picturegirl
Senior Member
Ok that helps out a lot so I should shoot wide open with that lens then tone it down and walk in further lol
Help! I still am having such a hard time with focus!
- Thread starter picturegirl
- Start date
picturegirl
Senior Member
Shouldnt***
picturegirl
Senior Member
Any opinion on lens I was thinking of purchasing a new one since this one has been around in my gear for quite a while but I like the focal length on it I was thinking sigma 17-50
picturegirl
Senior Member
I def don't have the warranty on it anymore I bought the camera used off a friend. If it was a defect in the camera wouldn't all my pictures be soft?
My opinion is that before you try to blame the lens or camera, you have to do some test for focus.
Put the camera on a tripod and find yourself a non moving subject with good light.
Use 1 point focus in the center in AF-S mode, take a few shots of the same subject but in between shots turn the camera to do the focus on another plane. This is done to see if the camera will focus back on the same way.
Then, using LiveView and the magnifier while in manual focus, make the focus as sharp as you can and take a picture of the same subject.
Then go over to your computer, make a few 100% crops of the auto-focus shots and compare them with the LiveView manual focus.
This will:
1- Confirm if the camera is front-back focusing and if the focusing is consistent.
2- Will let you send Nikon service center a proof of the malfunction is there is one.
If you don't want to go to all that trouble, then just try using AF-S single point to acquire focus and then recompose and shoot. This is what I do and find the most efficient for me.
Good luck.
Put the camera on a tripod and find yourself a non moving subject with good light.
Use 1 point focus in the center in AF-S mode, take a few shots of the same subject but in between shots turn the camera to do the focus on another plane. This is done to see if the camera will focus back on the same way.
Then, using LiveView and the magnifier while in manual focus, make the focus as sharp as you can and take a picture of the same subject.
Then go over to your computer, make a few 100% crops of the auto-focus shots and compare them with the LiveView manual focus.
This will:
1- Confirm if the camera is front-back focusing and if the focusing is consistent.
2- Will let you send Nikon service center a proof of the malfunction is there is one.
If you don't want to go to all that trouble, then just try using AF-S single point to acquire focus and then recompose and shoot. This is what I do and find the most efficient for me.
Good luck.
picturegirl
Senior Member
Yea I was planning on doing all the tests before I spend. Thanks 
I will test them out
I will test them outpicturegirl
Senior Member
And I test it at different zoom right
Don Kuykendall_RIP
RIP :(
Autofocus fine tuning
there are many sites that will guide you through the process like Jeffrey Friedl's Blog » Jeffrey?s Autofocus Test Chart
It is totally reversible since it is just a setting in your menu and it will let you do any and all lenses that you have. Just remember the number you started on or if it is off to start with turn it on and test it and if yoiu are not happy turn it off.
I went through all the setting and got it better but still was not totally happy so I bought a program called FoCal You can follow the link to see the details. It is not completely automated for the D7000 but it will tell you what you need to change as it goes through the testing. The cost of the program is less than sending it off to Nikon for them to adjust and you can do it on all your lenses and any future lenses you buy. Also if you have more cameras you can adjust them also.
If it is a big deal to you to have sharp photo then this is the first step you need to do.
One other note and I think Marcel noting it also. AF-C is more for moving subjects so AF-S would be better for still subjects. Use the focus and recompose method. A number of people here including myself have changed over to the back button method of focus and it works great for the focus and recompose method.
there are many sites that will guide you through the process like Jeffrey Friedl's Blog » Jeffrey?s Autofocus Test Chart
It is totally reversible since it is just a setting in your menu and it will let you do any and all lenses that you have. Just remember the number you started on or if it is off to start with turn it on and test it and if yoiu are not happy turn it off.
I went through all the setting and got it better but still was not totally happy so I bought a program called FoCal You can follow the link to see the details. It is not completely automated for the D7000 but it will tell you what you need to change as it goes through the testing. The cost of the program is less than sending it off to Nikon for them to adjust and you can do it on all your lenses and any future lenses you buy. Also if you have more cameras you can adjust them also.
If it is a big deal to you to have sharp photo then this is the first step you need to do.
One other note and I think Marcel noting it also. AF-C is more for moving subjects so AF-S would be better for still subjects. Use the focus and recompose method. A number of people here including myself have changed over to the back button method of focus and it works great for the focus and recompose method.
picturegirl
Senior Member
Thanks, so this leads me to my next question I photograph a ton of kids should I still use af-s? Kids don't sit still and yes I'm almost on the back button focus have heard great things about it just need to do it right lol
I always use back button focus.
I shoot a lot of sports and I would set my camera to shoot anything moving to these settings.
Servo mode AF-C.
39 pt dynamic area setting (I've tried the single, 9 and 21 pt. But the 39 gave me the sharpest pics.).
Also set your AE-L/AF-L button to AF-ON.
You set your AE-L/AF-L button this way to work with the AF-C.
When set up like this, you use your thumb to press and hold the AE-L/AF-L button and your index finger on the shutter(not pressed half down).
By pressing and holding the AE-L/AF-L button it will make the lens continually focus on your subject, all you have to do is push the shutter when
you want to take a picture. It's the same as holding the shutter half way down but sometimes its hard to do that for a long period of time.
picturegirl
Senior Member
Yea I have watched all the videos I could on back button just haven't tested it out yet and I use af-c but others have said to use af-s?
Af-s focuses once and stops. This makes it easy to focus on a single point and recompose while holding the shutter button half pressed. Continuous focus keeps trying to maintain focus. Exactly how it does this depends on other settings and # of focus points that I won't get into now. There should be no great difference if you used af-c with single point on a still subject. You won't be able to focus and recompose, but both should take a still normal shot ok. There have been discussions on how precisely af-c vs af-s will lock on a single point. Don't worry about it now. Its important to use af-c for action and it is desirable but not absolutely necessary to use af-s for still. If you did use af-c on a still, you would need to be aware of how it works and potential problems especially if using more than one focus point. AF-c in a still shot could do something unexpected in a still shot like jump focus to something in the background.
This is where the back button technique comes in handy. When done properly, it gives you instant access to both af-c and and af-s-like behavior. I would suggest holding off on trying back button focus until you are 100% comfortable in using the default methods. Try out back button focus only because you think its a really great idea and have mastered doing it the regular way.
have you seen this article:
http://alexdanev.com/forum/Books/nikon/D7000_AF_Explained.pdf
It's a lot to read, but it's worth reading and studying and keeping it around for reference to learn all the ins and outs of your autofocus.
This is where the back button technique comes in handy. When done properly, it gives you instant access to both af-c and and af-s-like behavior. I would suggest holding off on trying back button focus until you are 100% comfortable in using the default methods. Try out back button focus only because you think its a really great idea and have mastered doing it the regular way.
have you seen this article:
http://alexdanev.com/forum/Books/nikon/D7000_AF_Explained.pdf
It's a lot to read, but it's worth reading and studying and keeping it around for reference to learn all the ins and outs of your autofocus.
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
Thank you for posting this!
I haven't had a working link for that article since Petapixel archived it; and it's a superb write-up.
....
It took some searching, but it turned up. I have the pdf on my computer like many of us, but I was reluctant to host it myself since its not my work and there is no author name on it. This guy probably doesn't own it either, but oh well.
picturegirl
Senior Member
You guys are so helpful thanks again I'm gonna test out lots of new stuff(to me) come the new year when I'm not so busy I really really want back button focus so that's my plan