Struggling With Focus With New D5500

Originally Posted by threadartist

I just purchased the D5500 and am having the same problems as mentioned above. I like looking through the view finder and not so much the screen on the back. It seems that every thing is in focus EXCEPT the thing I want to be. I'm attempting to attach a photo.

Well, for starters, I see you were shooting at 300mm but your shutter speed is only 1/250. When shooting a DX camera body the rule of thumb is to keep the shutter speed at 1.5x times the focal length. For 300mm that means you should be keeping your shutter speeds up around 1/450 or so. Personally, I prefer to use double the focal length, or in this case 1/600 or above.

Originally Posted by threadartist

Thank you Paul. As you can see, I am very green. I received two lens with the camera and have just started taking pictures not realizing that I need to know what I'm doing. LOL Thank you for the example given. It helps a lot.

Well I'm not saying it's what will fix your problem but it's something to be aware of. Also, if you are shooting JPG, and haven't yet adjusted the Sharpness setting in the Picture Control menu, you should do that right now. If you shoot raw you can skip this step. To adjust the Sharpness setting:

Press the Menu button.
Highlight the Shooting Menu (camera icon).
Drop down to "Set Picture Control" then click right one time.

(This menu contains all the Picture Controls [Standard, Vivid, Landscape, etc.] and each one has it's own set of Quick Adjust menus that will need to be adjusted if you think you're going to be using them.)

Highlight the Picture Control you're using, probably "Standard", and click right one time to enter the Quick Adjust menu.
Highlight the "Sharpening" setting and increase it from the oddly low default of "2", to +6 or +7 (I don't suggest going higher but you can if you want).
I also increase the Saturation setting (for the the "Standard" Picture Control only) by one notch... Try it, see what you think. You can always change back to the default if you think it's too much.
Press "OK", "OK", etc. to exit the menus.

The Sharpening adjustment will significantly increase the overall sharpness of your JPG photos; the Saturation adjustment, if you choose to try it, will be more subtle but I think it's just about right personally. Don't be afraid to experiment with these settings since you can always change them back if you find you've gone too far.

Originally Posted by threadartist

Awesome. I just made the change you requested. I had to move out of "Auto" at the top of the camera in order to be able to get 'Set Picture Control' from being grayed out. I'm assuming that is because when the camera is in Auto you cannot make those changes.

That is correct.

Originally Posted by pruez

Hello All...

Has anyone experienced:
1. Continuous shooting is not consistent even with as fast card - Black Delkin. The time between shots lags. When I shoot with the same card with a Canon T7i or 80D the time between shots is consistent.
2. AF Modes change by themselves. I'm shooting and check my modes because the focus has gone soft and I see that the mode has changed when I have not knowingly changed it.

Than you -

Paul

Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride.
We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

First, are you shooting with a D5500?

Second, this thread is 2 years old and about focus issues. You might want to start a new thread for your issues.

Finally, are you shooting in Auto mode, as this mode is known to cause strange issues, this might be the problem. Try shooting in P, M, S, or A mode and see if you have the same issues.

Also, I am not familiar with black Delkin cards. It may have issues with your Nikon camera, do you have another card to try?