Frustrated to the brink of smashing camera :D
- Thread starter Kevin H
- Start date
BackdoorArts
Senior Member
To answer would require me to get the body (in one place) and the lens (in another) and then dig into the menu. I'm not feeling that generous sitting here watching football, sorry. Before I got FoCal I'd do it myself - it's fairly easy and you should learn to do it. My setting won't be yours, that's why they let everybody set it separately. Go learn something.
Don Kuykendall_RIP
RIP :(
I went from a D5100 to the D7000 and had the same drop in sharpness. I was not a happy camper either. By BackdoorHippie is correct. The D7000 is a step up from the D5100 and is more sensitive with the lenses it uses. I then went to the D7100 and the just was even greater. That is why I went with Relican FoCal. My eyesight is just not good enough to see the minute differences in focus on a chart or ruler.
As for what ours are set on.. I have the D7000 and the D7100 and fine tune all the lenses on both cameras. The same lens gives far different numbers on each camera so what is good for the goose is not good for the gander.
The end results with the D7100 is worth the trials and tribulations of setting it up and learning to shoot it.
Whiskeyman
Senior Member
Don't smash it, yet, Kevin. Try your auto focus fine tune and if that doesn't work, at least send it for service. I know it sucks to have it doing this: mine is the same way. I've used Fo-Cal and the fine tuning results are not consistent, so I'm thinking about a trip to my friendly Nikon dealer this Saturday to see if they can help with the matter. Ifs not, then off to Nikon USA, by which time I'll have spent more on a refurbished model than I would have on a new one.
This is stopping me from purchasing a D750 right now, since I need to figure out this camera before I add more problems to the mix. Oh, well!
Good luck with getting it figured out and set up proper.
Wayne
This is stopping me from purchasing a D750 right now, since I need to figure out this camera before I add more problems to the mix. Oh, well!
Good luck with getting it figured out and set up proper.
Wayne
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
I have a horror story I could regale everyone with related to FoCal. At first I thought it was fantastic, loved it! But then I realized my shots were looking worse for having used FoCal. So, wanting to get things done right, I hauled everything to one the art studios on the campus where I work so I could set everything up under ideal, indoor conditions. Long story short... It was a disaster. I sent Reikan some of my reports and they agreed the results were horribly, even bizarrely, inconsistent. After several emails back and forth, I was issued a refund, even though my purchase was outside the usual 60-day return window.
I now do all my calibration manually using these instructions and I couldn't be happier with the results.
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Had some time at work today and found a tree these are the most detail have got so far but I shot the 150-500 at 150mm hand held left arm rested on window of truck now that I can see some detail I'll take the time to properly fine tune it and not use the D7100 as a clay pigeon
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Whiskeyman
Senior Member
I'm not certain that I wrote what I intended to convey. I'm not saying that Fo Cal is the problem here. I've gotten some good results using it, in fact. It does need to have a consistent and well-lighted testing area for the tests. I believe that my issue is with the camera (D7100) which is not focus optimizing within the range of Auto Focus Fine Tuning available in the user menu with several of my lenses. These same lenses tend to be optimized within normal range with my D700. Only one of them optimizes at near the limits of fine tuning range.
I've just downloaded the latest Mac version of Fo Cal 2, and I intend to try to get some testing of my lenses on the D7100 done this week.
Your point about watching to see whether using a tool like FoCal makes things better is absolutely spot on. If the software says that things look better, but your eyes tell you they don't, trust your eyes!
WM
Whiskeyman
Senior Member
...not use the D7100 as a clay pigeon
Raw and I use lightroom for PP
After setting the fine tune on mine i check it by taking pictures of something small in short grass at different distances,i find the grass is good for showing me where my focus is at different distances,it may help you find out just where if any where the camera is focusing.
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
Those tree shots are looking pretty respectable considering they were shot at ISO 2000. There might be some room for improvement but I'm not familiar enough with with the Sigma 150-500mm to know just how much one can expect from it.
Did you do any sharpening in post'?
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Had some time at work today and found a tree these are the most detail have got so far but I shot the 150-500 at 150mm hand held left arm rested on window of truck now that I can see some detail I'll take the time to properly fine tune it and not use the D7100 as a clay pigeon
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Show us a crop of the grass below, it looks sharper than the bark. That would definitely verify front/back focusing issue if the curvature of the lens is correcting a portion of the image.
I had a problem several years ago with my Nikon 70-300VR lens. When I bought it I also purchased a UV filter to go on it. All my pictures were soft and never gave me any sharp pictures and I was very dissatisfied with my results. On the way to sell this lens I decided to remove the filter and take a few shots of a tree just like you did. The result from removing the filter was drastically improved. I never knew there was a difference but they had given me a UV filter for a film camera. I went back and swapped it for a digital filter and now I get very nice sharp pictures. My suggestion would be if you have filters on any lens that you are having issues with is to take them off and see what the difference is. This may not have anything to do with this problem but is some good information to know.
