Deep of focus issue, I think

[ithinkitstheflash]

Hi guys first post so be gentle.

I took this today of my dog chasing a ball. I shot it at 1/1600 F5.6 ISO 400 AF-A with 55-200mm kit Nikon lens on a D5000. The guess the distance away was around 8yards. i have taken other pictures with similar outcomes and totalling sharp images. i'm getting frustrated with the lack of consistency in shot or hammering away a heap of frames for one descent pic. Was mainly the face, the chest area looks ok. Any advice.

 

[marmots]

we need to see the images to help you

 

[ithinkitstheflash]

Woops forgot the link to Flickr

DSC_0017a | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[marmots]

its probably just a matter of where the focal point is
im sure it is in focus for while before the dog

 

[KmH]

You had the lens at it's maximum focal length, 200 mm, and the maximum aperture available at 200 mm, f/5.6. Maximum sharp focus is going to be at f/8 or f/11 with that lens.

Why did you use ISO 400?

 

[ithinkitstheflash]

What ISO should i be using on a sunny day shooting action? i went with the recemmended on the settings. thats all. happy to take any advice.

 

[KmH]

What ISO should i be using on a sunny day shooting action? i went with the recemmended on the settings. thats all. happy to take any advice.

Use the lowest native ISO your camera has, ISO 200.

Please make the appropriate capital letters, like most other members do.

 

[DiskoJoe]

not all pictures will come out perfect, even with great lens.

 

[Overread]

What ISO should i be using on a sunny day shooting action? i went with the recemmended on the settings. thats all. happy to take any advice.

Use the lowest native ISO your camera has, ISO 200.

Please make the appropriate capital letters, like most other members do.

Whilst I'd normally agree with the stance of starting on the lowest native ISO of a camera, when shooting action I always find noise to be preferable over motion blur - one can deal with noise, and one or two stops of ISO isn't much sacrifice with most modern DSLR - esp if you've got the light to make a good exposure.

I generally run on ISO 200/400 (the base of my camera is ISO 100, so one stop more is 200 for me; whilst on those with a base of 200 its 400) when shooting action; normally lets me close down the aperture a bit to around f7.1/f8 when using a zoom lens that isn't its best when shot wide open.