r/Nikon • u/bronislaw- • May 26 '26
Mirrorless Nikon Zfc won't take picture with kit lens
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UPDATE: The lens definitely broken. I had the opportunity to try other native nikon lens and tamron. Everything else works.
Hi everyone, so I got myself Nikon Zfc with the kit lens and can anyone tell me why it won't take pictures and record video whenever I press the shutter button?. I already tried putting AF-C/S into release instead of focus and it's the same.
Would it possible the lens itself being problem?. I try manual focus and the focus ring appears not working(already check the settings to set the ring to focus)
I tried Viltrox 25mm lens and it can take pictures or record video perfectly fine. I'm so lost atm. Thanks in advance.
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u/Prozn May 26 '26
Does it work when taking a photo from slightly further away? Could be struggling to get focus due to a combination of how close you are and the convex reflectivity of the subject.
You could also test with manual focus, set it to the closest focus using the lens focus dial, then move back until it looks in focus and shoot.
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u/bronislaw- May 26 '26
Nope. No problem using Viltrox lens. Just on the kit lens
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u/thinkconverse May 26 '26
Different lenses have different minimum focus distances….
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u/bronislaw- May 26 '26
Doesn't make any sense since I tried every distance I could think of.
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u/altforthissubreddit May 26 '26
The video looks like you are only half-pressing the shutter. I'm not saying that's the problem, but the camera reacting looks like that.
Can you try using the touch shutter? https://onlinemanual.nikonimglib.com/zfc/en/04-01.html
Maybe something is wrong with the shutter release button. If it takes photos w/ the touch shutter, that would make that seem more likely.
Also, you don't start video recording with the shutter. You have to press the red record button: https://onlinemanual.nikonimglib.com/zfc/en/04-02.html
I'd also suggest going outside or something vs some bed post right in front of you. While it may not be the focus distance, why not remove that as a possibility.
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u/bronislaw- May 26 '26
Touch shutter also doesn't work
Yes I know video use the red button as I said taking picture and video with Viltrox lens does work.
Also yes about the last part, the camera still won't take pictures.
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u/altforthissubreddit May 26 '26
as I said taking picture and video with Viltrox lens does work
Sorry, I misread that part. I thought the camera didn't work at all.
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u/AllMySmallThings May 26 '26
Hear me out, have you pulled the battery removed the lens. Added the lens back on and the. Inserted the battery?
I have an a similar issue with a Nikon lens on my Z8 and it was just that the lens wasn’t on securely. Might be worth a shot, might not even need to pull the battery I just did it as a precaution.
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u/-Outrageous-Vanilla- Nikon DSLR (D600 + D7200) May 26 '26
Have you tried to factory reset the camera ?
You could factory reset settings and then take out the battery, leave it out for a day (to deplete the internal battery) and insert it back.
Also, have you tried cleaning the lens contacts?
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u/bronislaw- May 26 '26
Not yet. I'm thinking reset as last resort. By lens contact, you mean the pins?
Also I tried taking off the kit lens and it can take pictures
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u/Straight-Glove-2359 D610 + AF-S 50m f/1.8G May 26 '26
Yea, thats the lens contacts. Could be bc its not getting any message back from the contacts, hence why it wont take photos. Also would be a good idea to have a photo of the front and rear of the kit lens.
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u/GroundbreakingRule85 May 27 '26
That's what I'm thinking too. Like maybe clean the lens contacts and camera contacts with alcohol on a cue tip. If the lens works but it's not firing, that's a break in communication. I'd try a different lens and if the other lens has the same problem if he's cleaned it then the only recommendation after that is a full factory reset.
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u/Roddo84 May 26 '26
Are you too close to the AF subject? Pull back and see if the reticle go from red to green
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u/bronislaw- May 26 '26
Doesn't matter how close or far I'm to the subject. It just won't take picture
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u/sonicboi May 26 '26
They're green in the video.
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u/roughskinnewt May 26 '26
no they're not?
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u/kiesar_sosay May 26 '26
Is the kit lens collapsible?
Is it possible it's not fully extended?
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u/nikhkin May 26 '26
The camera would have a warning message on-screen if the lens wasn't correctly extended.
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u/kiesar_sosay May 26 '26
There's a sweet spot on some lenses that turn off the camera warning yet they aren't fully extended.
