Nikon AF-S DX 18-300mm

Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

Problem: Jammed Zoom

Thats a long name for a lens, but its also a long lens, so I guess it makes sense. The 18-300 is the new (2014) ultra-zoom lens from Nikon. As always there is a lot of data and reviews simply but googling the name, so I'll get to the fun part.

I've got this copy in a very nice condition, almost mint, with original box and all paperwork, but - the zoom ring is stuck at about 50 to 100 mm, it works there, but no more and no less.

I hate zoom lenses. I hate modern autofocus lenses. The 18-300 is both, its the state of the art modern engineering, and as you know (or should know) modern engineering is great, but it makes hell for the amateur repairman.

Actually this fix was fairly easy, as you will see most of the dissemble I've made was not necessary, but I'll walk you through it any way.

I've started with removing the mount. First you need to get all 5 screws that are on the side, 3 for the plastic cover and 2 for the connections module.

Next remove the 4 screws holding the mount. Now you can remove the mount, note that the aperture lever is connected, basically its a slotted strip so you can just carefully take it out, just make sure you set the zoom to about 150 mm or anything else mid range.

Under the mount there are the spacer rings, make sure you take them out and note their order.

Now the cover with all switches can simply be pulled off. Be Careful. There is a small ribbon cable going from the switches to the board, you should take it out of the connector on the board.

Next you can take out the focusing ring. It isn't held by anything, but you do need to play a bit with it go get it over the gears and boards.

This is as far as I wen't from this side, feeling a bit stuck I started playing with the zoom and tried to figure out what the hell is wrong. During this I felt something thought the rubber grip on the zoom ring. So we move on and remove the grip, its just a rubber whole ring, so use a flat screwdriver and get under it, and simply pull it off.

Now you see the two parts of the zoom ring and they are held with a tape, There are also few screws sticking in it. Looking around I found the problem of the lens:

A screw (from one of the guides) was bent or something but it didn't glide in the guide as it should, and this is what jammed the zoom. Took the screw out:

As you see it was in good shape. I don't know how it got loos this way. Any way, screwed the screw back in into the guide thought the hole in the lens ring, and put every thing back together. As you might guess, all the initial disassembly of the mount and back part was actually not necessary.

And this is the final think on my old D80 with the zoom at 18mm:

By the way, the VR on this lens is quite impressive, I was able to get very good results at 50 mm with exposure time of 1/5 sec (I'm pretty steady shooter, yet this is very impressive). I've had this lens on my D80 for few days and I quite enjoyed it, I'm not a pixel picker, so I haven't really tested the sharpness of the eye lashes on my portraits, but I've enjoyed shooting with it, and was pleased with the results (or maybe its the Nikon saturated colors I'm not used to?!)