D7000 Focusing Issue?

I purchased a D7000 in Dec. 2012 and recently have been "challenged" to get the focus tack sharp. I noticed it particularly after coming back from a portrait shoot yesterday where none of the images seemed to be "tack" sharp. Thinking it might be operator error or a lens issue, I went out this morning and shot a control subject with all my lenses at multiple f/ stops. I did this on both my new D7000 and my old, old D80. The D80 images were consistently sharper for every shot. Both cameras were shooting in RAW mode at ISO 100, single, center focus point and AF-S. I've reviewed them in both LightRoom and View NX2.

I'm aware of the "AF Fine Tune" on the D7000, and created a fine tune profile for one of the lenses, but it still seems like the images coming from the D80 are sharper.

Any suggestions on how to confirm this and quantitatively identify the problem? I can imagine the response I would get from Nikon -- similar to what I would get if I took my car into the dealership and said it was making an odd sound occasionally -- "We checked it out and couldn't find a problem ... everything is operating within specs, yada, yada, yada ..."

I bought a SpyderLensCal to calibrate my lenses... there are YouTube videos that suggest less expensive targets... I was shocked at the amount of fine tune I had to apply to some of my lenses to get "sharp"...

Most of my lenses back-focus (without adjustments)...

My 35mm F1.8G needed a -13 to get "sharp"... and my 18-105mm needs -10

Using test shots is sort of hit and miss... because you can't tell which way the lens is going and by how much... You need a good black/white high contrast target to focus... and you need a ruler zero'd out at the black/white focus point set at 45º... The target gets a solid focus, and the values on the ruler (in front of, and behind the zero point) show which way the lens is focusing and relatively by how much... Then you can adjust the fine tune until values on the ruler are equally in/out of focus...

Thanks Fred -

I was prepared to have to fine tune some of my lenses, but every one of them seems sharper on my D80, despite the older technology and lower resolution of the D80. I'm not sure what to do on my 55-200mm ... I don't quite remember the AF Fine Tune settings I came up with but at 55mm it was something like -10 and at 200mm it was +6. Setting it at -2 still didn't give me as sharp a picture as I was getting with the D80. I guess I trying to figure out if there a definitive way to determine if there's something wrong with the camera or just a tuning issue. I just keep coming back to the fact that the images are notably softer from the D7000 than the D80.

Use live mode to check focus, it uses a different system to the viewfinder and does not need calibration.

If you can't get sharp focus in live view you wont get it with the viewfinder.
If you can focus ok in live view but not with the viewfinder, it's a calibration issue that can be rectified.

Thanks Rexer John -- I noticed the different focus methods of the live-view vs. viewfinder in another thread. It's more of a looking at the image files afterwards that the D80 images seemed to be clearer, sharper. I spent a couple of hours AF Fine Tuning my lenses to the D7000 and it may have helped, but I've been staring at a monitor screen way too long now to be able to judge it for myself. I'm going to go out and shoot some normal shots and see if I'm happy with the detail being captured. My big question is still is there a way to be sure your AF system is operating to factory specs or if it is a bit off. That will be a nagging concern in the back of my head for a while ... are these images as "crisp" as they can be or is there something "off" within the camera ...

brady said:

Thanks Rexer John -- I noticed the different focus methods of the live-view vs. viewfinder in another thread. It's more of a looking at the image files afterwards that the D80 images seemed to be clearer, sharper. I spent a couple of hours AF Fine Tuning my lenses to the D7000 and it may have helped, but I've been staring at a monitor screen way too long now to be able to judge it for myself. I'm going to go out and shoot some normal shots and see if I'm happy with the detail being captured. My big question is still is there a way to be sure your AF system is operating to factory specs or if it is a bit off. That will be a nagging concern in the back of my head for a while ... are these images as "crisp" as they can be or is there something "off" within the camera ...

Click to expand...

Don't forget that the pixels of the D7000 being smaller makes for what seems like less sharp 100% pixel peeping on the monitor. But, as soon as you sharpen just a tad, they will jump out of the monitor. The D7000 is capable of fantastic shots. Sharpening is a must with the D7000 files and I'm sure you can get sharper pics with it than with your D80. But don't rely on the monitor, have some real prints made and then you can tell us what you think.

The focusing issues has kept me for buy a D7000 as an upgrade from a D50. Hopefully the D7100 works out of the box without any adjustments, you would think this is a easy thing to do as most nikon lenses should shoot on any nikon body with out needing adjustment.

The "Focus Issue" seems to be that a large proportion of the D7000's came out of the factory with a default calibration that reveals itself as a backfocusing issue with most lenses. Is this a "problem"? Yes. But it's correctable, and for any serious photographer, if you own a camera that allows you to calibrate focus for your lenses, not checking that calibration and setting it is akin to not checking the oil in your car. It'll still run, but one day it might bite you.

I have the SpyderLensCal that was mentioned and it's an awesome tool for this, but there are simpler methods to be used. This topic has been discussed several times in this forum, so a little hunting will yield links to blogs showing you how to do it with a chart you can print on your own, or a ruler. Here are a couple that talk about the D7000 specifically. It took me about an hour to do 6 lenses and I don't have to think about it any more. It's the first thing I did when I got my D600 and D800 as well. The D7000 ran consistently back between -8 and -12 for most lenses. I looked at that and set a default of -10 for all "unknown" lenses.

Lens Calibration Explained
How to Quickly Test Your DSLR for Autofocus Issues

We'll see if this level of backfocus on the D7100. There were reports that the D5200 exhibits the same type of focus offset between the two systems used (thru the lens and LV) so it may be inherent to the focusing algorithm and not a "camera issue".

I really appreciate your input, makes it alot clearer and understandable to me. I will check the links you posted. The SpyderLensCal looks like something I will consider getting. With the SpyderLensCal can you Fine Tune larger lenses like a 80-400 or 200-400

BackdoorHippie is more than a pretty face! The SpyderLensCal is an excellent piece of gear, it saved me from going to have my eyes checked on a couple of occasions, especially when I'm using a rental. Here in SA they're around R750 but in the US I'm sure they're ridiculously cheaper.

B&H has 'em for $62 and change, so it's about 25% cheaper.

Ooouch! Yeah rub it in why don't you... that's really frustratingly cheaper. Might have to just consider moving to the US just to buy gear.

I shoot so much in manual focus, that I tune to my eye, and also compare the af points, been lucky that the cameras have been fine. I'll compare my af with live view zooms,, must be mostly a quality control issue.

I also wonder about the G lens,, are we seeing really camera issues or lens tolerance.

Just about all my lens are the older D lens,, with the drive motor in the camera. or old school
manual lens.

but more and more folks are using the new G lens, with the motor in the lens, if that is out
of spec, well,, then would have to be tuned. So, I wonder how many people are blaming the
camera while the issue might be in these lower cost to build in China/thailand, or wherever the cheapest build is place.

but either way,, good to be able to tune/fix.

If it makes you feel better, I didn't get mine that cheap when I bought it.

stmv said:

I also wonder about the G lens,, are we seeing really camera issues or lens tolerance.

Click to expand...

Same lens on 3 different cameras, -10 on the D7000, +1 on the D800, 0 on the D600.

And I should say, it was very close to 0 on the D800.