Self-Portrait Focus

[Roadking8]

Hello to all and thanks for helping me to make initial selections. This is my first post. As of yesterday, I have a new S2 and Nikkor AF-S 28-70mm F/2.8D, Maha 2000mAH batteries, etc. Shot 300 pics already and having a blast. Here's my Q.

When doing self-portraits, I set the camera on timer, "A" or "P" and run like crazy. Trouble is focus. All I can think to do is lock on an object where I think my central focal point will be and hope for best. was hoping some of you gur's out there had a better way.

Road

[Roadking8]

Oops..forgot to attach pic to illustrate my focus woes. This best I can do so far....Road

[memobug]

Looks like manual focus and metering would be more consistent. Put some tape on the floor to mark your spot.

Regards,

Matt

[SSonnentag]

Try setting the camera to continuous focus mode. That way it won't focus only once when you press the shutter release, it will focus the entire time the timer is ticking down.

Shawn

[Swampy]

I agree with Memo... Manual focus. Would be nice to have someone to focus on as a test, but then you wouldn't need the self timer. :)

Tape the floor as a target spot, focus on it, or, to be more precise, find something tall enough to put there to manually focus, focus, then remove the object, then run like hell. hehe

[Jacques Gratton]

Use a long air cable release. They can be found at around 15-20 U$... and they don't require batteries.
This way, by using continuous focus, you will be able to take several shots, all sharp.

[ali]

I am using the air release cable myself. I like how I can step on it to include my entire body without a funny clinched fist. I bought it in Taiwan for $16.57US.

[Roadking8]

I will state up front that I am having focusing problems for most situations. My only lens is a Nikkor AF-S 28-70 F/2.8. I expected some razor sharp images for that price. Just not getting them. So far, for self potraits without cables, I find the manual focusing on a prop to be the most reliable while setting the F-ratio high to get depth of focus.

I thought continous focus only worked as the shuttle was constantly held half down. Is it supposed to constantly focus on the centered subject the entire time the timer is clicking? With all the CSM settings (closest subject, etc), timer, dynamic or not settings, perhaps I am confused. Perhaps someone can give me a good run down of all (sorry) the settings and I could try that.

I can say this, I have shot several images of a stationary object (flat plane) using the timer (to remove shake) and a tripod (to remove shake). I have shot with differet metering, F-stop, manual focus, auto focus dynamic (and not) and the raw images are just not that sharp in the center or anywhere. There is a 17-35mm I can try nearby and I am going to try to isolate lens versus camera to try for a handle on this thing. Even with sharp and hard CSM's, it's just not there.

Suggestions welcomed.

Road

[memobug]

I don't think RAW images will be particularly sharp without postprocessing, and to my understanding, the SHARP & HARD settings are ignored when you do shoot RAW.

How are your JPEGs?

Regards,

Matt

[teski]

Correct Memobug. When shooting RAW, the camera ignores the settings, and lets you take care of all that during post processing. So the RAW shots will not be sharp straight out of the camera.

Teski

[Roadking8]

Matt, you are correct about the CSM settings with RAW images. I may have focus probs (hardware or pilot err) and I know you realize the diff between contrast sharpness and focus. But I will side track and give results of a TIFF/JPEG test I just ran. I shot series using tripod and timer for all. I just changed two variables, the format (RAW and JPEG) and the CSM (STD-STD-STD versus HIGH-STD-HARD). Here are my conclusions...

JPEG vs. TIFF in general: I liked the RAW converted to TIFF best. It was sharper in detail. The TIFF was slightly darker overall than the JPEG and I was able to correct better using Photoshop.

STD-STD-STD vs. HIGH-STD-HARD: I liked the harder settings better. This surprised me. But I was able to do more with those in PS also. The RAW converted TIFF files showed no difference in the two settings proving your point. The JPEG's did show a difference although it was not that dramatic. I thought the hard settings for JPEG were more accurate on my test subject.

Summary: HIGH-STD-HARD for all formats and RAW converted TIFF over JPEG for detail.

But I still have a focus issue.... Another test showed me that my Continous focus (while using the timer) locks the focus at the time of the shutter press...not at the time of shutter release. So AF is not continuous during timer operation. Is this normal?

Road