D5200 focusing on sky and clouds

bandit993

Senior Member
I have noticed than when trying to focus on the shy, with or without clouds ,my d5200 will "hunt" to focus and then when I press the shutter button nothing happens. What can I do about ? is it the type of focusing system? There are 2 different types aren't there? Are Fx cameras better for that? It does it with different lenses so it has to be in the camera.. Thanks in advance..
 

J-see

Senior Member
The problem likely is that your cam is set to shoot only when something is in focus. Since it is often hard for it to find something to focus upon in the sky or clouds, it'll not shoot.

I have mine set in such a way I can always trigger regardless if in focus or not.

A simple trick is to focus on something else in the distance that is clearly defined and then shoot the clouds. That might only work with back-button focus.

Check this out for back-button focus:

http://nikonites.com/tutorials/26657-back-button-focus-how-use.html
 
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Moab Man

Senior Member
The reason your camera is having difficulty is that it looks for contrast to focus. Uniform color without a breaking contrast line it can't focus. Point towards the edge of a white cloud against the blue sky and it will focus. Then you can half shutter, hold, and recompose the shot. That will not work if your camera is on continuous focus.
 
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