Something is misfiring

[texaslimo]

And it has to be my brain. I have forgotten how to shoot. I went out yesterday with the new toy just wanting to get used to the new toy and its performance. I am using a Z8 with a 20-120 f4 S. I was toying with different settings and trying out different modes. It was bright with a good breeze picking up occasionally. My focus appears to be off, but I was using different settings. Usually I just use single point, but I wanted to try out the button layout and focus modes. My focus is off, but off HOW? What setting did I get wrong here? The first one gets bad as soon as you start to zoom in. There isnt even a good spot to say that ahh, this is where I was focusing instead. Its just all fuzzy.

The second one is better but still not great.

 

[BF Hammer]

I see the focus plane on the 1st photo. It is just off center. I really don't know if you are manually choosing a focus point here or it auto-selected. I tend to let the camera auto-select and I see the squares show where it wants to focus in the confirmation on lock. But remember you can override by touching the screen to select focus. I have read of people leaving the rear screen on all the time and accidentally touching their nose and changing the point.

Not sure where you wanted to focus on the 2nd photo, but it did pick the very front tip of the nearest seed pod. It is sharp as can be there.

And another thought just to cover the bases. Did you even check the firmware levels of the Z8 and 24-120mm lens? It is normal to buy new gear and have it still be the original factory release version. Up to you to update those. Z8 ver 3 just released weeks ago.

 

[texaslimo]

I know there has to be a joke in there somewhere about me sticking my nose into it.. An interesting thought though that i could be touching the screen and moving the focus point.

I am on version 2.0. As I read 3.0 just came out. I am not sure that is it good or not yet. Was 2.0 bad?

 

[BF Hammer]

There is some very beneficial new features in ver 3.0.1 but also reports of incompatibility with 3rd party lenses in 3.0.0. It's been 4 weeks since rollout of the 3.0.1 revision and all quiet on the problems since. I would risk it at this point, less adventurous people might wait another 4-6 weeks.