Focus Issue D7000

What would cause pictures taken in focus determined by the camera beep and green dot bottom left of the viewfinder to not show a focus point after downloading and viewing with Nikons program on a computer? At least half of my pictures will show no focus point and the rest will. I am having focusing issues and this is the question I figured I would try to answer before moving to more drastic measures.

Is your camera set in release priority mode for your chosen AF mode (shutter will release regardless of AF lock)? This could possibly explain the issue. Try setting to focus priority(if not already), where the camera will not fire unless it has a definite AF lock. Double check results and see if all of your photos are then showing a focus point.

I checked yesterday and one of the AF-S or AF-C settings was on release. After ensuring they were both on Focus I took several shots and just downloaded them and all of them had focus points displayed when uploaded and viewed on my computer. So maybe that is my issue there. But my focus issues are still there. When I take pictures using the 55-300 MM VR lens I can getclose up portraits to be focused butwhen I take pictures of birds with the focus right on thesubject it is blurry. It also happens with my 35 MM Prime lens. Even when I getone that appears to be focused and I try to crop it, it is blurry.
I uploaded four pictures and hope I did it right. The one of the flowers is the only one that is in focus where the focus point shows.

Have you fine tuned the lenses?

My lens data did not load so I will add manually here. Data for pictures top to bottom.

1. Lens 55-300 MM at 280 MM ISO 800 1/160 F/5.6
2. Lens 55-300 MM at 300 MM ISO 1600 1/160 F/5.6
3. Lens 35 MM at 35 MM ISO 1600 1/1000 F/1.8
4. Lens 55-300 at 130 MM ISO 800 1/100 F/5.6

I have not fine tuned them yet. Next step I guess.

Fine tune for sure. Tune for the long end of the 55-300 if that's where you mainly use it. The fine tune on my Tamron is extreme at 600mm compared to 450mm.

Also, shutter speed of 1/160 is too low shooting at the long end of the 55-300. To make sure you're not introducing motion blur make sure that shutter speed is in the 1/400 or faster range. Not saying you can't get sharp shots at lower speeds but it sure makes it easier when you're shooting at 1/1000 for example.

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So frustrated with this camera. So much money put into it and the lenses and cannot get it to take the pictures in focus.

Thanks for the advice. I have made it a point in other pictures to use at least 1/1600 and still get the same results.

Try fine tuning before getting any more frustrated and see if that changes things. I highly recommend the dot-tune method. Worked perfectly for my lenses.

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I use a software to fine tune my lenses on my D7000 and D7100 and get fantastic results with it. Made a big difference in my focus. I tried the Dot-tune method and a couple of other procedures before going with the software. I was never able to get it as sharp as I thought it should be.

FoCal Pro - Reikan FoCal Automatic Lens Calibration SoftwareReikan FoCal Automatic Lens Calibration Software

I have FoCal too, just remember to make sure your target is well and evenly illuminated. It makes all the difference, if you choose the software method.

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I will give that a try and thank you.

Definitely fine tune your lenses, then take some photos. I've used charts and also the dot-tune method (prefer dot-tune); haven't tried the focal software.

If your lenses are brand new then re check the fine focus after about 1000 shots or focus on near then far objects about 300 times before setting .I have found the fine focus adjust setting stabilizes after the lens is run in ...must be to do with friction and the brake system when the lens reaches exact focus.

80Gritt said:

I checked yesterday and one of the AF-S or AF-C settings was on release. After ensuring they were both on Focus I took several shots and just downloaded them and all of them had focus points displayed when uploaded and viewed on my computer. So maybe that is my issue there. But my focus issues are still there.When I take pictures using the 55-300 MM VR lens I can getclose up portraits to be focused butwhen I take pictures of birds with the focus right on thesubject it is blurry. It also happens with my 35 MM Prime lens. Even when I getone that appears to be focused and I try to crop it, it is blurry.
I uploaded four pictures and hope I did it right. The one of the flowers is the only one that is in focus where the focus point shows.

Click to expand...

You mention "focus points" (plural). Now this could be part of your problem. You have to understand that when you let the camera decide which focus point it should use, it doesn't know what you are trying to photograph. It only looks for the best contrasty thing to focus on. In the case of your birds shots, there are a lot of branches in the background and I suppose the camera focused on them instead of the bird.

I would suggest you switch to AF-S single point focus and set the bird right on your focus target. This way you can then evaluate if the focus is OK or not. Whenever you work with multiple focus points, you could get cheated by the camera's focus selection.

In the owner's manual, there is a page where Nikon explains certain situations where autofocus doesn't do great, and your bird and branches falls right into these situations.

I have a D7000 and only use one focus point and find I get better focus results with this. Good luck.

Multi focus points are a great help in certain situations but as Marcel has said if you are not already using single switch to it and then you put the focus just where you want it.

If this is a second hand lens take a 50mm lens and use it as a magnifying glasss to examine all the screws and retaning rings on the lens to see if it has been dismantled ..or if you got it on ebay just send it back

I tried the dot-tune and I get the in focus green dot at the bottom of the VF and the camera beep for every range from 0-20 and 0 to -20 for both the 35 prime and 55-300. But when I take a picture of the chart it is definitely out of focus. These are lens' I bought new and have probably 10,000 pictures on them.

Here are two pictures. 1 with live view and the other with VF using a remote switch and tripod 6 feet away centered on the center of the chart. I am using AF-S, Single Focus center sensor and lens is 35mm 1/30 ISO 100 F/1.8 for live view and 1/40 ISO 100 F/1.8 for VF. The live view is in focus.

Did you make sure to switch to back button focus and half press your shutter when checking at fine tune points? That was an addendum later added that needs to be followed for Nikon shooters when using this adjustment method.

Also move closer to your target. I like to be as close to the target as I can get. Narrower dof helps narrow your af fine tune point.

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