Why your Nikon D7200 wont focus

Check to make sure your auto focus switch is set to AF and not M

[Chuckwagon]

DSLR Af sensor points need something with contrast to focus on. A smooth wall or blue sky may give it problems. Differet AF points are more suited to horizontal or vertical depending on your camera. When taking pictures of people, the general rule is to focus on the eye closest to the lens. With a F1.4 or f1.8 lens you have to be really careful as focusing on the eye can put the nose or ears out focus. That isn't bad perse', sometimes it's a cool effect but with that shallow depth-of-field a 1 inch of movement towards or away by the camera or subject can through the intended area soft.
Also if you use UV Haze or clear filters on your lenses to protect them, if they are cheap throw them out. In many cases cheap filters will not allow cameras to focus, or if they the camera does focus properly the filter will render soft results. Best filter brands are B+W, higher grade Hoya, and Tiffen. Many times the filters different online retailers include in their store packages are junk.
Also to those that are new photography, with focus comes depth of field. When you open up the aperture to the smaller number such as f4-f1.8 the depth-of-field or zone of focus gets narrower. This is sometimes advantageous for a portrait where you want to isolate the subject from the background or when taking pictures in low light where you need as much light as possible to give a faster shutter speed. Conversely going to a smaller aperture or higher number f-stops like f5.6-f22, cuts down the light hitting the sensor, but you will have more depth-of-field or more in focus from foreground to background. This is handy for example in landscapes or a group shot with multiple layers of people in distance to the lens and you need them all in focus.
Focal length or zoom plays a role. Wider-angle lenses tend to put everything in focus unless you are close focusing. As you zoom in/get higher focal lengths, more image compression occurs. The depth of field becomes tighter and the blurred background effect more pronounced. Moving closer to the subject so the focus is closer tends to put areas behind the subject more out of focus at wider apertures. Focusing more towards inifinty puts more in focus from the foreground to the background.
Finally, knowing your autofocus modes is important. For people and general situations AF- lock mode is probably your best bet. The camera won't take the picture until it locks AF. However for moving subjects the tracking focus modes maybe ideal. But they're not perfect and may take some soft and possibly unusable shots.
The new Sony and Canon mirrorless cameras have come a long in eye tracking AF, and it appears the new Nikon Z9 works really good too.

[geffivey]

Very helpful video. Saved me from needlessly sending my camera away for repairs! Thank you!

[Anonymous-itjw]

Thanks for this timely video. Based on my experience only, if you purchase an Auto-Focus Nikon lens, be sure to keep all of the documentation related to the purchase, such as the Warranty, the Instructions, the Bill of Sale, or a printed-out copy of the paid bill from an online vendor, if one was involved. Occasionally Nikon offers warranty extensions, which in my case was three years. Be sure to mail in the warranty paperwork in accordance with Nikon’s instructions and use a return address that you know will be an active mailing return address for you and/or a family member for the entire length of the warranty period. Nikon technicians do an excellent job, and if you have your warranty paperwork, your costs could be minimal, i.e. from zero to a $100 or so. I submitted the Warranty and Bill of Sale, and my total cost for Nikon’s rebuilding the entire autofocus lens, with an 80-200 mm. range, was about $108, with shipping costs to Nikon an additional $10.

[ChessDoc]

Imagine I almost went to someone thinking the camera has an issue. Thanks a lot

[brianauclair]

Thanks bro you just save me a trip to the repair shop

[kaarinpfeffer]

Thank you, that worked :) so happy dont need a trip to the camera store.

[markialright]

hi sir. i brought a brand new d5300 50mm 1.8g and tamron 18-200 about 10 months ago. everything is fine. the camera and the 2 lens. i borrow a d300 for testing. i put 50mm to d300. everythings fine. it autofocus smoothly. i tested the front botton beside the cap. and all the sudden it doesnt autofocus. i put it back to my d5300 and also doesnt autofocus. i tried the tamron 18-200 to my d5300 and still doesnt focus. what the hell happened? please help me.

[certoglenn]

Don't I wish it were that easy. I put the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR on a D7200 body and get tons and tons of slightly out of focus shots. Oh, changes focus when the focus point is nearer or further from the focal plane. It just misses too much. And the darker it gets, the worse it gets. Back when I was using the d3200, never a problem: quick, on-demand and crisp with the aforementioned lens. My d7200 is still bad to sling oil onto the sensor. A YouTube reviewer of some fame commented on the spotting problem and talked to us like, well, he jabbered on about all the moving parts and we can expect some oil spots. Really? I think he might be a flat-earther as well. Nikon has been horribly remiss in not owning the problem and making good.

[modbull]

When i focus on object in the lense focus is correct but after clicking focus bouncing background object which is shiny or white colour background . with flashgun

[modbull]

You are using 50mm then how dslr focus in low range

[laminduhashira]

I did what you said...but still won't focus :(