Roadking8
February 10th, 2003, 01:47 AM
You may have read a thread about focus that has gotten lengthy. I was having an S2 focus problem where many kind readers tried to assist me. It was mentioned early on that pilot err was a possible factor. It was one that I thought I had covered. Today, I think I can make some better conclusions about the S2 from what I have learned about the camera...and me.
As a serious amateur shooting film, I never seemed to have a focus problem with Nikonos, Canon, Nikon, etc. I attribute that to the wide latitude of the films, cameras, lenses, and perhaps luck. As an astrophotographer, focus and exposure was the most critical and I had to make the most of my aperture. That meant wide open. When you are dealing with objects millions of light years away, the depth of field is not an issue...but the light gathering certainly is. So I shot everything wide open.
My err was trying to use all of the aperture of my fat, expensive F/2.8 Nikkor lense to increase resolution and light gathering. But my depth of field suffered. I blamed it on the camera. This works well for flat, non-moving objects when I used a tripod. But, the focus was limited to a depth of only an inch or two. It was amazing what I could accomplish by stopping down the lense 3-4 steps. Can I hear anyone say, "Photography 101?" The focus is a bit more critical with a digital, but so is everything else.
Another factor that has not gone away with digitals is the anti-aliasing filter. It is known for softening the image somewhat, but toying with a post-processing action can fix that problem, if you feel you need too. Coupled with some de-moireing, you can really improve the picture. Some shots just look better with some softness. For the rest, you can fix that too.
It has been said that digitals have less latitude than film and it would be wise for a shopper to realize that up front. It's just different technology that requires us to compensate. We had to compensate for film quirks as well. All the basics of focus, light, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc are just a bit tighter and we just have to be that much better as digital photographers.
I want to thank all of you who responded to my comments on the "focus" thread. You know who you are. Some went to great lengths to ilustrate their points. I DID listen amidst my frustration. I guess some things take more time and experimentation to sink in (at least in my case). In the end, I kept my S2 and glad I did. Using digital to immediately check my results has been a great learning tool. I have managed some absolutely beautiful shots. And when the next generations start hitting the market, I think I will just avoid the crowds for a couple of years. With the better cameras will come much bigger files. And I obviously have much still to learn from my "tiny" 37Mb ones.
Road
As a serious amateur shooting film, I never seemed to have a focus problem with Nikonos, Canon, Nikon, etc. I attribute that to the wide latitude of the films, cameras, lenses, and perhaps luck. As an astrophotographer, focus and exposure was the most critical and I had to make the most of my aperture. That meant wide open. When you are dealing with objects millions of light years away, the depth of field is not an issue...but the light gathering certainly is. So I shot everything wide open.
My err was trying to use all of the aperture of my fat, expensive F/2.8 Nikkor lense to increase resolution and light gathering. But my depth of field suffered. I blamed it on the camera. This works well for flat, non-moving objects when I used a tripod. But, the focus was limited to a depth of only an inch or two. It was amazing what I could accomplish by stopping down the lense 3-4 steps. Can I hear anyone say, "Photography 101?" The focus is a bit more critical with a digital, but so is everything else.
Another factor that has not gone away with digitals is the anti-aliasing filter. It is known for softening the image somewhat, but toying with a post-processing action can fix that problem, if you feel you need too. Coupled with some de-moireing, you can really improve the picture. Some shots just look better with some softness. For the rest, you can fix that too.
It has been said that digitals have less latitude than film and it would be wise for a shopper to realize that up front. It's just different technology that requires us to compensate. We had to compensate for film quirks as well. All the basics of focus, light, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc are just a bit tighter and we just have to be that much better as digital photographers.
I want to thank all of you who responded to my comments on the "focus" thread. You know who you are. Some went to great lengths to ilustrate their points. I DID listen amidst my frustration. I guess some things take more time and experimentation to sink in (at least in my case). In the end, I kept my S2 and glad I did. Using digital to immediately check my results has been a great learning tool. I have managed some absolutely beautiful shots. And when the next generations start hitting the market, I think I will just avoid the crowds for a couple of years. With the better cameras will come much bigger files. And I obviously have much still to learn from my "tiny" 37Mb ones.
Road