New to DSLR/D7500...lens function question

4iiiis

New member
I'm brand new to DSLRs and just bought a D7500. I also got a 18-300 lens with the hopes it will carry me from portraits to soccer games. My previous cameras have been little pocket point & shoots. So I am both excited and overwhelmed lol. As such, I have a silly question: when I am trying to use the zoom features on the back left of the camera, the zoom seems to advance in "steps". I thought this would be a smooth transition with the ability to stop the zoom anywhere. Is this normal?
 

Bikerbrent

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

Suggest you spend a little quality time reading the camera manual. If this manual is a little overwhelming, I recommend you pick up a copy of the the Thom Hogan's D7500 manual. And have fun.
 

nickt

Senior Member
Are you shooting in Live View (using back lcd screen to take pictures)? And are you trying to zoom with the buttons while in live view? If so, don't do that. Zoom with the ring on your lens and use the viewfinder. There are no zoom buttons on the camera that work the lens. It really sounds like you are in live view and using the +/- buttons to 'zoom'. If that is the case, you are on the wrong track. Zoom with the lens and use the viewfinder for shooting now. Live view should not be your everyday shooting mode in a dslr. Live view is more for special situations or shooting video.
 

4iiiis

New member
Thank you! That definitely helps. I was hoping to use the Live View for my son's soccer games but it just didn't seem to want to focus; you've cleared that up. However, when using the +/- on Live View, is it normal for the lens to almost "take one step forward, two steps back"? It seems like it can't figure out a point to focus on. I ask this because I bought the lens used and want to know if that's the lens's normal operation? Thank you again for reaching out to me:)
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
Yes... that's sort of normal... and is more prevalent in low light situations... The focus mechanism is based on contrast differences... low light means low contrast differences, so subsequently the lens tends to 'search' a bit before achieving focus lock.
 

nickt

Senior Member
However, when using the +/- on Live View, is it normal for the lens to almost "take one step forward, two steps back"? It seems like it can't figure out a point to focus on.
In live view, +/- magnifying glass only zooms the display. Nothing to do with lens zoom or focus. Some of us use this function for to zoom in the display for better manual focusing. For myself, manual focus for some macro shots is the only time I use live view. After all these years, I'm actually not super familiar with live view autofocus.
Use the viewfinder for awhile. I know a lot of very new to dslr people feel some comfort in live view because it feels like their point in shoot. I suggest to avoid it and get used to the view finder. There is a lot to get used to it, but once you do, things will become second nature. For now I would suggest viewfinder and P mode and auto iso. This advice will change a lot after you get some shots to learn from. Read your book on focus modes. You have a few focus modes to choose from and you will probably have questions. I like single point focus, but that's me. Read up on the focus modes and ask questions.
 

nickt

Senior Member
Consider that book that Brent mentioned. You can also do some general learning on your own.

Here's some stuff to get started:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8T94sdiNjc

Camera Exposure: Aperture, ISO & Shutter Speed

Just to avoid confusion, these two sources have nothing to do with your current questions, lol. You need to learn this though going forward. It is not a big learning event, but reviewing this material will make your owner's manual easier to understand and get you off of 'P' mode so you can better control your camera to get the results you want.

There are also some sites explaining Nikon focus modes, but I don't have any saved at this computer.
 

Texas

Senior Member
Live view is fun to play with when exploring focus behavior.
But I use it for maybe 0.00001% of my pictures
In fact, cannot remember using it at all.
 

Patrick M

Senior Member
Don’t forget it’s a touch screen, so in review you can zoom in and out using 2 fingers on the screen, as well as swiping right or left to scroll.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Dawg Pics

Senior Member
I use live view for getting sharp focus in low light when I am set up on a tripod. I can zoom in to see if I have sharp focus. I also used it when I was shooting the eclipse, so there was no chance of me looking at the sun in case my solar filter failed me.
 
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