D7000 Taking Blurry Photos

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kristentyler

Senior Member
Scott Murray said:
Hey for kicks sake take manual photos of ordinary objects, I am just wanting to see where the focus is or isn't. In your only pic here there is no focal point.
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Ha! yes, I've been taking photos for years, so I'd like to think I can operate AF. but I'm hoping this is some simple fix or calibration so that I don't have to scrap my camera, or part with it for 2 months while it gets fixed with Nikon.

I'm looking forward to experimenting with manual and AF tonight + documenting my results.
 
Scott Murray

Scott Murray

Senior Member
kristentyler said:
Ha! yes, I've been taking photos for years, so I'd like to think I can operate AF. but I'm hoping this is some simple fix or calibration so that I don't have to scrap my camera, or part with it for 2 months while it gets fixed with Nikon.

I'm looking forward to experimenting with manual and AF tonight + documenting my results.
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Ciao its fishing time ;)
 
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nickt

Senior Member
Check your menus A1 and A2. Are they set for focus priority or release priority? Try focus priority if its not there already. It probably won't fix things, but could give a clue. If you are set for release priority and focus is slow for some reason, the shutter will fire regardless even if not finished focusing yet. When you are set for focus priority, the camera will wait for focus before firing. So if its still blurry in focus priority, we will at least know the camera thinks it was focused.
 
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grandpaw

Senior Member
Check and see if you have bumped the focus lock switch on the back of the camera to "L". If it is it needs to be changed to point toward the white dot. ,Jeff
 
K

kristentyler

Senior Member
nickt said:
Check your menus A1 and A2. Are they set for focus priority or release priority? Try focus priority if its not there already. It probably won't fix things, but could give a clue. If you are set for release priority and focus is slow for some reason, the shutter will fire regardless even if not finished focusing yet. When you are set for focus priority, the camera will wait for focus before firing. So if its still blurry in focus priority, we will at least know the camera thinks it was focused.
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A1 is AC-C Priority Selection
A2 is AF-S Priority Selection
 
K

kristentyler

Senior Member
Update: After a long day at work and getting home long after dark, I wasn't able to get my tripod up to my roof for tests, but I did run a couple indoors. Using my 18-55 (set at 55) at these two settings both were tack sharp (Great news!)

ISO1200
160/F22

and
ISO1200
250/F10

I did do some close ups as well at F6 and got sharp images also.

What I want to do next is recreate the situation I was in Sunday as close as I can. Outdoors, daylight, same distances, similar settings that I tried and see what happens. I was doing test shots of the beach we were shooting on to try to gauge what the heck was going on with my blurry photo issue, and I was still getting entirely blurry shots at F16 and F22 - I want to re-try those settings in daylight. Fingers crossed!!

Thanks SO much for the help everyone, you've all been great!!
 
N

nickt

Senior Member
kristentyler said:
A1 is AC-C Priority Selection
A2 is AF-S Priority Selection
Click to expand...

That is just the titles. You need to see what they are each set at. There is a symbol next to each one, but its clearer to go one more click on each and read the word focus or release. A1 comes into play only for AF-C mode, A2 comes in only for AF-S mode. For each, you select focus priority or release priority. Release priority can give out of focus shots if focus is slow and you are quick on the shutter button and don't allow time for things to settle. Moving them both to focus priority for now will make the camera wait for focus in af-s and af-c modes. If you still get blurry shots, then there might be a focus calibration problem. If focus priority fixes the problem, then maybe it was just quick pressing of the shutter button before focus was finished. At any rate, when tracking down a focus problem, its best to be in focus priority so you know the camera tried its best for focus.
 
S

SteveH

Senior Member
If the shots are blurry at different apertures, could it be range finding issue between lens & body, perhaps a dirty connection pin? Or even the camera body not fully changing the aperture in the lens, so the lens isn't going to the desired aperture at all?
 
F

fotojack

Senior Member
You asked what VR meant in an earlier post. It stands for Vibration Reduction. It's a switch on your lens. This switch should be turned off when the camera and lens are mounted on a tripod.

When hand holding, don't be too quick on the trigger. Wait for the VR to kick in (usually takes a second or two).
 
K

kristentyler

Senior Member
nickt said:
That is just the titles. You need to see what they are each set at. There is a symbol next to each one, but its clearer to go one more click on each and read the word focus or release. A1 comes into play only for AF-C mode, A2 comes in only for AF-S mode. For each, you select focus priority or release priority. Release priority can give out of focus shots if focus is slow and you are quick on the shutter button and don't allow time for things to settle. Moving them both to focus priority for now will make the camera wait for focus in af-s and af-c modes. If you still get blurry shots, then there might be a focus calibration problem. If focus priority fixes the problem, then maybe it was just quick pressing of the shutter button before focus was finished. At any rate, when tracking down a focus problem, its best to be in focus priority so you know the camera tried its best for focus.
Click to expand...

Ah-HA! Thank you so much, this is really helpful!!!
 
K

kristentyler

Senior Member
fotojack said:
You asked what VR meant in an earlier post. It stands for Vibration Reduction. It's a switch on your lens. This switch should be turned off when the camera and lens are mounted on a tripod.

When hand holding, don't be too quick on the trigger. Wait for the VR to kick in (usually takes a second or two).
Click to expand...

Another great piece of information to know. I pretty much never shoot on my tripod, so I will check on this!
 
F

fotojack

Senior Member
K

kristentyler

Senior Member
fotojack said:
Well a tripod is pretty much a necessity when shooting below 1/60th shutter speed, in order to avoid or even eliminate camera shake, resulting in blurry pictures. I hope you have a very steady hand! :)

Check out this on shooting hand held:

Minimum shutter speed for handheld shooting: free photography cheat sheet
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oh yes :)

if I'm in a situation that would require that I shoot that low, I have my lighting rig with me so that I don't have to lol (I really dislike tripod work) it's just too difficult with my style of shooting the models that I work with!
 
F

fotojack

Senior Member
Ah! Well...I don't think you mentioned that you were shooting models! :) Yeah, a lighting setup definitely changes things. :) lol Still...a tripod with a good smooth ball head can and does come in handy at times, even shooting portraits. :)
 
P

Physoc

Senior Member
kristentyler said:
HI Nikonites.

I need your help - I've had my D7000 since October 2012 - Bought it used, and I've never had any issues with it taking blurry photos, until this past weekend. It's auto focusing (it beeps, the focus points are working) but the image it shoots is blurry. Some are blurrier than others, but either way, I've got weddings coming up to shoot and this is an intolerable issue for such occasions obviously.

I'm all ears on suggestions as to why this may have started happening. I also attached an image from yesterday's shoot to show the subtle soft blur that is occurring on just about every single image. (I would say 1 out of every 5 are sharp).

HUGE THANKS in advance for your help !!!

View attachment 133640
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Kristen, I come from the 'old school' of photography where we had no AF and no AE. That means there was no 'blaming my tools' if a photograph was poorly exposed. If a professional photographer had turned-up at my wedding using consumer equipment they would have been shown the door. These days many of the guests at the wedding will have better kit than you.
My tip in all this? If focusing manually won't do the job, bin the camera and buy full-frame kit if you expect to take other peoples money from your photography.
 
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