Sarah, that's really funny! I started laughing when I read your post!
So I went to the camera store today, in 110 degree heat, and of course it was a bust. The salesman (who is also a photographer; they all are there) was nice but not very helpful. He examined my camera/lens and took some sample pictures, then said: "Well, it seems to be focusing just fine. I'm even trying to focus on sharp edges and things with low contrast and it is working perfectly."
"Yes," I agreed. "When it's focusing, it does autofocus perfectly. The problem is that sometimes it won't even try focus AT ALL. It's like the lens loses communication with the camera, even though it's attached normally and a second earlier it was communicating just fine. One second I was taking pictures; the next second I was not."
"Were you trying to focus in low light?" he asked.
"No," I said, feeling frustrated, "it's not a problem of the lens zooming in and out and not FINDING focus. It's a problem that every once in a while the lens doesn't even TRY to find focus. You push the button and -- nothing. You can focus manually, but the lens won't autofocus. And changing lighting, subjects, dials does not matter. It's like the lens fell asleep. And even when I took it off and on it still didn't focus. And I put on another lens, and that one DID focus. And finally I got the new lens to focus again by setting and resetting all kinds of options. But it took a good fifteen minutes, and in a photo shoot, that could be a disaster."
"Well," he said, taking the lens off and looking at it and putting it back on, "It seems to be fine. I've been taking pictures of difficult focus situations and it's focusing very normally."
"YES," I said, trying not to sound irritated. "It's not a problem of difficult or easy focusing situations. It's a problem of the lens seemingly losing contact with the camera."
so after a few more rounds of this, I gave up. "If it happens again, bring it into our repair department," he offered.
He was perfectly pleasant but I felt like I was talking in Sanskrit and he was talking in Portuguese. We were just not connecting. But apparently the lens LOOKS and SEEMS fine (which I knew!) Fun times.
And then when I got home, my DH got annoyed with ME for not insisting that I get a new lens immediately, and he started telling me how HE would have approached the discussion with the photo guy. aaaaiiiiieeeee.
The lens HAS been working just fine for me recently, but the fact that it did this twice is very concerning. I will have to keep watching it & see what happens! And if it does it again, I will have to insist on something.
So that's my lens update for now!