Re-chip

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Qbert - 02 Jun 2006 17:38 GMT

I read something about the possibility to "re-chip" the lens to avoid or
solve focusing problems.

Does someone know anything more about that?

May I do it by myself? How?

Thx
Qbert

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Qbert - 02 Jun 2006 18:05 GMT

Another reason to re-chip the lens could be to re-use old lens with new DSRL
giving complete compatibility. But it should be expansive. Is it true?

>I read something about the possibility to "re-chip" the lens to avoid or
>solve focusing problems.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> Thx
> Qbert

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Paul Furman - 02 Jun 2006 18:08 GMT

It is to allow auto metering on newer cameras. It tells the camera what
the widest aperture is so the camera knows how far to pull the lever
when stopping down.

> Another reason to re-chip the lens could be to re-use old lens with new DSRL
> giving complete compatibility. But it should be expansive. Is it true?
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>>
>>May I do it by myself? How?

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Tony Polson - 02 Jun 2006 20:53 GMT

>I read something about the possibility to "re-chip" the lens to avoid or
>solve focusing problems.
>
>Does someone know anything more about that?
>
>May I do it by myself? How?

The only context in which I have seen *re*-chipping mentioned is with
Sigma lenses.

Sigma refuses to pay license fees to camera manufacturers to use their
proprietary electronic interfaces. Instead, Sigma reverse engineers
the interface.

This leads to problems when even subtle changes are made by the camera
manufacturers. Sigma lenses often don't work on new cameras,
especially those from Canon, and the only way to make them work is to
replace the CPU in the lens. You cannot do this work yourself. It
must be done for you by Sigma.

This is known as "re-chipping", and Sigma normally does it free of
charge - but only once. If the re-chipped lens later becomes
incompatible with a newer camera, that's just tough.

The other possibility is when Nikon owners have a CPU installed in an
older, manual focus lens to make it work on newer autofocus Nikon
bodies that are not compatible with manual focus lenses. That would
be "chipping" rather than "re-chipping". There used to be a company
that advertised chipping for older Nikkors but I cannot recall the
details.

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Peter A. Stavrakoglou - 02 Jun 2006 22:48 GMT

>>I read something about the possibility to "re-chip" the lens to
>>avoid or
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
> that advertised chipping for older Nikkors but I cannot recall the
> details.

It's not only Sigma. Before buying a Tokina lens on ebay, I
questioned THK (Tokina's sole distributor in the US) about the lens
working properly with my D50. "Most likely it would" was the answer
but in theevent it did not, a re-chipping of the lens would solve the
problem for a cost of $ 75.00.

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Qbert - 03 Jun 2006 08:49 GMT

75$ could be a lot... considering the price of some second hands lens.

Thx for your answer.
Qbert

>>>I read something about the possibility to "re-chip" the lens to avoid or
>>>solve focusing problems.
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
> not, a re-chipping of the lens would solve the problem for a cost of $
> 75.00.

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Peter A. Stavrakoglou - 03 Jun 2006 16:14 GMT

> 75$ could be a lot... considering the price of some second hands
> lens.
>
> Thx for your answer.
> Qbert

It certainly is something to consider, but also consider how goo a
deal you might get on a second-hand lens. I don't know what Sigma
charges for a re-chipping. I know that this is much more prevalent to
Sigma, especially for Canon-mount lenses. As another post indicated,
Sigma reverse engineers the electronics for their Canon mount lenses
(I don't know if they do so for the other mounts). Any change Canon
makes to the electronics in a new camera can make a Sigma lens
inoperable on the new camera. Sigma will re-chip a lens one time for
free for the original owner.

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