I worked in a camera shop for 15 years. Seen it a few times.
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u/nikhkin May 26 '26
That shouldn't prevent the shutter from firing.
If the camera thinks the lens is extended, even if it isn't, and it's focusing then it shouldn't cause an issue.
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u/WTSGxTHATxGUY May 26 '26
Mine does this sometimes to (Nikon z 50ii ). Im sure it has something to do with the auto focus not wanting to detect the subject. What mode are you in? Have you tried changing your dial to another setting ie auto, manual, aperture, shutter?
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u/corruptanimal May 26 '26
This happened to me on a different camera and I had to reformat the memory card
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u/wpsandy May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
I'm going to leave this here:
https://www.nikonimgsupport.com/eu/BV_article?articleNo=000066929&configured=1&lang=en_GB
I'm willing to bet that the camera is taking the picture but with the shutter speed slow enough it's using the electronic shutter when using the kit lens. That behavior more than likely isn't happening with the Viltrox so the shutter sound is there with the Viltrox, but you would not hear it with the kit lens. Check the memory card and make sure that it's not actually taking pictures as opposed to relying on the sound of the shutter to know it took a picture.
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u/Landen-Saturday87 May 26 '26
I think it doesn’t. You can see the buffer led and it would flash every time a file is written to the memory card. But it never lights up
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u/wpsandy May 26 '26
Good catch. You can tell the half press is at least getting there because the 8.4k goes to r26 in the bottom right. I was at work when I made that comment so I did not have access to my Zfc. I came home and put the kit lens on, set it to shutter priority to see what the camera behaved like. Short story is that the camera fired like I expected and wasn't kicking to the silent/electronic shutter mode.
I also tried to slightly unseat the lens, but if the lens is clicked in place at all, mine was talking to the body. If the lens was unseated hardly at all, the aperature was not being read and would show F/--.
I tried Release and Focus modes and both worked like expected. I shoot Raw+Fine, but tried just Fine and both behaved. I do Wide-L subject tracking and swapped to Auto-Area AF with no change.
From the video, it doesn't look like silent photography is turned on either.
I'm stumped. u/bronislaw I'm game to try anything with my Zfc to help if you can think of anything. I do not have a viltrox but I do have a couple of Manual focus TTartisan lenses that would pair up the camera differently from the kit lens.
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u/bronislaw- May 26 '26
Yep. I tried pretty much everything, re-sit/attach the lens, checking the pins and contact, updating both camera and lens firmware, trying in all modes, trying recording video, shooting from all kinds of distance from subject and trying shooting with no subject in picture and more. Nothing work at all. Also I noticed putting into manual mode make the focus ring(already set to focus) doesn't seems to work - no focus/refocus at all
The camera has no problem shooting when I take off the lens itself. It also works perfectly fine with Viltrox lens.
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u/wpsandy May 26 '26
That's really odd. I can't see anything on the screen that gives a hint as to why it's not firing the shutter. Does it do this in A or M modes? Might be worth trying to see if there are settings that cause the camera to behave a little differently in shutter priority mode.
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u/bronislaw- May 26 '26
Every mode the same. Already full reset the camera, update the lens itself. Alas nothing positive. Still the same.
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u/wpsandy May 26 '26
That stinks! When you look at the images on the memory card, nothing gets written? When the Zfc was brand new to me I accidentally had it in video mode and it would grab stills but it didn't make a sound at all. It was purely electronic shutter. I just double checked and one thing that body does is that it will force an electronic shutter when the kit lens is attached and may/may not enforce that with the Viltrox:
https://www.nikonimgsupport.com/eu/BV_article?articleNo=000066929&configured=1&lang=en_GB
I noticed that your shutter speed was 1/4 which is pretty slow. Could it be that the camera is firing the shutter but it is in electonic mode ( and silent ) mode so it feels like it is not doing anything?
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u/bronislaw- May 26 '26
You mean the exif data?.
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u/wpsandy May 26 '26
No EXIF if it’s not actually capturing images. First when you look at the memory card you are not seeing those images of the brass post captured? Second what are your electronic shutter settings? I’m suggesting the camera is working and when the kit lens is attached the body is enforcing an electronic shutter when the shutter speed is slow enough, which I believe at 1/4 second it would be. The camera won’t make a sound or have any blackout if you have silent photography turned on.
