Frustrated

80Gritt

Senior Member
I bought a D7000 a year and a half ago and have been battling the AF with it the entire time. After posting about it here I sent it to Nikon and they adjusted the AF and did a firmware (I also just did the latest) update, I purchased FoCal and calibrated all of my lenses on the D7000. The AF was better but nothing to write home about. I have just been living with it. I would guess I get 3 out of 10 pictures that are sharp semi-sharp at 100% view.

Today just tipped me over the edge. Last week I used my Sigma 150-600MM C and took some good shots of animals at the zoo. Then today using that lens I took 140 plus pictures of an Osprey in its nest on top of a telephone pole and none, not one was in focus at 100% even in the Nikon indicated focus square in the software much less anywhere else in the picture.

I uploaded two zoo pictures and two Osprey pictures. All are post using ViewNX2. I also uploaded a picture not post with only the in camera naming convention.

I am thinking about getting the D 7200 but am concerned the AF on the 7000 series may all be crap. I might rent it before to see how it does. I also am considering the D 500 but the double price I am not sure will give me that much more for my money depending on if the D 7200 actually can focus unlike the D 7000. I have a D60 that is 7-8 years old that focuses better than the D 7000.

Looking at the pictures, is it me?
 

80Gritt

Senior Member
I thought it would add the data to the pictures but does not seem to have. The birds were shot at 1250-1600 shutter speed and at F8 and F9. I converted them from RAW to these small JPEGs.
 
The jpeg seem to be sharp. It is really hard to tell from anything online. I had a D7000 and was always pleased with it. When to the D7100 and still have it. My wife shoots it now and loves it. She calls it her "Big Girl Camera" When I shot it it was tact sharp. By the data you added it should be good but you did not add all the EXIF date we need. What ISO did you use? What lens were you using and what others lenses do you have? I moved up from a D5100 to the D7000 and noticed that the D5100 looked better with the same lenses. The problem is as you move up with cameras the resolution is so much better that the lens quality becomes more important. You lens selection is the first thing we need to look at. Also remember that you must sharpen all RAW photos in post. IF you don't then they will be sharp. If you want to you can send me a untouched RAW photo via dropbox and I will look at it and do the post processing on it and let you know how it is. Just PM me the link.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I bought a D7000 a year and a half ago and have been battling the AF with it the entire time. After posting about it here I sent it to Nikon and they adjusted the AF and did a firmware (I also just did the latest) update, I purchased FoCal and calibrated all of my lenses on the D7000. The AF was better but nothing to write home about. I have just been living with it. I would guess I get 3 out of 10 pictures that are sharp semi-sharp at 100% view.

Today just tipped me over the edge. Last week I used my Sigma 150-600MM C and took some good shots of animals at the zoo. Then today using that lens I took 140 plus pictures of an Osprey in its nest on top of a telephone pole and none, not one was in focus at 100% even in the Nikon indicated focus square in the software much less anywhere else in the picture.

I uploaded two zoo pictures and two Osprey pictures. All are post using ViewNX2. I also uploaded a picture not post with only the in camera naming convention.

I am thinking about getting the D 7200 but am concerned the AF on the 7000 series may all be crap. I might rent it before to see how it does. I also am considering the D 500 but the double price I am not sure will give me that much more for my money depending on if the D 7200 actually can focus unlike the D 7000. I have a D60 that is 7-8 years old that focuses better than the D 7000.

Looking at the pictures, is it me?
For starters, are you keeping your shutter speed at, or above, one-and-half times the focal length? That should be a minimum, really.

If you use the "Insert Image" button we should be able to see the EXIF data from your photos which be really helpful in troubleshooting this issue.
.....
ScreenShot001.jpg
 
For starters, are you keeping your shutter speed at, or above, one-and-half times the focal length? That should be a minimum, really.

If you use the "Insert Image" button we should be able to see the EXIF data from your photos which be really helpful in troubleshooting this issue.
.....
View attachment 221014


I will add the instructions on what to do to make sure it gets added.

Guidelines to adding a photo to your post.

1. Resize photo to 1000px on the long side.
2. Resolution set to 72ppi (Pixels Per Inch)

These guidelines will be good for viewing on a computer but will not be good for printing. This will help safeguard your copyright.







