Sailboat In Antigua

[68deluxe]

Took this photo during Sailing Week in Antigua 2009. Camera used was a Nikon D50 with 18-200 3.5-5.6 VR. JPEG file, did not record exposure information other than lens was at max length. Looking to upgrade to a new camera/lens, would like to know if parts of the picture are soft due to small autofocus area, not enough depth of field, or lens being too soft. Thanks in advance.




Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D50
Image Date: 2009-04-26 12:04:29 (no TZ)
Focal Length: 200.0mm
Exposure Time: 0.0010 s (1/1000)
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Software: Ver.1.00

 

[Horoscope Fish]

Took this photo during Sailing Week in Antigua 2009. Camera used was a Nikon D50 with 18-200 3.5-5.6 VR. JPEG file, did not record exposure information other than lens was at max length. Looking to upgrade to a new camera/lens, would like to know if parts of the picture are soft due to small autofocus area, not enough depth of field, or lens being too soft. Thanks in advance.

Well there is EXIF data attached to this shot, but oddly it recorded neither ISO nor aperture used.

The shot appears to be in good focus to me overall. There is some softness around the boat itself, while the sail appears have the sharpest focus in the shot. The EXIF data indicates a shutter speed of 1/1000 so I think it's safe to assume you were using a relatively wide aperture. If you weren't you'd have to be using a pretty fast ISO and I'm not seeing noise in the shot, so I'm going to assume (!) a wide-ish aperture and therefore attribute the softness you're seeing to depth of field. This is all pretty hypothetical though and based on assumption.

If you haven't already, you might want to adjust the in-camera "Sharpness" setting. Press MENU and then select the camera (shooting) icon to get to the shooting menu. From there go into Optimize Image Custom Settings Sharpening and bump it up to near maximum. Take some test shots and see what you think.


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[68deluxe]

Fish

​Thanks for the feedback, I need to edit with the EXIF data.

Don

Thanks for adding the info. I just figured out how to find it myself.

 

[68deluxe]

I took all of the pictures down there (Antigua) in "Auto" mode, I cannot remember what setting I used for the VR. The ISO on the camera is at 200, I am not sure if I changed it. I need to start taking notes when I change settings.Thanks again for your input. This is the first "real" DSLR for me.