A6000 & 18-200 not working

Never had that issue on an e-mount camera but once had it on a-mount with a defective lens. In that case it was the focal length decoder that had jammed and the lens was stuck reading in the middle of the zoom range. The further away from the reported focal length I zoomed the worse the hunting got.

I'd check what the lenses are reporting and if it's out check contacts on both lenses are camera plus check if the camera mount is tight.

Can you get to a local camera shop to try both lenses on one of their demo cameras ?
It would answer where the fault is .
Or do you know anyone local that also shoots Sony ?

For future reference for anyone else who maybe experiencing a similar problem I have some new information after a long day of trying to figure this out.

This morning I took the A6000 along with the Sony 18-200LE and the Tamron 18-200 to a friends house who has the Sony A7C. We attached the 18-200s and they both displayed problems with the Sony being the worst and eventually not focusing at all.

I attached some of his zoom lenses to my A6000 and everything worked perfectly.

There were times that I would turn the camera off reattach the 18-200 lens and everything would work. But after restarting the camera again it would display the problem again. So we were getting inconsistent results with both lenses on both cameras.

After our unscientific testing my friend suggested that we take all the lenses and cameras to a camera repair shop he has used in the past. When we arrived it looked like something out of the 1960s along with the owner / tech. The owner named Dean has been repairing cameras and lenses for a very long time and he happens to own a Sony A6000 too so that worked out great.

The Sony lens would not focus on his camera. The Tamron would make odd noises when zooming in and out and when focusing but would eventually get the shot.

Dean then gave me the zoom lens that he had on his camera and when I mounted it to my camera it worked perfectly.

Dean's (tech)conclusion was;

1. The Sony lens has a problem inside the lens that needs to be diagnosed.
2. The Tamron lens is displaying a firmware compatibility issue and will not be dependable.

I left the Sony lens at Deans for a diagnosis.

On the way home we stopped at a camera store to look at the new Sony 24-70f/4 lens. We mentioned my lens problems I was experiencing and the salesman took a look at my camera with the Tamron mounted and guess what. it worked fine. I turned it off and remounted the lens and then it displayed the problems. His suggestion was to update the firmware.

My head is spinning after all this.






Edited by lomitamike - 21 March 2023 at 04:33

Thanks for the thought Addy, it does make sense.

I did send the Sony lens in to have it updated years ago if memory serves me right. There was no way to update it at home and I had to send the lens to a repair shop. Precision Camera here in the US I believe.

The Tamron, I never checked to see what version firmware it was using. The seller agreed to refund me.

The camera salesman I spoke to yesterday did say Tamron does a lot of firmware updates and it's possible to do them at home.

I do also remember hearing talk about the Tamron being rebadged.

The camera repairman I spoke to yesterday gave us a story about how Sony never releases it secrets including firmware. He went on to say that Tamron and others have to reverse engineer their products to be compatible with Sony and the companies never get it 100% correct. They may get it 95 or 97% right, but that slight percentage missing can cause problems. He recommended always using Sony lenses when possible.

I left my Sony 18-200LE lens with him to diagnose the problem. Hopefully it will be worth repairing.

"On 8 February 2011, Sony announced the release of the specifications for the E-mount lens system, allowing for third-party lens makers to create lenses for NEX cameras without having to pay royalties. The mount specifications have been released to registered parties since April 2011.[13] Getting a license for the specifications requires approval by Sony and the signing of a non-disclosure agreement."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_E-mount

oh, that you can't update the firmware of the Sony lenses is interesting to me. i have updated the Sony 18-55mm and 16-50mm kit lenses at home. Can see there is at this moment one for de Sony 18-200le (1.01). strangely i can not seem to download this update for the 18-200.

i actually don't know if Sony gives it electronic details to Tamron and others in these years. since e mount is actually an open mount for others to make lenses for. so it could be only for the physical lens mount measurements or it could include electronic specs being used bij third party lens manufacturers. i think the thing that mostly screws up the electronics is that they make lenses for multiple systems and can't optimise it for one. (jack of all trades but master of none)

i wouldn't take his advice to strickt, there ae some really nice third party lenses! just make sure you can test the lens before buying. even some Sony lenses are not optimally designed like the Sony Carl Zeiss 55mm f1.8 (glue that is letting loose)

lomitamike wrote: Well, I guess that the old repairman and his stories are showing their age in regards to digitalization. Another story he gave us was how the Minolta 7000 was the best camera ever built. Besides being the first AF SLR, he emphasized how durable it was. He had many stories about Minolta and Sony. Got to love listening to these old craftsmen, there's not too many of them left. I just hope he remembers how to fix lenses.

Sony is unique - I think reverse engineering was the way to do it in the past. That is why some lenses stopped working with newer cameras.

I am sure the 7000 was well built, but I wonder if the 9000 wasn't even better build being a professional camera.
I am sure he had great stories - nice!