Does this shot look out of focus to you?

I was at Target the other night with my lovely, and I was just shooting at 1.8 the whole time. I started noticing that at distance, the subject seems out of focus. Closer up, however, this doesn't happen as seen in the second picture. On the first picture of her at distance, I focused on her head because that's what fit in my focus point. On the second, I focused on her eye. I should also note I was shooting in AF-S mode as well and that possibly had something to do with it..but I'm not sure. FYI, this was taken with a D7000 and a 35mm 1.8G. Anyone want to weigh in?


Out of Focus? by stupidphotoguy, on Flickr


In focus? by stupidphotoguy, on Flickr

Not seeing the exif data, my guess would be that you had a very small aperture and the camera performed correctly.

Have you calibrated your lens with a lens chart to insure it is properly fine tuned?

If not, here's an excellent chart to use that has a built device to help you achieve a true 45 degree angle.

http://focustestchart.com/focus10.pdf

I don't know quite why the EXIF isn't attached...
You know, i feel like a chump, I have not calibrated it. I'll try to do that, but i can't wrap my head around that.. device. Seems very complicated for some reason. I can't use a framing square or something?

ha ha!! It's really quite easy. Just built it as they describe and then move your camera to the point that the thick black line on the vertical box lines up perfect with the thick black line on the horizontal page. Then your camera is at a near perfect 45 degree angle. Using either Lightroom or CameraControl Pro you can tether your camera directly to your laptop and calibrate your lens in real time. Unfortunately, Lightroom has not added the D800 tether yet but they do support the D7k. Also, both Lightroom and Camera Control Pro (Nikon software) have a free 30 day trial download, so no reason not to use them to calibrate your lenses

I can't see the exif in Chrome. I would have to download it and open it in another program to see the details or switch my browser to Mozilla.

Looks sharp to me, what was the f stop?

KWJams said:

I can't see the exif in Chrome. I would have to download it and open it in another program to see the details or switch my browser to Mozilla.

Click to expand...

I downloaded it Ken and put in Lighroom 4 and a couple of other programs I have no EXIF to read.

Well with out EXIF I'll have to agree with Ken. I have the 35mm 1.8 and a 17-50mm 2.8. Both shots is what I would expect if I shot them myself with my D90.

In the first photo, were you using auto focus? If you were what were your focus points set on? Looks to me you were focused on your Lady. From what I can see from your small upload. Your main subject is in focus and everything around it is soft bring attention more to your subject typical of fast glass.

One thing I noticed about fast glass indoors without a flash is that is very sensitive to movement. You might have moved a little while taking the photo. Not saying you don't know how to use your camera, this happens to me a lot and I compensate by using a higher ISO to get a faster shutter speed.

A shot like this with a 35mm you want your shutter speed no lower than 40 (the length of the lens your using) If it was me I would have been in "S" mode and at 1/80th on the shutter speed to cover any movement. To get to that 1/80th I would have bumped my ISO to get there.

BWDIT

Another D7000 owner bitten by the "oh my god my camera has a focus problem" bug.

I think your camera is fine, what you think guys?

Everything was shot at 1.8. I haven't been using 1.8 a lot, I usually use f8 for sharpness..
It looks sharper here than on the camera screen. It looked horribly out of focus, with the shopping caddy being the sharpest thing in the frame. I thought it was front focusing when I saw it!
I will build this device and test all my lenses. Thanks for that link, too! Will update..

I re-uploaded to Flickr, but I still can't seem to read the EXIF either for whatever reason. It's on Flickr though, if you can zip over there via the link at the bottom of the pics and check it.

First shot was:
AWB, f1.8, ISO 800 "multi segment" metering (matrix, i assume), 1/500 sec

Focused on the entire head portion of the body since at the distance i was at, the head fit the frame of the focus zone I chose (middle center)

Second shot was:
AWB, f1.8, ISO 1600, "multi segment" metering (matrix, i assume), 1/1250 sec

Focused on the left most eye in the photo.


Again, I'm trying to practice shooting people at further ranges with huge apertures. Pardon my crap shots lol..

Also keep in mind that a lenses "sweet spot" is not wide open but rather a 1.5 to 2 stops smaller than the max aperture. In the case of your lens, the sharpest images would would be when stopped down to approx f= 4 to 5.6

1.8 is a razor thin DOF especially at distance.

Camera is just fine.

Just to add something here.....your WB was set to Auto, right? I'm thinking you should have set it to "Fluorescent". That would have changed the lighting sensor to accommodate the fluorescent tubes. Also, you have to consider the crop factor when choosing your shutter speed/focal range choice. As an example: 35mm x 1.5 = 52.5......so your shutter speed should be about 1/500 sec.

I wasn't really concerning myself with technicalities to be honest. I just set most things to auto and concerned myself with the dof alone. They weren't exactly glamor shots
Does this very thin DOF make it harder to control the DOF even when the focal point is set on your subject? I would think that it would at least focus on your subject, say, a mailbox at 50 yards. The mailbox itself would be in focus, however anything in front or behind that focal point would be blurred. Sound somewhat correct?
How do wedding photographers shoot at 2.8 and get good shots of people without having their ears out of focus? Close up, I'm the man with dof, like insects and flowers and things. But at distance, it's not something I've played with very much. Pardon my basic questions, I just feel I need a little bit of a refresher and didn't know where else to turn! You guys know everything :distrust:

It's kind of a combination of lens choice, distance from subject, and F stop. The closer to the subject, the more DOF = short focal length...eg. 35mm. The farther the subject, the less DOF, longer lens needed = 85mm, for example. It's just something you have to play with and in time, it will become second nature.....or at least easier to choose.

One trick that works very good and that pro's use is to open her wide and let the lens AF on the subject. Lock the focus then stop down one stop then shoot. This will ensure the subject is in focus. This is what I am doing nowadays just learned the trick a couple of weeks ago and I am having success with it. Before when shooting wide open I would get the eyes in focus or the nose or ears or whatever and the rest would be a blur. It ain't happening to me anymore!

Always use your widest aperture when focusing because the shallow DOF really helps to nail the focus then stop down to get more depth. Practice it you will be amazed.

Wait you were taking pictures in Target? I wonder if security would follow me around if I did that. The pics look fine. I just purchased the same lens.

I think if I owned the D7000, I'd do the calibration on all my lenses first, just because you can. No sense questioning anything until you know they are at the proper calibration. That would probably drive me nuts, is this a feature on all of the more expensive bodies?

do your back focus the easy way ..set up an expanding tape measure at at least 10x the focal length and at 45 deg to the lens axis.Max aperture max focal length if a zoom .. pull out about 4 ft . focus on the 2 ft mark and then put the photo on your computer. you should have a band in focus around the 2 ft mark ...if its centred on the 22in or 26 in then shift it with the adjustment in the camera.