 

80Gritt

Senior Member
I just posted a picture with the EXIF data. Also I mentioned in my initial post I used my Sigma 150-600mm C lens for the zoo and Osprey pictures. I always ensure I shoot above 1.5 times the focal length if the subject is still and higher if in motion.
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Well in the shot above the EXIF shows you were shooting at 550mm with a shutter speed of 1/250.
Paul, the exif I see says 1/1250s. not 1/250.
I don't know if these are straight out of camera jpegs. If they are, maybe the sharpness in camera's settings could be bumped a bit. But, all lenses NOT being equals, I've read comments from several people that stated that their Sigma was not that sharp longer than 400mm, and that there was much quality differences between samples.

Is this behavior new to you? Have you tried the same lens on another camera with same results? Can you get better results with another lens or another camera?

There are too many variables here for me to diagnose your situation. You should see about post processing sharpening. I suspect that you probably very well be happy after finding the proper sharpening tools. In the case of the osprey, it's in the shade and the flat light fill-in doesn't help sharpness at all.

So, keep trying and I hope you'll find a solution to your problem.
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
And @Marcel he stated they are RAW that he converted in VX2. ;) He may still need to to sharpen in post.
Yes, I noticed as I re-read his original post.
But I remember when I got my D7000, it took me some time to accept that looking at 100% images on the screen could be very deceiving. I was coming from the D90 and thought something was wrong with my 7000. But when I had prints made, my fears went away. Looking at an image at 100% on a screen is like looking at a 6' image from 6" away. Prints are not made to be looked so closely. The subject and light are more important that the extreme sharpness that I was striving for.
 
I got a RAW image and they are a bit softer then they should be. They were shot with a 600mm (900mm effective) lens and that can be very tricky. I know it took me some time to get my shots with my Tamron 150-600 sharp on my D750. Which 150-600 do you have? shooting at 900mm at 1/1250 is probably a bit slow. crank it up to at least 1/1500. But I still don't think that is you problem based on the RAW file I saw. Nothing was quite in focus the the shot. I would recheck your focus modes. again. Set it on spot and put the camera on a tripod. Make sure both auto focus switches are turned on. Then shoot with the VR turned off and look at the shot on the computer. Try it again with the VR turned off. I have turned mine off all the time now and get better shots with it off. I just make sure I shoot fast enough to not need it. If it looks good on the tripod then you need a faster shutter speed (But again I do not think this is the problem) Check your focusing on a different lens and see what the results are. If good then recheck the 150-600. You said you have FoCal. What distance did you use to check it with. You should set it on 600mm and the target should be right at 100 feet away. I had to put my target in the back yard and leave a door open to set it. Once I set it I played a little with the number on the target by shooting 1 or 2 about and below and pixel peeping to see it there was any difference (There wasn't)
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Just a thought have you got the dock for your Sigma lens,if so set the stabilizing to active (i think thats what its called) when i had mine the normal setting was poor but the active made a great difference.

Asking the obvious so sorry but you are letting the image settle in the viewfinder before shooting arent you,do you find the lens heavy,if so that can have a adverse effect on results.

Lastly 100% crops depend on a lot of things being right on the day,not saying you shouldn't look for them but dont expect to get them from most shots in wildlife situations,try and crack 50% first :D
 

80Gritt

Senior Member
That is a lot of info to sort through in that post. I have the 150-600mm C version. On atleast half the shots I used 1/1600 with the same result as the one I chose thatwas 1/1250.
I just remembered later last night that between the zooshoot and the shots yesterday of the Osprey that I did the latest firmwareupdate on the lens. It stopped in themiddle of the first attempt but the second time it completed with noerrors. I plan to check it later todaywith another camera.


I checked the lens using the FoCal at the distance suggested during lots of reading but that was a while ago and am not sure what length I used. I think 50. Which happens to be as long as I can go inside.





 

80Gritt

Senior Member
It is hard to get it to settle but I was using a buildingpole to lean against to help do that. Ihave the dock and made the adjustment you mentioned and was using the switch onC1 as that is where the adjustment was selectable from.

 

80Gritt

Senior Member
That picture has all the processing I can do as I usedViewNX2 and is the reason it is as clear as it is. Pre-post it was not clear. I downloaded Nikon’s Capture 2 software I think is the namebut it is beyond me to figure out so far.



 
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