Do I have a focusing issue?

[eja]

I recently took some pictures of a friends daughter. I got enough useable images so everybody was happy, but I ran into a focusing issue that I have not experienced before. On some of the images, I purposely was shooting as f2.8 to establish a shallow depth of field. On some of the images, I intentionally shot at f4 or greater. I noticed inconsistent results which leave me scratching my head.

While shooting at f2.8 I used a tripod and thought I was careful with my focus point selection. While shooting at F4 or greater I did not use a tripod, but I once again was careful with my focus point selection.

I use Nikon View nx2 so I could see the focus point and it appeared I was hitting what I intended to. However, even under the focus point, the image is not sharp.

I am including 2 low res. samples in jpeg format. There were no corrections performed on these 2 images. I am also including 1 snapshot of View NX2 so you can see the focus point.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Designer]

Have a look at the hair on top of her head. I think your lens focused a few inches behind where the focus was intended. Some lenses just do that, apparently, although this example is extreme, IMO.

What is your camera? Can you fine-tune the focus?

 

[JBPhotog]

Yes it looks like missed focus. In order to help you please explain your focusing technique, such as back button focus or shutter button focus.

There are a few factors to consider when focusing:
- ambient light level
- magnification along with f-stop
- focus point configuration
- AF-S or AF-C modes
etc. etc.

 

[eja]

Here is a screen shot of View NX2 and it shows the focus point on the nose area. I see what you are talking about. The hair is in focus, but the area under the focus point is not. The problem occurred while using 2 different lenses.

I shooting with a Nikon D3200. I don't think it has any adjustments for focus. I have not noticed this issue before. I am now trying to duplicate the issue.

 

[eja]

I was using the shutter release button as my focus button. The camera was set to AF-S so it would lock focus.

The ambient light was the modeling light from my Einstein Flash.

I manually selected the focus point on each image and after checking the focus points using Nikon ViewNX 2 it appeared I was hitting where I was aiming. It just appears the camera focused somewhere else. Very frustrating.

 

[JBPhotog]

Ah a D3200. What Scene Mode did you use?

Also did you try Live View? It has face detect mode: "Face-Priority AF available in Live View only and D-Movie only"

You don't say how it was lit but your cameras flash did not fire as per the Exif.

 

[Designer]

The problem occurred while using 2 different lenses.

I would have suggested to try a different lens, but since you've already tried that, my next theory is the camera's focus module. It might be worth a shot to send it in to Nikon for them to diagnose the problem and fix it.

 

[paigew]

Imo the issue here is using a tripod. If you are at 2.8 then you are leaving a lot of room for error. So if your model shifts forward or backward, your image will be oof. When I shoot wide open I always use Al servo mode and bbf so my camera is constantly refocusing. I never shoot portraits on a tripod.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

 

[Derrel]

yes it looks like the focus is off by 4 to 6 inches or so, which at f/4 at close distances like that could really be a problem. My question would be why are you shooting such pictures at f/4? in my opinion F/4 is not a good aperture for this type of people work. Had you used a smaller aperture such as f/7.1, it is likely that you would not have noticed such minor focusing errors.

it is possible that, if your camera is working correctly, that face detection autofocus might have nailed focus better than you were able to,but of course there is the possibility that your camera is out of calibration with that lens , or put another way that that lens is out of calibration with that camera..

I am assuming that you used F/4 because these photos were made with constant lighting and not with what I would use to make it easier, which is powerful studio electronic flash

 

[ebyelyakov]

Pardon me if I missed that. Which lens did you use? Considering you have an apsc body, your DOF equivalency will be 1.5 meaning that even at f/2.8 (eq ~f/4.5 ) you would have enough DOF for a still subject. I rarely go above f/4 on a full frame body event with the long'ish lenses. Say 2.5 metres away from a subject, using an 85 mm lens gives me 7 cm each in front and the same 7 cm behind the focus plane which should be sufficient for a facial portrait you have in question.

 

[eja]

Thank you very much to all who have given advice. I spent some time today experimenting with the camera body and different lenses.

I was using flash with the images when I noticed the focusing errors. Usually, I shoot around F8 in my home studio, but I have been practicing some different techniques using shallow depth of field.

I finally tried a different camera body today with the same lenses and suprisingly, the problem did not reoccur. Perhaps it really is the camera body. It looks like it at the moment.

 

[Designer]

I finally tried a different camera body today with the same lenses and suprisingly, the problem did not reoccur. Perhaps it really is the camera body. It looks like it at the moment.

Regardless if your camera is in factory warranty or not, I think it should be able to be repaired. Good luck!

 

[Jim C.]

I recently took some pictures of a friends daughter. I got enough useable images so everybody was happy, but I ran into a focusing issue that I have not experienced before. On some of the images, I purposely was shooting as f2.8 to establish a shallow depth of field. On some of the images, I intentionally shot at f4 or greater. I noticed inconsistent results which leave me scratching my head.

While shooting at f2.8 I used a tripod and thought I was careful with my focus point selection. While shooting at F4 or greater I did not use a tripod, but I once again was careful with my focus point selection.

I use Nikon View nx2 so I could see the focus point and it appeared I was hitting what I intended to. However, even under the focus point, the image is not sharp.

I am including 2 low res. samples in jpeg format. There were no corrections performed on these 2 images. I am also including 1 snapshot of View NX2 so you can see the focus point.

Thanks for any input.

You might check your metering settings. I think your camera is set at a default of matrix. I usually shoot on center weighted. You may have changed a setting and it is spot metering or something

 

[eja]

Once again, thank you to all who took the time to give me input regarding my focusing issue that I was having. AFter much tinkering, I think I found a solution to the problem. For some reason, I thought to check the D3200 firmare and noticed that it did not have the most current update. So, I updated the firmware and that resolved the problem. My other D3200 did not exhibit this focusing issue, but I updated its firmware also. So far, so good for both cameras. This doesn't make sense to me, but it appears for the moment that the problem is fixed.

Thanks again.