D7000 Focus issues

Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Maybe you should send these compared files to Nikon and ask them what they think and if they would be happy with these. There might be a problem there but I'm no expert when it comes to camera repairs.
It's just not a happy situation for you and I can certainly understand your frustration with this.
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
One more thing to try would be with manual focus. If you get the focus confirmation light, does it look sharp in the viewfinder? If the camera is on a tripod, you could have it autofocus, change the setting to manual focus and then open liveview to see if you could improve it. This would prove without a doubt the problem. Maybe???
 
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Sambr

Senior Member
Falcon1 said:
I'm getting Nikon D800 so my D7k will put up for sale but I won't do it until I'm happy with its performance, I'm not going to dump this problem on another person.
Click to expand...


It's so strange - I have a D7000 as well and I have not had a single focus issue with it all year(it's just a year old now) oh well I must of recieved a good one.
 
ccoulson

ccoulson

Senior Member
Hi Falcon1

This issue is very very very aggravating. Heres what I had to do when I got my camera back and wasnt 100 percent please with its performance. tune up my lenses. Most didnt need it but my 35mm 1.8 was a problem. Then I had to work with this autofocus system. Its very very different from your D80, all having to do with such a large sensor... Which could continue to be an issue with the D800 and its Larger than Life sensor!!! WOW!

Anyways. Im not being accusatory, or saying that its your fault. but I was ready to throw my camera out the window when I first got it back...because it was somewhat better. But there was a TON of user error.. I had to read and practice and Pretty much, now I am able to nail my focus and track all of the issues I do find back to user error. I would be careful testing the focus with aperatures of 1.8 with af-c.. this could really create problems...


Anyways. Good luck with your camera. please dont take this post as me criticizing your or your skills. Just letting you know what worked for me.

Congrats on the D800. I would LOVE one!
 
D

DW_

Senior Member
I agree 100% Courtnie, very well said. The learning curve for this camera is very steep indeed. With other cameras you only think of aperture when considering DoF but on these high resolution bodies such trivial things like a few stops up or down can make a big difference in your image quality. And if you think this is bad just wait until the D800 is in wide circulation. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts we'll hear giant chorus of people upset with the D800 and focus issues. Unless you're using top quality glass, every tiny defect in your lens will multiple exponentially in the final image and people are not going to be happy.
 
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Obir

Senior Member
I also agree with Courtnie. The d7000 is not an easy camera to master. Seems like a lot of thought and effort needs to be put into every shot to get good results. No point and shooting with this camera:)
One thing that makes you (or at least me) think though is the higher resolution argument.
Higher resolution indeed means that any user error will be more obvious on your shots.
But, doesn't the d5100 have the same sensor? Are d5100 users going through the same learning curve as d7000 users? I'm not trying to imply anything, just curious:)
 
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Falcon1

New member
Courtnie, thank you for your comment. Of course you need to learn on how new focusing system works... however I have had this camera 1 1/2 year and the issue seems to get worse than improving. It did improve slightly after the 1st repair though. Anyway, I'm sending samples to Nikon to analyse.
 
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Falcon1

New member
Update: [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]I did some tests, similar to what you see on the NEF files... but now on tripod. I tested Nikon 35mm f/1.8, Nikon 50mm f/1.8 G and D, Nikon 85mm f/1.8g

All these lenses were off in first shot but improved as I took more shoots, same subject/distance. The worst offender or which exposed the camera most was the 35mm, it took 4 shoots (focused from mfd) to achieve sharp target. The 85mm was ok on the same target but by focusing on another target further away it started to show same behaviour.

Don't quite understand the logic behind this behaviour, all photographs were on tripod with timer!
[/FONT]
 
bluenoser

bluenoser

Banned
Glad you got a new copy! I guess I would test it on the same things you did with the previous copy to see if you notice any immediate difference.
 
