Photos look blurry when zooming in on screen

[robbins.photo]

Ask away - I'm no pro, just a dedicated amatuer - but I'll be more than happy to share any information I might have that might help. Generally for wildlife shots I set the autofocus to AF-C and single point, I keep the autofocus point in the center for anything that is a fast mover (such as birds) and then I shoot a little wide so I can recompose the shot later in post. If I'm shooting at something like a leopard that isn't jumping around like crazy and is more or less stationary then I'll actually use the menu selector on the back and select the autofocus point and try to aim for the eyes and compose the shot pretty close to what I want in camera.

Thank you I most certainly will ask away I will check my camera settings, I think that is how I have it setup, but will double check. Will take your suggestions.

Well a couple of quick things I've found pretty useful, if you hit the menu button and arrow down to the icon that looks like a pencil, this is the custom setting menu. Arrow down to controls and select it by hitting ok, then arrow down to assign FN button - hit ok again and then change this to ISO sensitivity. What this does is it sets the function button so that when you press and hold it you can quickly change your ISO using the scroll wheel on the back. That way if you want to adjust your ISO up or down, press the FN button (it's on the left side of the camera right below the flash button near where the lens mounts) and while holding the FN button in, use your scroll wheel on the back and it will adjust your ISO up or down depending on which direction you turn the wheel.

On the top of the camera right next to the shutter release is a +/- button, when your in manual mode you can press and hold this button and it will allow you to change the aperture settings, and since in manual mode the command dial defaults to shutter speed that gives you the ability to control all three very quickly and easily.

Next I'd recommend you go into the menu, select the camera Icon, find Long exposure noise reduction and turn it off. You can always turn this back on later for when your taking shots of say landscapes or cityscapes at night or in very low light conditions, but by turning it off it will increase the shooting speed of the camera as it won't try to apply this in situations where it really isn't needed.

Next thing I did was to the playback menu (it's the icon that looks like a play button) and shut image review off - this has two advantages, well three actually. It will stop the camera from showing the image your shooting right after it takes it - which I've always found to be very annoying when I have the camera up to my face and I'm using the viewfinder. The two really big advantages other than that are it will make your battery last a whole lot longer and again it will increase your shooting speed, the camera doesn't have to slow down and try to display the image before snapping the next one.

 

[annamaria]

Well a couple of quick things I've found pretty useful, if you hit the menu button and arrow down to the icon that looks like a pencil, this is the custom setting menu. Arrow down to controls and select it by hitting ok, then arrow down to assign FN button - hit ok again and then change this to ISO sensitivity. What this does is it sets the function button so that when you press and hold it you can quickly change your ISO using the scroll wheel on the back. That way if you want to adjust your ISO up or down, press the FN button (it's on the left side of the camera right below the flash button near where the lens mounts) and while holding the FN button in, use your scroll wheel on the back and it will adjust your ISO up or down depending on which direction you turn the wheel. On the top of the camera right next to the shutter release is a +/- button, when your in manual mode you can press and hold this button and it will allow you to change the aperture settings, and since in manual mode the command dial defaults to shutter speed that gives you the ability to control all three very quickly and easily. Next I'd recommend you go into the menu, select the camera Icon, find Long exposure noise reduction and turn it off. You can always turn this back on later for when your taking shots of say landscapes or cityscapes at night or in very low light conditions, but by turning it off it will increase the shooting speed of the camera as it won't try to apply this in situations where it really isn't needed. Next thing I did was to the playback menu (it's the icon that looks like a play button) and shut image review off - this has two advantages, well three actually. It will stop the camera from showing the image your shooting right after it takes it - which I've always found to be very annoying when I have the camera up to my face and I'm using the viewfinder. The two really big advantages other than that are it will make your battery last a whole lot longer and again it will increase your shooting speed, the camera doesn't have to slow down and try to display the image before snapping the next one.

Wow! Thanks for all the tips will definitely check into it and apply it. Really appreciate it. I posted one photo for now to check for blurriness. The downy does not look very big because my 55-300 lens is limited. I would like to learn to crop it in a way that the bird would look larger in the frame, but will eventually learn ;-)

 

[LakeFX]

It looks to me like you are focused on the branch under the bird instead of on the bird. I find that with shots at these sorts of angles and distances with my 70-300 zoomed all the way in, I need to manual tweak the focus for almost every shot. The focus areas on the camera are larger than the bird, so they grab things like branches too.

 

[annamaria]

It looks to me like you are focused on the branch under the bird instead of on the bird. I find that with shots at these sorts of angles and distances with my 70-300 zoomed all the way in, I need to manual tweak the focus for almost every shot. The focus areas on the camera are larger than the bird, so they grab things like branches too.

Thank you for the comment, I was trying to focus on the bird, but was having a hard time. What do you mean by manually tweaking the focus? Sorry I am a noob to dslr.

 

[480sparky]

Load the original unedited image into ViewNX2 and check your focus points.

 

[robbins.photo]

Well I'm guessing this is a focus point issue - on the D5100 if your info screen is up hit the I button to make changes - if it's not up hit the I button twice, once to bring up the info screen and the second time to access the menus. Arrow down to the focus mode and select AF-C. Then arrow down one more to the af-area mode and select the first option, single point AF.

Now whatever focus point you chose will be what the camera focuses on when you shoot. You can use the menu arrows to move the focus point up or down, right or left as needed. For moving targets generally I'll leave it in the center and put the center dot on the subject and then start shooting. For larger targets that aren't moving as much, you can use the menu button to select a focus point and compose your shot more on camera. I've found this is the best bet as far as getting good results shooting wildlife with the D5100, it's autofocus system is pretty basic and I just find I get better results by controlling what the camera focuses on myself.

