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I have Nikon D7000 with 18-105mm. I know that the camera body has the AF motor and the lens itself has the AF motor too. I was wondering can I control which AF motor should be used while autofocusing. If this is possible then how can I do this? Not sure If just switching the focus selector buttons on camera and lens would do this without any problems for camera and lens.

Also, will there be any advantage of switching AF motors?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I know you're asking for Nikon, but for Pentax, this is a constant gripe. Some lenses with an in-lens motor have the connection for the body drive, but there's no way to use it even if the lens motor fails. The body motor drive only functions on older bodies which don't have the contacts for the lens motor control. \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Jan 29, 2013 at 12:49

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No, you can't control which motor is used. If it's an AF-S or AF-I lens (with the motor in the lens), then the body motor isn't used and there is simply no connection between the lens and AF motor in the body. Older lenses (AF-D and AF) have no AF motor in the lens and rely on the body's focus motor. Omne's photo shows an older lens with the screwdriver AF connection.

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Nikon lenses with integrated autofocus motor doesn't have the old AF connection, so they'll only focus using their internal motors.

Unlike the AF-S and AF-I lenses which have an integrated AF motor, the older AF lenses have a screw connection which will be coupled with a screwdriver on the camera's lens mount.

Nikon AF-D

Photo: Shun Cheung

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