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Falcon1

New member
Update: OMG! How unlucky can I be... the new copy seems to have similar problems. Viewfinder focus is sometimes ok but often somewhere else, liveview focus is good.
This experience is starting to dimish the fun in photography, only stuff I'm doing is damn tests because I can't trust the camera for real photography work. This is unbelievable!

Almost crying here! :miserable:

Was so happy to get new copy but then getting shootdown the same day is no fun. :dispirited: :hororr:
 
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Falcon1

New member
Todays test... on tripod, AF-S with flash with two lenses on f/4.5. Center focus point. What is happening? Please help!

#1 50mm f/1.8G - Liveview focus
All sizes | 50mm f/1.8g | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

#2 50mm f/1.8G - Viewfinder focus
All sizes | 50mm f/1.8g | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

#3 50mm f/1.8G - Viewfinder focus
All sizes | 50mm f/1.8g | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

#4 50mm f/1.8G - Viewfinder focus
All sizes | 50mm f/1.8g | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

#5 35mm f/1.8G dx - Liveview focus
All sizes | 35mm f/1.8g dx | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

#6 35mm f/1.8G dx - Viewfinder focus
All sizes | 35mm f/1.8g dx | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

#7 35mm f/1.8G dx - Viewfinder focus
All sizes | 35mm f/1.8g dx | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
 
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Obir

Senior Member
So sorry you're still having issues with your camera.
I don't know if you have already tried this but here's a suggestion. Try the same setup and test shots with the option d11 from your custom menu set to "on". This should eliminate the possibility of blur caused by "mirror slap" while using the viewfinder for focusing. It is possible that you're getting sharper shots using live view because the mirror is already up.
I hope this get you better results.
 
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Shewashere

Senior Member
I wish I had some advice for you. I'm sorry for what you're going through for sure. I've been there. Contrast based live view focus is often more accurate though. It's hard to tell since I can't see your focus point but is the spot you are focusing on consistently the "most" in focus area? If so this may be a true use for fine tune. I'm on my phone so I cant link you directly but google moire calibration and you should find a calibration method that helps calibrate your viewfinder autofocus to mimic your live view autofocus. Of course that's assuming it seems to be focusing where you are telling it to. Mine was not when I sent mine in. It seemed better when I received it back after 4 weeks at repair but I didn't test it at length before I sold it today. Again, sorry you are having troubles again. It is very frustrating!
 
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westmill

Banned
There are so many things that can go wrong when focussing with different systems.

How many people do you hear saying I only ever use the centre focus point etc. Then they will use an F1.8 at F1.8 focus on the eye
then physicaly move the camera to recompose the image expecting the eye to still be in focus, instead of choosing the correct focus square
in the first place. At huge apratures focus is critical because of the obvious shallow DOF.

Having a good sensor does not make any kit lense perform worse either. A good sensor will bring out the best of any lens.
End quality with these new sensors does rest on the quality of the lens though.
If you want to see back and front focus issue forum you should check out Pentax K5 lol.

I wouldnt say it was caused through user error as such, more pentax themselves, in hiding information.
What pentax do is not tell you the size of the focus points. The centre focus point for example extends all the way out to the () spot metering
markings. This of course makes it difficult indeed to ever be very accurate. I doubt this is relevent for the D7000 but if you wish to see if your
focus squares are accurate just put a dot on a white peice of paper and move the camera around until it reacts.

Ive tested the D300 and D700 and I can tell you these are very accurate and correspond to the focus squares as you would expect.
Im sorry Ive not tested the D7000 because I simply dont own one to try. Another thing that often causes ooph pics is simply forgetting to turn off
VR or shake reduction. These often take a second or two to settle and do not appreciate pics taken in quick succession.
Finaly.... for the moment lol.... Higher pixel cameras do tend to need a step higher shutter speed to keep them pixels sharp.

Forget 60th of a sec for 60mm... go one higher as your lowest IE 125th sec. You will see the differance.
 
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