Yes, you are right. But I faced the same problem with better lighting too and have clicked sharper images at same distances earlier with the same lens
Photo Sharpness affected
- Thread starter Rajdeep
- Start date
Yes, you are right. But I faced the same problem with better lighting too and have clicked sharper images at same distances earlier with the same lens
Scott Murray
Senior Member
I honestly do not have any idea as I have never experienced this, if its a lens issue then you will need a specialist take a look at it.
By the way thank you for all those words. I really need to find an answer to why this is going wrong before I really lose anymore of my sleep. Will try out he lens on different bodies as discussed and get back
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
If I were you I would do some tests. Set up an object far enough away that you can get a good shot at 300mm. Take three shots hand held using say, ISO 400, and auto-focus. Choose a moderate shutter speed and fStop for the prevailing conditions (I'd probably use "P"rogram Mode for these tests). For the second set of shots mount your camera on a tripod and use the timer with a 2 second delay. Take three more the shots using the same fStop and shutter speed as you did before. When you're done, compare the shots and see what you find. I would also experiment with the VR settings.
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That last photo you posted of the bird further away is very odd. There doesn't seem to be the kind of effect of camera shake I would expect. The close-up of the bird on the post also looks strange because if you look past the haze it is fairly clear. It is almost as if something got on the lens. Did you thoroughly check the lens/lens filter and look at both front and back elements? Did you ever drop the lens?
Otherwise let's go through the camera settings.
Did you have it set on AF-S or AF-C?
Did you have the focus area set on auto, single point, dynamic or 3D?
It might be possible that if you are set in AF-S then when you push down to focus, and then push down again to release the shutter, you release it before the lens has completed its full range of focus and interrupted the focusing process. You might try AF-C as then it will just continue to focus even after the initial focus set prior to the shutter release. Since you have your subjects dead center in the frame, I don't think the focus area is a concern as if it was on single point then you might be focusing on branches instead of the bird if the bird was off center.
But I agree you have to perform a simple test with and without a tripod and use the self-timer with AF-S and focus on the stationary subject before you start the self-timer so to make sure it locks onto the subject. And by all means put it on a second camera if you have one and do the same test. I mean, you can even do this test by just looking through the viewfinder and see how the focus behaves. When I get a new lens, I spend a lot of time looking through the viewfinder and then pointing to near and far things in the room and watch what it picks up within the focus area and how quickly it locks onto a subject of interest.
Otherwise let's go through the camera settings.
Did you have it set on AF-S or AF-C?
Did you have the focus area set on auto, single point, dynamic or 3D?
It might be possible that if you are set in AF-S then when you push down to focus, and then push down again to release the shutter, you release it before the lens has completed its full range of focus and interrupted the focusing process. You might try AF-C as then it will just continue to focus even after the initial focus set prior to the shutter release. Since you have your subjects dead center in the frame, I don't think the focus area is a concern as if it was on single point then you might be focusing on branches instead of the bird if the bird was off center.
But I agree you have to perform a simple test with and without a tripod and use the self-timer with AF-S and focus on the stationary subject before you start the self-timer so to make sure it locks onto the subject. And by all means put it on a second camera if you have one and do the same test. I mean, you can even do this test by just looking through the viewfinder and see how the focus behaves. When I get a new lens, I spend a lot of time looking through the viewfinder and then pointing to near and far things in the room and watch what it picks up within the focus area and how quickly it locks onto a subject of interest.