Nikon 55~200 AFS

[Quovadis]

will bumping up my ISO above 100 help?

 

[jcdeboever]

This is what the bag looks like at 55mm at 9 feet away. It's so small i can hardly see it

Then, as said, why do you need a macro lens? Macro lenses are for focusing at distances of about a foot or less at a ratio of 1:1 (subject: sensor). If you wanted to take a photo of the stitching from 2" away I could see needing a macro lens but the whole bag at 9' makes no sense.

You can use one as you would a prime. I took a couple of portraits with that Nikon micro 60mm af-d and they were excellent in terms of sharpness.

 

[SCraig]

The 55-200 i am using now is a macro? Maybe i'm confused? What do you call it?

A zoom telephoto.

Also, in my personal opinion, one of the worst zoom telephoto lenses. I had one and finally gave it away due to lack of sharpness, low contrast, and slow autofocus.

 

[Designer]

This is what the bag looks like at 55mm at 9 feet away. It's so small i can hardly see it

Better now?

 

[Designer]

The 55-200 i am using now is a macro? Maybe i'm confused? What do you call it?

It's not a macro.

 

[jcdeboever]

For something like that bag, I would use a prime or macro lens. With that 55-200, you need a ton of light. Maybe a macro lens too because I used one 60mm for copy work on a stamp collection and the detail was stunning. A 60mm micro af-d is only $300 or or less, ,250 for bargain grade. It was the sharpest lens I have ever used on my D3300.

How about the Tokina 100mm ?? Or AFD you say? Which one?

I would try it if you have one... Not familiar with it but a 35mm prime or 50mm prime should give you the results your after at much less cost and have other uses.

 

[Designer]

I need a break.

I'm going to go eat my supper now, and when I return, I expect everything to be fully resolved.

Thank you.

 

[snowbear115 47]

OP is being trollish. I'm done looking at the thread.

 

[Quovadis]

Ok so to recap if my understand is correct :

1. The 55-200 is not the best lens to use in low light. Plus it's a cheaper lens, probably would perform better if I had adequate lighting.
2. I am using 2 softboxes right and left and a light source behind the tent. Each bulb is 100 watt fluorescent. This is obviously not enough.
3. Due to the fact that my lighting is not sufficient, I have to use higher s numbers, for example using 1/125 gives me a near pitch black image at any f-stop.

So there's two things I need to do. 1. Maybe go to tungsten bulbs (add more light), and get a better low light lens. I am not sure i'm ready for strobe lights, they seem a huge learning curve, and I do not understand how to see light on the subject before the shot? So how to position them?.

Since I am shooting 6-9 feet away, are we all on the same page that I need a zoom telephoto lens?

 

[Designer]

Using the low-power lights that you have, you can crank up the ISO which will allow a faster shutter.

Does your camera have a focus-assist light? Is it turned on?

Besides the focus issue, more light on the front of your subjects will make them look better.

Changing light bulbs will help only if they produce more light than your CFL bulbs.

As for using your 55-200mm lens as opposed to some other focal length, how large are the files that you are making? You should be able to crop to the optimum frame and still have adequate resolution. Use "large" size files then crop down.

 

[Quovadis]

Something is not quite right. Take a look at my set up. I am using Six 105 watt fluorescent lights in front of the subject, and one in the back behind the tent. I'm using the 18-55 lens which should be sharp.
I still can get nowhere near 1/125, my images are very dark. I'm standing about 5 feet back from subject (the bag) and trying to use f8 or f11 100 ISO at 1/125.
Can anyone see what is wrong with this set up? Is it possible there's not enough light? I can't imagine more light.

 

[Quovadis]

Using the low-power lights that you have, you can crank up the ISO which will allow a faster shutter.

Does your camera have a focus-assist light? Is it turned on?

Besides the focus issue, more light on the front of your subjects will make them look better.

Changing light bulbs will help only if they produce more light than your CFL bulbs.

As for using your 55-200mm lens as opposed to some other focal length, how large are the files that you are making? You should be able to crop to the optimum frame and still have adequate resolution. Use "large" size files then crop down.

Ah! I'm using small size pictures, I do not know about focus assist on a D3300 i will look it up. I will try a few pics with higher ISO, but a professional photographer said that for bags i needed 100 ISO

 

[Quovadis]

BTW
both manual focus and AFS give me the same pictures sharpness wise. I am trying to say that it's not my eyes or that I am focusing badly in manual mode.

 

[Quovadis]

I tried to crank up ISO to 200 400 800 1600, now the pictures are all grainy

 

[robbins.photo]

Using the low-power lights that you have, you can crank up the ISO which will allow a faster shutter.

Does your camera have a focus-assist light? Is it turned on?

Besides the focus issue, more light on the front of your subjects will make them look better.

Changing light bulbs will help only if they produce more light than your CFL bulbs.

As for using your 55-200mm lens as opposed to some other focal length, how large are the files that you are making? You should be able to crop to the optimum frame and still have adequate resolution. Use "large" size files then crop down.

Ah! I'm using small size pictures, I do not know about focus assist on a D3300 i will look it up. I will try a few pics with higher ISO, but a professional photographer said that for bags i needed 100 ISO

No, you don't need 100 iso. You should be able to shoot at up to 1600 iso on a d3200 with little to no noise reduction, up to 3200 with noise reduction and still get very usable images.

0.5 sec shutter speed ?
you may be getting some shutter flap

Try upping your Shutter speed to 1/125 minimum
or try "Exposure Delay" as the d3x00 and d5x00 series do not have MUP

1/125 gave me a black jpeg and a black raw file.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk