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Why is my Nikon D5500 unable to lock focus while using Live View but works fine when using the ViewFinder?

Photography Asked by nikoniko on April 1, 2021

It just keeps trying to find focus. If I press the half-click focus button I hear the motor moving and the numbers on my lens go from smallest to infinity and stop. If I press the half-click focus again it goes from infinity back to the smallest number (0.5meter) and stops.

If I repeat the above exercise 20-25 times, then maybe 1 time it will lock the focus nicely and let me take a good picture. The same thing happens no matter the scene, object or light conditions.

I have tried two different Nikon lenses that focus well on my other camera. Even the D5500’s View Finder works perfectly, the issue only happens during the live view.

I have tried cleaning the contacts, the sensor looks clean too. The camera is on the latest firmware too, the battery is full. The picture quality is great (otherwise).

No warranty, I bought a used camera. Was wondering if I could fix it.

2 Answers

As the nikon d5500 is a dslr it will not expose the sensor to light when using the viewfinder. This leads to a need to use specialized focusing sensors of the main sensor, this thechnology has a long development history from the film era.

What this means is that the d5500 has two separate focusing sensor systems. One of the sensor when using the viewfinder and one on the sensor when using live view.

This likely means that the quality of the separate focusing system is better than the on sensor focusing system. That could be the whole explanation.

If there is a problem more information would help. Which lenses did you try. Which lighting conditions did you try, was it all indoors or did you test outside. Where the subjects high contrast or not?

Answered by lijat on April 1, 2021

Try this in good light (contrast detection in live view needs more light than the sensors used when looking through the finder) and with a target within the range of the lens, i.e. not too close to the camera.

Answered by Alex_S42 on April 1, 2021

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