New D500: All Shots Blurry

[hark]

Please post some samples and be sure the EXIF is visible. If not, please include the EXIF with each photo. That's the only way we can truly tell if something is wrong with your camera, your settings, or if it's something else.

As others mentioned, make sure you have the latest firmware for your lens. If it doesn't have the latest firmware, the communication between the body and lens might be compromised.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

Yes, the Tamron 150-600 exhibits the same behavior of creating all black images in shutter priority mode.

Well your shutter speeds for the blurry shots are all *extremely* slow; I'm seeing 1/6, 1/2 second shutter speeds for those shots.

Your all-black shot, on the other hand, shows a shutter speed of 1/8000, which is waaay faster than necessary.

The question now is why are the shutter speeds so unnecessarily extreme?

 

[Skwaz]

I just posted the same answer but don't know where it went , first three are aperture priority so you have set your aperture , set yor ISO and the camera gets correct exposure which has resulted in a very slow shutter giving motion blur , up your ISO ! The last shot is in shutter priority set at 1/80000 ! No light getting in

 

[Skwaz]

Well your shutter speeds for the blurry shots are all *extremely* slow; I'm seeing 1/6, 1/2 second shutter speeds for those shots.

Your all-black shot, on the other hand, shows a shutter speed of 1/8000, which is waaay faster than necessary.

The question now is why are the shutter speeds so unnecessarily extreme?

Hi Paul , is it not simply because he has aperture priority se , ISO set so camera has to lower shutter to get good exposure which if you look past the motion blur they are not badly exposed

 

[Chris@sabor]

All due respect...it's time to crack the books, read this forum, go to YouTube and learn about the exposure triangle.

You went from entry level to professional camera. Operating a professional camera requires the appropriate knowledge.
Another tip try small adjustments...

 

[Marilynne]

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions! I will try them.
I wasn't sure the best way to share pics with EXIF, so I took a snapshot of the screen with the EXIF data showing. Yes, I am a newbie skill-wise, but this means a lot to me.
First off, I did a lot of research on the camera before buying. I know it's a very well respected camera and capable of extraordinary shots, much moreso than my previous camera. I am not in any way trying to disparage the camera. I know the issue is with my expertise, although the aperture priority issue is confusing to me (see below).
I have 4 examples with their EXIF data showing. I think the first three all show similar things. Actually, I think they represent about the best I can get with just straight aperature priority. Maybe 1% actually come out crisp. Anyway, they are representative of all the shots I get with factory settings reset and switched to aperature priority (arguably a little better than average of what I'm consistently getting). The light doesn't seem to matter too much (although performs poorer in lower light situations), the lenses (one of which is tried and true) don't seem to matter much, nor does the subject, not the background (although a less busy background does some better).
Lenses tried, both with very similar results and same settings:
Tamron 150-600mm, good antivibration
Nikon DX 16-80,DX, VR ($1000 lens that came with the camera)
I know a lot of suggestions will come in to lower shutter speed or whatnot, and I respect those comments and will explore them. But I feel like I should be able to put it in aperture priority mode and not get a 99% blurry issue under a lot of different conditions. This is what I've always done, and for the type of nature photography I like, where I hike 6 miles and might get 10 - 50 good opportunities for shots and I have an instant to make the capture.
The last one is all black and that's the first time I've seen that. I think I was toggling back and forth between continuous low and continuous high. I've used Ch in the past without issue, but I believe the black photo resulted from switching to Ch in the indoors.
I'm at all loss. I can diagnose the underlying issue, I believe, and also how to manually set the camera to adjust, but I would like a setup that lets me take the pictures on the fly, in an instant. I know that is probably distateful to some professionals, and I understand, but it's what I like to do, given my current skill-level.

I kept getting errors on upload, so hopefully everyone can access this.

Guidelines to adding a photo to your post.

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1. Resize photo to 1000px on the long side.​

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2. Resolution set to 72ppi (Pixels Per Inch)​

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These guidelines will be good for viewing on a computer but will not be good for printing. This will help safeguard your copyright.​

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Capture Date

2013:05:10 12:26:07

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2013:05:10 12:27:06

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[hark]

Well your shutter speeds for the blurry shots are all *extremely* slow; I'm seeing 1/6, 1/2 second shutter speeds for those shots.

