Camera doesn't recognise the lens

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Gongster

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I have a D7100 and often use my 80-400, I have had them both maybe 5 years so they've got to know each other quite well.
However, on two occasions, and only in shutter priority mode, an error message pops up to say that no lens is attached. Obviously I can't do anything with it. I turn it off and eventually it sorts itself out. I know it's only been twice but that's twice too many.
I've tried the lens on another body and the body with another lens to try to discover where the fault lies but it hasn't happened in any other combination.
Anybody come across this one? Nikon repair centre hadn't when I phoned them.
I could just clean the contacts but won't know if I've fixed it due to the infrequent nature of the problem.
 
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Gongster said:
I could just clean the contacts but won't know if I've fixed it due to the infrequent nature of the problem.
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It's almost certainly a dirty contact problem especially if the lens is recognized without troubles on another body. I'd also carefully look at both the lens side and camera side electrical contacts to make sure one isn't bent or depressed or otherwise making an intermittent contact.

But if:
- It only happens on one camera, it's almost certainly not a problem inside the lens itself
- If it only happens with one lens it's not likely to be a problem inside the camera itself

Which basically leaves you with an intermittent electrical connection when you mount the lens on this particular body and that can generally be resolved with careful contact cleaning.
 
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I'd clean the contacts first, that will likely do it. The other possibility is that there is a very slight tolerance issue where the lens is a little off in one direction and the body off in the other. Nikon will request you send both in, may replace the mounts on one or both. Make sure that you haven't accidentally been pushing the lens release button. This could cause a very slight rotation which could be enough to de-couple the electrical contacts. If it occurs again after cleaning (which should include cleaning the mounts as they can contain the ground connection) try rotating the lens one way or the other and see if contact is restored. If that solves the problem, it's a physical issue with the mounts as I mentioned above.
 
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