First Time Post - Amateur Pet Photo and Question

AlaskaDals · May 1, 2009

Hi everyone. I'm very new at this and my focus is mostly Pet, Animal and Landscape photography. I'm using a Nikon D70 with a Quantaray 70-300mm (in these shots). I pretty much at this time point and shoot, cuz I haven't gotten books on how to use it yet. But the problem I'm having is, when I press the button halfway it focuses, then I press all the way to take a pic and it doesn't always take the pic. It's very frustrating. Is this something that reading a book will reveal the answer? I know, dumb question. I just want to be sure it's human error and not something mechanically wrong with it.

Sherman Banks · May 1, 2009

I don't know about the D70 specifically, but in general, most cameras won't let you snap the shot when it's not in focus while in AF mode. It happens mostly when your focus point has no definition for the camera to tell it's in focus. So with you dog here, if your focus spot was on one of the white areas in a relatively light setting, the camera would have a hard time finding the right focus. On my D60 and D90, there is a green dot on the left side of the viewfinder that will illuminate when the shot is in focus, it will blink when close. If you still have a hard time with it, just auto focus it to an area around that, the set your AF lock, and reframe your shot. Or you could just shoot in manual. Hope this helps.

AlaskaDals · May 1, 2009

I don't see a green light in there. I has a circle with 3 squares in it, and 2 squares on the outside of the circle. When I push the button half way different squares kinda change to a dark red (I think) and they switch around sometimes, meaning the square on the left might be red, and then it could go to the square on the top. Hard to explain. I think it does this as a result of my constant refocusing by pressing the button 1/2 way repetitously, as my subjects are usually moving to and fro. In Manual mode, will it shoot everytime I push the button? Or will it try to still be more intelligent than me and refuse to snap a blurry shot? I know, these are probably really stupid questions. I promise I will buy a book when I have a chance.

Samanax · May 1, 2009

Most DSLRs will tell you when it has focus lock by giving you a soft single beep. When you press the shutter half way are you hearing the beep? If you're not, the camera doesn't have focus lock yet and may not release the shutter.

AlaskaDals · May 2, 2009

No I am not hearing any sound from the camera. Only sound I hear is when it snaps a shot. My other cheaper camera does that though. Should I bring it in to have it looked at?