Focus BAD!!

[Debby1]

Hi all,

I just bought camera and bought a nikon 24 - 85 G. Lens seems fine BUT.................

Using manual focus I am very unhappy with the focus of
images.

1. camera SET TO HARD ( read that as a fix in other posts)

2. IN PHOTOSHOP INCREASING IMAGES WAY SHARP


Images STILL look very soft. Almost like lens is focusing about
3 feet behind. ( ie background almost looks sharper in
some shots ) But I cant really confirm this in tests.



Shooting FINE SETTING at largest - 4000 pixel ( approx)

anYBODY know whats up with this???

very unhappy

Deb

[memobug]

See the other identical thread

;)

[kgravett]

I have the same lens, and wonder why you are trying to manually focus the lens when the autofocus works so well. To manually focust the lens, the "in focus" green light will come on inside the viewfinder on the left side bottom. If the light does not come on, the focus is not right, regardless of how it looks in the viewfinder. Setting the camera to hard will not solve your problem. Hope this helps. Ken

[bjnicholls]

The "rangefinder" dot depends on the positioning of whatever AF focus point you are using. If you don't place the AF point on a usable subject area, the confirmation isn't useful at all.

The five sensors are not all equal. The center AF point is a cross type and it will work best in low light and low contrast scenes. The other four sensor are either vertical or horizontal. These single AF sensors can be thrown off by subjects without the right kind of edge or surface texture and they will fail to lock focus more often, especially in low light and low contrast.

Furthermore, the AF sensor positions aren't exactly the same as indicated by the markings in the viewfinder. They typically aren't as large and sit a little lower than the markings. If you are relying on the sensors for critical focusing, you need to play with them and learn their characteristics.

Assuming that you have a sharp view of the display using the diopter adjustments, glasses or accessory diopters, you certainly can focus using the groundglass. Try it under bright, contrasty conditions and see where the sensor positions actually are by comparing the focus with the rangefinder indication.

Be sure that you know when and when not to use the multipoint AF mode [+]. This mode is really best only for action shooting. Turn it off especially when you want precise focus control.

[Debby1]

I was focusing manually for several reasons.

these were studio shots done on a heavy duty tripod. with
flash.

All distances were same, just changing some product in
the shot. ( at exact same measured point)

Didnt want camera to af focus each time. WHy? manual
should have been spot on.

Also, a couple were self timered shots.

( also, I can see NO way to use the auto focus with self timer. anybody have an idea? )

Since distance was same, and focus manually at start, all shots were obviously out of focus / soft in entire batch.

Deb

[memobug]

Are you doing your manual focusing using the confirmation dot or just looking at viewfinder sharpness?

Did you turn off closest-subject priority in your CSM menu?

I don't know which thread to reply to on this one.

Regards,

Matt

[bjnicholls]

I could swear the original posting mentioned using the rangefinder dot for manual focusing. Doing so can lead you astray if you don't know precisely where the sensor you're using as the rangefinder is postioned. If you are focusing with the groundglass and getting a different focus point in your shots, then the camera may have a problem with focusing screen alignment.

You can use AF with the self timer, but it works in single AF mode even if you set the camera for continuous AF. The AF will work as usual with a half press of the shutter release. But once the self timer is triggered, AF will not track a moving subject.

There is no need to oversharpen images as described if the focus point is accurate and the lens is capable of sharp results. Something's wrong with camera or technique...