Focus on my beaver. Thoughts requested.

Ernicus · Aug 3, 2012

Ok, so if you saw my other post, the duck, I was bitching about soft images and focus. Here is my beaver. It seems to me that the rocks above him are in focus yet he is not.

How can that be? Please don't just say "you missed focus". I took many shots. Some with focal point on beavers head, some with points in front of beaver, etc. This one is with the focal point right on beavers face. I had the camera laying on a rock, quite stable, so no movement from me. He was eating his apple, but was pretty still for the most part.

I am wondering why the rocks above him are in focus and he's not.

If I had to guess, I'd say he was at least 100 feet away across the river.

1/80 f/2.8 iso 1600

I tried many settings, from 1/600 f/8 iso 640 (which looked like utter chit) and other various settings. The light was fading....however I though for sure with this lens I could have gotten him.

Using the online dof calculator, I see that at 200mm about 100ft at 2.8 would give me 8.5 feet focal range, 4 ish in front and 4 ish behind, so...I'd like to think that the focal dot on his face would have put him in focus.

anyway, I dunno. I really suck with this lens, only having issue on the 80-200 2.8 lens. Usually in low light, but really even in nice light. Really sucky at 2.8 to 4 range, and even at f/8 to f/11 not getting great shots.

so...any advice is appreciated.

thanks.

MLeeK · Aug 3, 2012

Back focusing lens

fokker · Aug 3, 2012

tl;dr

Beaver is not in focus, looks like a heavy crop which accentuates the fact. Oversharpened too possibly.

manaheim · Aug 3, 2012

"Heyyyyy... nice beaver!"

"Thanks, I just had it stuffed."

(had to do it... someone was gonna, and you know it... plus you already got a useful answer)

cgipson1 · Aug 3, 2012

Depending on how you were focusing (Matrix, center wieghted, or spot) it looks like the center of the photo (focus point??) was 3 or 4 feet behind the beaver.... at least on this crop (assuming you did an equilateral crop?).

Where were you focused? How were you focusing? What focusing mode were you using? post the original....

Ernicus · Aug 3, 2012

I use spot focus, had focus point on beavers head.

Ernicus · Aug 3, 2012

MLeeK said:
Back focusing lens

What's that mean?

MTVision · Aug 3, 2012

Ernicus said:
What's that mean?

It focuses behind your intended subject.

You could do a focus test to find out if it's a back focus issue.

Ernicus · Aug 3, 2012

MTVision said:
Ernicus said:

What's that mean?

Click to expand...

It focuses behind your intended subject.

You could do a focus test to find out if it's a back focus issue.

Hrm...that might explain a lot.

i'll have the original up in a minute...

Ernicus · Aug 3, 2012

Here is the original shot, raw converted...used auto and didn't process anything.

Link if you want to see it full size.

originalbeaverweb | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

coastalconn · Aug 3, 2012

I had this problem with my D90. My Af would miss by many feet when I was shooting at any sort of distance. Next time try live view and see if it focuses correctly. I had to send mine back to Nikon for a focus adjustment. This is from a different forum, but my case was pretty extreme here is an example of a flower from about 45 feet on a tripod with AF autofocus: Kris in CT: Galleries: Digital Photography Review same shot with manual focus manual focus: Kris in CT: Galleries: Digital Photography Review I was shooting these both at f11. if you click through some of the images around these you will see other examples.

The greater the distance the worse it became. There are many things that could also make the AF miss. Were you in af-s? Were you using single focus point? To establish if it is user error or lens/camera missing focus you need to establish a controlled test. Use a tripod. use a high contrast target. try various focus points. compare to live view.

Ernicus · Aug 3, 2012

coastalconn said:
I had this problem with my D90. My Af would miss by many feet when I was shooting at any sort of distance. Next time try live view and see if it focuses correctly. I had to send mine back to Nikon for a focus adjustment. This is from a different forum, but my case was pretty extreme here is an example of a flower from about 45 feet on a tripod with AF autofocus: Kris in CT: Galleries: Digital Photography Review same shot with manual focus manual focus: Kris in CT: Galleries: Digital Photography Review I was shooting these both at f11. if you click through some of the images around these you will see other examples.

The greater the distance the worse it became. There are many things that could also make the AF miss. Were you in af-s? Were you using single focus point? To establish if it is user error or lens/camera missing focus you need to establish a controlled test. Use a tripod. use a high contrast target. try various focus points. compare to live view.

af-s, single point. I always use that. I guess I'll have to set up a focus test tomorrow and see what's up.

coastalconn · Aug 3, 2012

Contrary to the belief of many online forums, it is NOT always user error. There are many real life focus issues with cameras, there are times when it is user error. I've seen in other forums when there is an obvious problem with camera/lens and certain members in other forums berate people. So, this is why it is so important to set up a controlled test. I know you just got the D90 and you have wanted one for a long time, as I have seen your posts on TPF for awhile... I hope you get it sorted out...

Jaemie · Aug 3, 2012

Ernicus said:
Focus on my beaver.

Oh ya. :blushing:

Ernicus · Aug 3, 2012

coastalconn said:
Contrary to the belief of many online forums, it is NOT always user error. There are many real life focus issues with cameras, there are times when it is user error. I've seen in other forums when there is an obvious problem with camera/lens and certain members in other forums berate people. So, this is why it is so important to set up a controlled test. I know you just got the D90 and you have wanted one for a long time, as I have seen your posts on TPF for awhile... I hope you get it sorted out...

Thanks. I like to think I know what I'm doing, however I tend to miss obvious things now and then out of frustration. Today I was shooting freehand, but I did stable up on a rock. Tried lots of various things that have worked in the past.

The shot of my deer last night, was on a tripod and I got the same sort of deal...so...I just figure I don't know enough about this lens, or it's broken. I am not having focus issues with the 50mm or the kit lens, so that rules out the d90 as the culprit, or my ability to use it properly.

I'm thinking this lens is just different than I'm used to so I need to figure out how to use it better.

I did shoot with a 70-300 VR a weekend a while back and it took me a day or so but I finally got the hang of that lens...I've had this one on me for a few weeks now and still don't quite get it, well for long range stuff, short range I pretty much got it figured.