Your all-black shot, on the other hand, shows a shutter speed of 1/8000, which is waaay faster than necessary.

The question now is why are the shutter speeds so unnecessarily extreme?

Hi Paul , is it not simply because he has aperture priority se , ISO set so camera has to lower shutter to get good exposure which if you look past the motion blur they are not badly exposed

I missed the link the OP posted on a different page. Raise your ISO so your shutter speed can go higher. What mode did you use on your previous body? Was it some type of Program or Auto mode? As Chris mentioned, you should learn the relationship between the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO because they work hand-in-hand. You'll get it eventually! :encouragement:

 

[bluegrassman]

I would respectfully say that I have acknowleged several times that my knowledge is lacking, but i don’t think it’s unreasonable to be concerned that essentially no pictures coming out of aperature priority are acceptable. Yes, i need to learn more. That doesn’t address the issue, IMHO.

To hark’s question, i used aperature priority with my D3400 for years and it worked beautifully.

 

[Marilynne]

Just something to try - what happens if you shoot in the green auto mode?

 

[Skwaz]

Only trying to help man , set your camera to auto ISO with a minimum shutter speed relative to your lens and just use aperture priority , you be good to go

 

[bluegrassman]

My comment was in response to Chris.

 

[mikew_RIP]

Sorry but the errors in these samples are user error, i hope you can take this in the spirit it is meant,

Hand held at 1/4 of a second is a none starter that is why at the moment as its been suggested you perhaps need a better understanding of the exposure triangle, its not complicated.

Your shutter speed is very important when hand holding and the slow shutter speed is what killed this image.

 

[bluegrassman]

Please believe me when i say that i understand that this is user error. I feel like i have acknowledged that. That is why i am here. I also understand that i can diagnose and manually correct the issue.

But for someone who doesn’t aspire to be a professional, who just wants to go on a 6 mile hike and capture the best pics i can in nature, often with just a blink to get the capture, i don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to hope for an automated option. I think that’s why they create those modes. In the past, on a nikon, aperature priority worked miraculously. My expectation was that aperature priority would behave SOMEWHAT the same. If that is not the case, that surprises me, but OK, Doesn’t seem like an unreasonable assumption. It surprises me that Ap effectively can not produce a single decent shot without manual intervention, unlike my past dxperience with the D3400. But if that is the case, ok, disappointing, but ok.

 

[mikew_RIP]

what iso where you on because i cat see it on the Exif, i can assure you the camera will give you that instant correct exposure if you just hang on in with us and understand we are trying to help.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

I would respectfully say that I have acknowleged several times that my knowledge is lacking, but i don’t think it’s unreasonable to be concerned that essentially no pictures coming out of aperature priority are acceptable. Yes, i need to learn more. That doesn’t address the issue, IMHO.

To hark’s question, i used aperature priority with my D3400 for years and it worked beautifully.

There is no reason to believe your camera is NOT working correctly.

In any of the semi-automatic modes, such as Aperture Priority, YOU control certain aspects of shooting and it appears clear to me you simply do not understand some of these crucial aspects. For instance, shooting handheld at 1/2 second will give any mortal photographer motion blur. Shooting at 1/8000 second at ISO 100 at the apertures you used will give any photographer a near all-black exposure unless there is an enormous amount light entering the camera; this is just the physics of photography.

As has already been stated, you simply need a better understanding of exposure and what each part of the exposure equation controls (shutter speed vs motion blur, for example) as it applies to photography and yes... This DOES address the issue. It is, in fact "The Issue".

 

[Skwaz]

Sorry Blue but if you had both cameras at the time you took those shots both at those settings they would both give the same results

 

[Marilynne]

Metering mode Pattern? What's that?

 

[mikew_RIP]

Metering mode Pattern? What's that?

Most likley matrix

 

[Horoscope Fish]

Sorry Blue but if you had both cameras at the time you took those shots both at those settings they would both give the same results

Excellent point.

 

[bluegrassman]

First off, can we please put to rest that i am trying to blame the camera? If i suggested that, i withdraw it. I acknowledge that it’s me.

Yes, i am not trying to portray that i understand all the crucial aspects. I openly acknowledge that i do not. This is why i want to use a preset mode. In the past, that worked for me. My confusion primarily comes from the fact that aperature priority on d3400 worked beautifully with zero manual changes. Clearly, that is not the case on the D500.