Stuck in manual focus mode?

[Old Dog]

Regardless of which mode I set the camera to ( A, P, S, etc.) and regardless of which Sony lens is on the camera I can't get the focus mode option in my menu area to allow me access. It is stuck in manual. When I select it I get a message my lens isn't supported or is improperly attached (neither of which is true). This a new problem and I know it probably has a simple solution but I am stuck. What am I doing wrong? Any suggestions?

[adwb]

You don't have the focus lever up do you ? And if you have the lever setting set to press to set in manual rather than press and hold to switch between manual and auto?

[Old Dog]

Thank you adwb for responding. The focus lever was where I started, but unfortunately no joy found there. Also tried rebooting to the original settings- no joy there either. Just spent an hour with a Sony technical rep- the upshot being the camera is being sent back to them. Apparently there is some flaw in the circuitry. Again thanks for trying.

[adwb]

are you sure you did not turn off the half push shutter button focus or remap the focus function to another button ?

 

gear menu  section 5 AF with shutter on/off 

[Old Dog]

yes with tried this and a number of of other options with the Sony Tech rep. We even reset the camera back to its original factory settings. Camera is now with Sony repair.

[Dollanganger]

Was there an AF/MF switch on the lens itself?

[Melx]

Hello,

Despite the fact its a very old post, I would like to help out anyone else whose facing the same issue in the future.

I was having the exact same problem and it took me good 5 hours to solve it. The issue was arising with my brand new sony a7iii attached to sony 85 mm. 

Since I already had a older a6000 i tested my 85 mm on that and it worked perfectly fine. And thats where i realized that the answer to it is very simple and that is your lense attachment to the body. It gives a little click sound when the lense is locked to the body properly which i wasnt able to achieve and was leaving the lense attached half way through as i was being way too careful with brand new gadgets. The click is easy on a6k, however with the brand new a7iii body and 85mm lense i had to twist a little bit harder to get that click and boom the problem was solved. The manual focus mode was no longer grayed out! 

 

Edited July 5, 2019 by Melx

[Christian]

Thanks to Melx, I found a solution to the same problem with a different cause. 

I'm on an a6400 with a 50mm 1.8 EF via a metabones converter. If you have a similar set up:

Disconnect lens, adaptor, and body (keep it safe from dust though). Attach lens to adaptor. Before putting lens+adaptor combo on body, make sure camera is off, and hold the circle button on the adaptor while attaching to camera body. This boots up some kind of advanced mode. I'm using a metabones V and the light that's usually blue goes red, and then autofocus is enabled. 

Note to self: fully reading the manuals for all your gear may help to prevent stupidity. 

[Santosh Thapa]

Hi team, I ‘m on sony a 7iii and still having the same problem with my focus as mentioned . I did everything as prescribed by you guys but still doesn’t work. Can someone help me out with this?? Thanks