This is getting to be a royal pain! Today I stopped at the park looking for a few birds. Saw some robins, red-winged blackbirds, and geese. Almost everything was in focus like this image. This didn't even require PCC shake reduction which has been standard since the problem began.
The I stopped elsewhere and mounted the lens/TC and body on a tripod. Literally everything appeared to be fine from f/6.7 up to f/16 without VR. And I even removed the camera from the tripod and hand-held with no issues using both the normal VR as well as the Active VR (which is what I typically use due to very weak arms from surgery). Except for a few instances where the focus point caught a blade of grass, the rest are fine. In the past, I turned off VR, tried Normal VR as well as Active VR but kept having issues. I have no idea what changed today. And I used the same shutter speed and exposure that I typically aim for. This is really strange. So I will see what happens the next time out.
The I stopped elsewhere and mounted the lens/TC and body on a tripod. Literally everything appeared to be fine from f/6.7 up to f/16 without VR. And I even removed the camera from the tripod and hand-held with no issues using both the normal VR as well as the Active VR (which is what I typically use due to very weak arms from surgery). Except for a few instances where the focus point caught a blade of grass, the rest are fine. In the past, I turned off VR, tried Normal VR as well as Active VR but kept having issues. I have no idea what changed today. And I used the same shutter speed and exposure that I typically aim for. This is really strange. So I will see what happens the next time out.
