Any D600 candid street photographers here?

L

Louderback

New member
Hello.
I desperately need some advice. I have been a hardcore street photographer for some 30 years, using a succession of 35mm film cameras. My first digital camera was a Nikon D90, and I was delighted. Nearly everything I shot on the auto setting with Matrix Metering and my 70-200mm Nikkor lens was perfectly exposed and focused for years. Then I decided it would be in my best interest to upgrade to the FX format and I have regretted nearly every moment of it. What's strange is that I rarely have this trouble using my 50mm lens. I have spent hundreds of extra dollars sending both the D600 body and the 70-200 lens to Nikon to be separately serviced, and still everything I shoot on the street is blown out and unfocused, with all settings zeroed out. It doesn't matter if my subjects are in the shade or bright sunlight, the exposure and autofocus is nearly always way off. I have done a lot of research, and it seems I am very much alone in my desperation with this camera. Before anyone gets too far into the weeds technically, to my way of thinking street photography is a form where there is no time to worry about changing settings for every subject. One would think that having paid over 2000 dollars for a camera, they shouldn't long for their former 800-dollar one, right? Any thoughts? They are much appreciated.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Louderback said:
Hello.
I desperately need some advice. I have been a hardcore street photographer for some 30 years, using a succession of 35mm film cameras. My first digital camera was a Nikon D90, and I was delighted. Nearly everything I shot on the auto setting with Matrix Metering and my 70-200mm Nikkor lens was perfectly exposed and focused for years. Then I decided it would be in my best interest to upgrade to the FX format and I have regretted nearly every moment of it. What's strange is that I rarely have this trouble using my 50mm lens. I have spent hundreds of extra dollars sending both the D600 body and the 70-200 lens to Nikon to be separately serviced, and still everything I shoot on the street is blown out and unfocused, with all settings zeroed out. It doesn't matter if my subjects are in the shade or bright sunlight, the exposure and autofocus is nearly always way off. I have done a lot of research, and it seems I am very much alone in my desperation with this camera. Before anyone gets too far into the weeds technically, to my way of thinking street photography is a form where there is no time to worry about changing settings for every subject. One would think that having paid over 2000 dollars for a camera, they shouldn't long for their former 800-dollar one, right? Any thoughts? They are much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Could you post some examples?
....
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Louderback said:
I would gladly, but I don't see an uploader to get images from my hard drive.
Click to expand...
To insert an image you use the "Insert Image" icon on the toolbar at top of the dialog box you type your post in. It looks like this:

insertimage.png

From that dialog box, click on the "From Computer" tab, then the "Select Files" button to navigate to the photos on your hard drive.
....
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I'm assuming at your $2K price point you're talking D600 and 70-200mm f4, right? I spent a good chunk of the summer of 2013 shooting with that combination, including everything from ballgames to a 10 stage, outdoor music festival that is a street shooters paradise. I dug back into my LR catalog and found a bunch of unprocessed RAW images, all perfectly exposed and perfectly in focus, no issues.

You may need to set the focus fine tuning, but as said it would help to see some shots with EXIF.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I'm not seeing any EXIF on the second image (you need to size to 1000px max for the forum software not to strip it).

The first image is showing 1/200s at 200mm, which is right on the borderline of the Reciprocal Rule (min shutter speed >= 1/focal length). It's said that with 24MP sensors you need to go with strictly greater than, so if you're using Auto ISO you may want to bump the minimum shutter speed one or two clicks to the Faster side. I don't seen missed focus as much as a soft image, and that could be due to minor movement.

As for your images being "blown out", I would strongly disagree with that assessment. Colors are a little flat, but that may be your Camera profile setting. Are you shooting RAW or JPEG?
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
I took the liberty of processing your first image and here's what I was able to get from the jpeg posted here. I'm certain that a much better result could be gotten with an original nef file.

DSC_5584 copy.jpg


So, since I don't know if you posted a straight converted nef file without any sharpening and contrast adjustment it's difficult for me to give you advice. But, if you are working with jpeg, go to the camera's picture shooting settings to increase the sharpness of your jpegs and maybe give it a bit more saturation. I don't remember the exact menu path to get there, but it shouldn't be too hard to get to.
Good luck. I had wonderful results with my D600 when I had it.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Since Marcel did not mention it (nor did I in my previous post), we both have experienced a phenomenon with the D600 body type (originally through the D7000 - lighter weight body with heavier pro glass) where mirror slap from a normal shutter engagement can cause a slight degradation in sharpness when the shutter speed is near 1/focal length. Using the Quiet shutter release gave us both sharper images under the same exposure settings otherwise. Turning off VR, using Quiet shutter release and sticking with a strict one stop faster than 1/focal length has been a formula for consistently sharper images for me. You might want to try this, along with the focus tuning I mentioned above.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I agree with wholeheartedly with Jake in that those shots are not "blown out"; they're maybe over-exposed a half a stop or so, but that's about it and that's easily correct for in post. You could also use the Exposure Compensation button while shooting. Lastly, while I don't really suggest doing so, if you think the camera is consistently metering too hot you can go into the SETUP menu and use the Fine Tune Optimal Exposure setting to "permanently" adjust how the camera meters in different modes.

As for out of focus issue... I too noticed you're right on the bubble with your shutter speed for the focal length you were shooting at (1/200 at 200mm); I would have tried to shoot closer to 1/350 at that focal length.

And as Marcel points out, if you're shooting JPG you should go into your Picture Control menu and adjust the "Sharpness" setting for all the different Picture Controls (Landscape, Portrait, Vibrant, Standard, etc.) from the abnormally low default setting of "3", to "7" instead. That one change will have a dramatic effect on the sharpness of your JPG photos.
.....
 
L

Louderback

New member
Thanks for the advice everybody, I will give it a try. It is strange, however, that I would be happier with half the amount of pixels. I have never bothered with RAW, only JPEG Fine with the assumption that my collection would be more manageable.

Here is a better example of how things usually look. This was in the middle of a sunny day in open shade. DSC_6850.jpg
 
Top