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Nikon DSLR Cameras
D500
Autofocus problems (my technique, NOT the camera)
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<blockquote data-quote="GracieAllen" data-source="post: 591477" data-attributes="member: 41283"><p>I'm about halfway through the 2K+ images from Sunday (I"m up to about 7:15 a.m.)...</p><p></p><p>I'm not new to shooting birds in flight. I've routinely photographed trumpeter and tundra swans, egrets, herons, hawks, owls and so on for years. I've shot trumpeters at 1/60-1/100 specifically to get the blurred background with sharp heads and bodies and wing movement..... So, this isn't my first rodeo... BUT, my past experience was with a D300 (or D810) on a very stable tripod and a Nikon 500/f4 with a 1.4X TC on a full gimbal mount.</p><p></p><p>This IS my first experience doing a similar thing with a D500, Sigma 150-600C, and a beanbag in the truck window... I BELIEVE there are a couple things that led to what I"m seeing:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The D500 is VERY, VERY fast at picking up a change in distance to where the focus point is and refocuses very quickly.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I had the Sigma in the "more precise" focusing mode... This provides a more accurate focus but at the EXPENSE OF TIME... It (the lens) doesn't refocus as fast - it's not HORRIBLY slower, but it's perceptibly slower as it focuses more accurately. I neglected to switch it to the "very fast, but POSSIBLY less accurate" focus mode - another stupid human trick.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I was shooting from a beanbag instead of my gimbal. It's convenient, but I noticed on several occasions that I could FEEL the lack of smoothness as I attempted to rotate the camera through a series of shots of a landing crane...</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Once I had good light, I had marginally adequate shutter speeds, but certainly not in the 1/2000 range. I tested the D500 beforehand and decided I was comfortable at ISO 800, OK at 1600, and acceptable at 3200. BUT, I personally find ISO 3200 "noisy", though I can minimize the noise at what I consider to be perceptible loss of sharpness. So, I tried hard to stay at ISO 800 when I could and 1600 when I needed it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The very early morning shots where pretty much guaranteed to be unusable since my shutter speeds at ISO 1600 were in the 1/15 - 1/60 range with the aperture wide open at 6.3. I'm not good enough to track flying cranes in those conditions.</li> </ul><p></p><p></p><p>I largely use the 153 point 3D focusing when shooting bif, and when they're against SKY, it works quite well. When there is dense woods, marsh, prairie grass all around them, not so well. I selected the center focus point as the base and tried to keep that on the bird. The 3D APPEARED to be doing a reasonable job of selecting other points as the bird moved, but now that I have View NX back on the desktop and can SEE what focus point it chose, they're FAR different than what I THOUGHT I was seeing. I have images where the bird has moved left, completely off the center point, and the focus point has moved far right to try to focus on some tree in the background. And not getting there...</p><p></p><p>I did have a couple runs of 10-15 images when using the group autofocus where I stayed close enough on the bird for at least one of the focus points to be on, and those are nice and sharp. Shutter speed was also 1/1000, slow for flying, but much better than what I'd had earlier.</p><p></p><p>SO, I believe it was a combination of bad choices and bad technique. I got a number of good images, but I could have done better. One thing I need to go and do is learn a lot more about the autofocus modes on the D500 'cause I've never had to use them before. On the D300 I just put it on the 3D focus tracking, slowed down the "refocus" one notch and it worked very well. I never messed with the group autofocus or the auto autofocus or any of that. Same thing on the D810, which has a frame rate half that of the D500 so perhaps had more time to get the focus right? In any case, I still don't believe it is the body or the lens or the light or the phase of the moon or whatever. I need to work on the photographer.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="GracieAllen, post: 591477, member: 41283"] I'm about halfway through the 2K+ images from Sunday (I"m up to about 7:15 a.m.)... I'm not new to shooting birds in flight. I've routinely photographed trumpeter and tundra swans, egrets, herons, hawks, owls and so on for years. I've shot trumpeters at 1/60-1/100 specifically to get the blurred background with sharp heads and bodies and wing movement..... So, this isn't my first rodeo... BUT, my past experience was with a D300 (or D810) on a very stable tripod and a Nikon 500/f4 with a 1.4X TC on a full gimbal mount. This IS my first experience doing a similar thing with a D500, Sigma 150-600C, and a beanbag in the truck window... I BELIEVE there are a couple things that led to what I"m seeing: [LIST] [*]The D500 is VERY, VERY fast at picking up a change in distance to where the focus point is and refocuses very quickly. [*]I had the Sigma in the "more precise" focusing mode... This provides a more accurate focus but at the EXPENSE OF TIME... It (the lens) doesn't refocus as fast - it's not HORRIBLY slower, but it's perceptibly slower as it focuses more accurately. I neglected to switch it to the "very fast, but POSSIBLY less accurate" focus mode - another stupid human trick. [*]I was shooting from a beanbag instead of my gimbal. It's convenient, but I noticed on several occasions that I could FEEL the lack of smoothness as I attempted to rotate the camera through a series of shots of a landing crane... [*]Once I had good light, I had marginally adequate shutter speeds, but certainly not in the 1/2000 range. I tested the D500 beforehand and decided I was comfortable at ISO 800, OK at 1600, and acceptable at 3200. BUT, I personally find ISO 3200 "noisy", though I can minimize the noise at what I consider to be perceptible loss of sharpness. So, I tried hard to stay at ISO 800 when I could and 1600 when I needed it. [*]The very early morning shots where pretty much guaranteed to be unusable since my shutter speeds at ISO 1600 were in the 1/15 - 1/60 range with the aperture wide open at 6.3. I'm not good enough to track flying cranes in those conditions. [/LIST] I largely use the 153 point 3D focusing when shooting bif, and when they're against SKY, it works quite well. When there is dense woods, marsh, prairie grass all around them, not so well. I selected the center focus point as the base and tried to keep that on the bird. The 3D APPEARED to be doing a reasonable job of selecting other points as the bird moved, but now that I have View NX back on the desktop and can SEE what focus point it chose, they're FAR different than what I THOUGHT I was seeing. I have images where the bird has moved left, completely off the center point, and the focus point has moved far right to try to focus on some tree in the background. And not getting there... I did have a couple runs of 10-15 images when using the group autofocus where I stayed close enough on the bird for at least one of the focus points to be on, and those are nice and sharp. Shutter speed was also 1/1000, slow for flying, but much better than what I'd had earlier. SO, I believe it was a combination of bad choices and bad technique. I got a number of good images, but I could have done better. One thing I need to go and do is learn a lot more about the autofocus modes on the D500 'cause I've never had to use them before. On the D300 I just put it on the 3D focus tracking, slowed down the "refocus" one notch and it worked very well. I never messed with the group autofocus or the auto autofocus or any of that. Same thing on the D810, which has a frame rate half that of the D500 so perhaps had more time to get the focus right? In any case, I still don't believe it is the body or the lens or the light or the phase of the moon or whatever. I need to work on the photographer. [/QUOTE]
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Autofocus problems (my technique, NOT the camera)
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