 

[remylebeau]

I don't think it's a missed focus. With a 300mm lens at f/8 you have a depth of field at 100 ft of 10ft. There less than a few inches difference between the bird and the branch, if you hit either the other would be just as sharp. Even at 50ft away you have a depth of field of 2.66ft, which again more than covers the bird and the branch. I don't think it's possible you missed both since the twigs behind the bird are starting to show subtle bokeh.

Your shutter is sufficient to avoid camera shake at that focal length and likewise the bird isn't in fast motion if at all.

The only thing I can think of is the lens. But there's no way for me to know based on one image, but it might be worth your while to do some tests to at least rule out the lens. Zoom lenses especially the entry level ones do not have the same sharpness throughout the entire focal length. Some are sharper on the wide to middle, some middle to far, some near and far etc.

Or it could also be because your maximum aperture at 300mm is 5.6, that you'll need to stop down at least 2 more stops to get the maximum sharpness out of that lens. So when you get a chance, put you camera on a tripod. Shoot something at distance at 300mms, at f/5.6, f/8, f/11 and at f/16. I'm almost positive you'll notice a difference between the f/8 you were using and at f/16.

 

[LakeFX]

What robbins.photo says is a great starting point. If the issue you are having is what I think, then his suggestion may not get it done.

If you look in the viewfinder, you'll see a bunch of little boxes (see here). Each box is a possible location that the camera can autofocus. What robbins.photo is suggesting is to set up your camera so you can pick which of those boxes the camera uses. This is a great suggestion and is the mode that I shoot in all the time. The problem arises if you are so far away from the bird that it does not completely fill the little box in the viewfinder. If that is the case, then the camera might choose to focus on something else that is partially inside that box. What I mean by manually tweaking focus is to turn the focus ring on the lens slightly to get the bird perfectly in focus. If you are using any of the Nikon AF-S lenses, you should be able to autofocus and then with the shutter release half way depressed, turn the focus ring a little to adjust focus. This will take some practice to get used to, but when planning to crop heavily or in very low light it will get you much better results.

 

[annamaria]

Load the original unedited image into ViewNX2 and check your focus points.

Thanks Sparky I will do that, did not know it had that feature pretty neat.

 

[annamaria]

Well I'm guessing this is a focus point issue - on the D5100 if your info screen is up hit the I button to make changes - if it's not up hit the I button twice, once to bring up the info screen and the second time to access the menus. Arrow down to the focus mode and select AF-C. Then arrow down one more to the af-area mode and select the first option, single point AF. Now whatever focus point you chose will be what the camera focuses on when you shoot. You can use the menu arrows to move the focus point up or down, right or left as needed. For moving targets generally I'll leave it in the center and put the center dot on the subject and then start shooting. For larger targets that aren't moving as much, you can use the menu button to select a focus point and compose your shot more on camera. I've found this is the best bet as far as getting good results shooting wildlife with the D5100, it's autofocus system is pretty basic and I just find I get better results by controlling what the camera focuses on myself.

I will try your suggestions and hopefully get better results. Thank you so much.

 

[annamaria]

I don't think it's a missed focus. With a 300mm lens at f/8 you have a depth of field at 100 ft of 10ft. There less than a few inches difference between the bird and the branch, if you hit either the other would be just as sharp. Even at 50ft away you have a depth of field of 2.66ft, which again more than covers the bird and the branch. I don't think it's possible you missed both since the twigs behind the bird are starting to show subtle bokeh. Your shutter is sufficient to avoid camera shake at that focal length and likewise the bird isn't in fast motion if at all. The only thing I can think of is the lens. But there's no way for me to know based on one image, but it might be worth your while to do some tests to at least rule out the lens. Zoom lenses especially the entry level ones do not have the same sharpness throughout the entire focal length. Some are sharper on the wide to middle, some middle to far, some near and far etc. Or it could also be because your maximum aperture at 300mm is 5.6, that you'll need to stop down at least 2 more stops to get the maximum sharpness out of that lens. So when you get a chance, put you camera on a tripod. Shoot something at distance at 300mms, at f/5.6, f/8, f/11 and at f/16. I'm almost positive you'll notice a difference between the f/8 you were using and at f/16.

Thanks for the tips. I will try the tripod and lens experiment and see what results I get. Since the birds are skittish I am going to need to make some kind of homemade blind to photograph the birds at a close distance.

 

[annamaria]

What robbins.photo says is a great starting point. If the issue you are having is what I think, then his suggestion may not get it done. If you look in the viewfinder, you'll see a bunch of little boxes (see here). Each box is a possible location that the camera can autofocus. What robbins.photo is suggesting is to set up your camera so you can pick which of those boxes the camera uses. This is a great suggestion and is the mode that I shoot in all the time. The problem arises if you are so far away from the bird that it does not completely fill the little box in the viewfinder. If that is the case, then the camera might choose to focus on something else that is partially inside that box. What I mean by manually tweaking focus is to turn the focus ring on the lens slightly to get the bird perfectly in focus. If you are using any of the Nikon AF-S lenses, you should be able to autofocus and then with the shutter release half way depressed, turn the focus ring a little to adjust focus. This will take some practice to get used to, but when planning to crop heavily or in very low light it will get you much better results.

Thank you for clarifying my question. I looked at the link, it made it easier to understand. I will try practicing pressing the shutter release while manually focusing.