000

The D5100 is basically the replacement of the D5000 and doesn't have an in-body focus motor either. BUT... usually you can still "mount" the lens, but you have to focus manually. I'm a little surprised it says there is no lens attached. Have you noticed if D90 or D7000 shooters make similar statements about the lens? The D90 and D7000 do have in-body focus motors.

[macraephoto]

Hi there, not sure if you've found the solution yet, stumbled upon this as I have the same problem, it seems the camera is newer than the lens and requires a flash for the firmware, sigma will do this FoC providing the lens is within warrenty, if not the cost is around £85, not sure what the equates to in $. My camera is a D7000 and when I phoned sigma, they confirmed this was the issue. Hope this help shed a little light onto it.

Cheers