I have a Tokina Macro lens that gives me an fEE error on my Nikon dF. It works fine on the Nikon D3300. Why won't it work on the dF?
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3\$\begingroup\$ possible duplicate of Why is my Nikon 50mm f/1.8 giving me an fEE error? \$\endgroup\$– user456Commented Aug 9, 2015 at 9:35
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\$\begingroup\$ @NickM It isn't obvious to me that this is a duplicate - why would the lens work on the D3300 but not the Df? \$\endgroup\$– Philip Kendall ♦Commented Aug 9, 2015 at 18:55
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\$\begingroup\$ @PhilipKendall Fair point - I thought it might explain what the error message means but if the lens works on the D3300 then it seems like a different issue. \$\endgroup\$– user456Commented Aug 9, 2015 at 19:02
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\$\begingroup\$ Have you tried cleaning the contacts of both the lens and the camera? Do other lens work on both your D3300 and dF? And have you checked to make sure your dF is running the latest firmware? It may sound trivial but its a start to determine the cause of the problem! \$\endgroup\$– Harry SandersonCommented Aug 11, 2015 at 0:34
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\$\begingroup\$ What tokina lenses it is? And again, is it running the latest firmware? Some info here; about Sigma but Tokina and Tamron could also be impacted. \$\endgroup\$– рüффпCommented Oct 12, 2015 at 21:02
2 Answers
This is likely caused by a user error. The FEE
error indicates that the camera cannot control the full range of the lens's aperture. This occurs with lenses that have aperture control rings. You probably didn't set the aperture control ring of the lens to its smallest setting when you mounted it on the Df camera, but did do so when it was mounted on the D3300.
Lens apertures are spring-loaded to default to the smallest aperture (i.e., highest f-number). When the lens is attached to the Nikon camera, the camera's aperture control lever opens the aperture to the lens's widest possible opening. This is to allow the most amount of light into the viewfinder for focusing and autoexposure to work best. When the shutter is triggered, the camera's aperture control pin allows the lens aperture to reduce to the aperture value set in the camera (either automatically in the Program or shutter-priority exposure modes, or manually by the user in the manual or aperture-priority exposure modes).
For lenses that have aperture control rings, if the aperture control ring is set to anything wider than the smallest aperture, then the camera has no ability to let the aperture spring in the lens close the aperture below what the ring is set to.
For instance, the Tokina AT-X M100 AF Pro D 100mm ƒ/2.8 Macro lens (the only macro lens made by Tokina) has a minimum aperture of ƒ/32. If the aperture ring were set to, say, ƒ/11, the camera cannot set the aperture smaller than ƒ/11, because once the camera's aperture linkage lever moves past the ƒ/11 position, the lens's aperture control ring stops the aperture from closing any further.
This is what the fEE
error is telling you. To resolve the problem, set the aperture of the Tokina lens to ƒ/32. Incidentally, this is why the 32
on the lens's aperture control ring is green, to indicate it is a special setting. The lens also has an aperture lock switch, to prevent you from accidentally changing the aperture control ring.
The lens's product page says:
When set on other than the minimum aperture value (F32), the "FEE" error message flashes and the shutter cannot be released.
Nikon's support article, What does the FEE or F-- error message displayed on an SLR camera mean?, says:
The FEE error indicates that the camera cannot control the full range of the lens aperture. If your lens has a mechanical aperture ring, rotate the aperture to its smallest opening, or highest f-number - normally marked in orange. Select this aperture and lock it using the aperture locking switch to prevent this message from appearing again.
An FEE error code means an aperture/exposure mismatch. Try using adjusting those. Also, trying using auto exposure.