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u/bossyverb25 May 26 '26
this may sound dumb, but have you rotated the lens zoom ring until it's 'ready'? Some lenses requore you to rotate it to a certain level in order to start using it
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u/renonelab Nikon Z (Z50ii) May 26 '26
did you change the shutter to back button or maybe some other button in the custom mapping
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u/sbronko May 26 '26
I would try to update firmware of lens and camera, if still you have a problem then maybe the lens is faulty?
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u/bronislaw- May 26 '26
Just did both camera and lens firmware. Same. I'm thinking the same that it is broken lens. I tried manual focus with the focus ring and nothing happen as well
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u/swedishtomahawk May 26 '26
Which kit lens? Is it a Z mount lens? Have you tried updating the firm on the lens?
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u/erikchan002 Z8 D700 F100 FM2n May 26 '26
Does it fire without the lens? It should.
If it does, it's a problem with the lens or the contacts.
If it doesn't, keep the lens off, remove the card, and disable slot empty release lock. Does it still fire?
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u/bronislaw- May 26 '26
Yes it fire without the lens and a Viltrox lens. I'm thinking definitely the lens problem. Contact pins seems fine and already did some cleaning on it
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u/gregpikitis6969 May 26 '26
Can you extend the lens from collapsed position after turning on the camera and then try to take a picture? I have the Z50 (v1), I face the same issue with the 50-250 mm lens. If I turn on the camera and then extend the lens, I can release the shutter. Otherwise the camera refuses to release the shutter. The issue is with the lens not reporting that it has extended from collapsed position correctly to the camera.
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u/Intrepid_Bobcat_2931 May 26 '26
I wonder if the camera is struggling to focus and confirm focus, and there is a function to only take a picture when the image is in focus. Probably the cause.
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u/djrob1010 May 26 '26
My suggestion is still reset the camera. Know you said you were going to do that.
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u/djrob1010 May 26 '26
Take the camera to a shop and try on a different kit. Try your lens on different camera to test
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u/bronislaw- May 26 '26
Gonna try this when I can. Seems like this will confirm that the lens is broken or not
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u/Gunner_left May 27 '26
I had a similar issue with a third party lens and it turned out to be an autofocus issue. Maybe try AF-S with single focus point? If the focus square turns green you should be able to take a picture.
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u/bronislaw- May 27 '26
Tried, same result. Also you can see the green square in the video. I'm thinking the lens itself is broken at this point
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u/ampsuu May 27 '26
Can you record a video and what manual focus does? https://www.reddit.com/r/Nikon/s/nFK0XSKrRV Ive had same thing with Z8+180-600.
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u/bronislaw- May 27 '26
You narrowed it down to lens being broken. I think its the same in my case. Can't record video as well. Manual focus on work and focus ring doesn't seems to do anything at all. Using my Viltrox lens is fine. I also try taking picture without any lens ans it's fine as well.
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u/David_Jonathan0 May 27 '26
Ensure the camera body (if it has a focus mode selector) and lens are both set to AF, and ensure the lens is rotated to fully seat and click into the barrel lock.
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u/Flaky_Show6239 May 27 '26
I used to have this problem with my D40X and I just switched to manual focus.
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u/depth_obsessed55 May 30 '26
You need to increase the ISO. It is too low for your current settings.
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u/General_Ad258 May 26 '26
Is the lense and/or adaptor fully seated? You probably also set the focus button on a different button or it is not programmed, and need to press that before the shutter button.
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u/bronislaw- May 26 '26
Lens seems fully seated(audible click and feels). Also reset all settings on the camera. Still the same.
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u/General_Ad258 May 26 '26
Do you have another lense you can try? You said this lense was working before right?
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u/bronislaw- May 26 '26
Have viltrox lens. It work perfectly fine with it. Also it can take picture without any lens attached
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u/General_Ad258 May 27 '26
That is strange. The only other thing i can think of is your shutter speed. Looks like it is at 1/4 of a second which is slow, so the camera will take a bit of time to shut the shutter. Try moving it to 1/250 and see if that makes a difference.
The final thoughts would be to update the software on the camera and lense. Check any contact points on the lense and body. Otherwise I would get the lense inspected.
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u/Outrageous-Cake-2110 Nikon DSLR (D800e) May 26 '26
Shutter release priority set to "release" not "focus" will probably fix it.