Focus Issues...mine, not the cameras!

Feel a bit silly with this post but I'm having issues with focus on my new D7200. I went to a zoo the other day and had a LOT of out-of-focus pics. I found it very hard to get a centre weighted focus point that stayed put! Admittedly I was shooting everything from snakes to birds but I would have liked more control over the focus. Out of 314 photos, I kept 68 (for various reasons.

I would love to read your input on your settings for focus on the 7200.
Cheers
Brad

I never use any focus point other then single point. Focus and recompose. To me that is the only way that works consistent for me. I also use Back Button Focus so it makes focusing easier.

brads said:

Feel a bit silly with this post but I'm having issues with focus on my new D7200. I went to a zoo the other day and had a LOT of out-of-focus pics. I found it very hard to get a centre weighted focus point that stayed put! Admittedly I was shooting everything from snakes to birds but I would have liked more control over the focus. Out of 314 photos, I kept 68 (for various reasons.

Click to expand...

I strongly favor single point focus too, used for essentially everything (I don't chase fastest motion though). I do like to choose my own focus point, like on the eye of the subject.

See AF-S and AF-C in the manual.

My first suspicion about out of focus problems is always on AF-C focus mode. All manuals clearly say that AF-S is for stationary subjects, and AF-C is for moving subjects. So I use AF-S.

AF-S locks focus and exposure at the half press. At default priority, the shutter cannot activate until focus is achieved.

However AF-C continues with focus following motion as long as half press is held. But manual also says about AF-C "At default settings, shutter can be released whether or not subject is in focus (release priority, page 276)".
So in practice (and at defaults), AF-C triggers the shutter first, and then hunts for focus later. My thinking is it should be the other way around (which AF-S default does).

So (my words) if using AF-C with X frames per second of continuous shutter, the camera might find focus on the 2nd or 3rd image. That could work, if willing to discard the first one or two frames. Or if you are willing to hold half press a short while so it can focus, before jabbing the shutter release.

But AF-S (at default priority) will not release the shutter without first being in focus.

This seems pretty important. I would call it a plus.

Back button focus is always set to AF-C but don't let that confuse you When you press the button it will focus in AF-C and when you let go it automatically goes back to AF-S. Hold it down and it stays in AF-C. You get the best of both worlds without having to go into the menu.


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brads said:

I would love to read your input on your settings for focus on the 7200.

Click to expand...

Are you maintaining a shutter speed of one-and-a-half to two-times the focal length? For instance if you're shooting at 100mm the shutter speed should be, at a minimum, 1/150 (with 1/250 being even better)). Maintaining the proper minimum shutter speed is essential to getting consistently sharp shots.

For slow moving, or stationary objects on a DX body I shoot with AF-C and either Single Point or Dynamic 9 Point (D9). Usually I use back-button focus, but that can vary. If shooting with a sufficiently deep depth of field, I'll focus and recompose using the center focus point/focus point array. The wider my aperture, though, the more likely I am to move the point or array instead of recomposing.

Check the settings of the images you rejected.
1. If the speed is low then they may be out of focus - camera or object shake
2. If the camera is set to AFC, the camera will fire, in focus or not
3. If the scene is dark and ISO is set to manual, then the shutter speed may be low.

If you still have the images you rejected, please post one of them, so that we may know more

Horoscope Fish said:

Are you maintaining a shutter speed of one-and-a-half to two-times the focal length? For instance if you're shooting at 100mm the shutter speed should be, at a minimum, 1/150 (with 1/250 being even better)). Maintaining the proper minimum shutter speed is essential to getting consistently sharp shots.

For slow moving, or stationary objects on a DX body I shoot with AF-C and either Single Point or Dynamic 9 Point (D9). Usually I use back-button focus, but that can vary. If shooting with a sufficiently deep depth of field, I'll focus and recompose using the center focus point/focus point array. The wider my aperture, though, the more likely I am to move the point or array instead of recomposing.

Click to expand...

Focal length...boy, there's a brain burner. I'm reading up on it all but it's difficult to say the least. I will soldier on. Thank you for all that info, Paul. I appreciate it.

aroy said:

Check the settings of the images you rejected.
1. If the speed is low then they may be out of focus - camera or object shake
2. If the camera is set to AFC, the camera will fire, in focus or not
3. If the scene is dark and ISO is set to manual, then the shutter speed may be low.

If you still have the images you rejected, please post one of them, so that we may know more

Click to expand...

Not all pics were as bad as this. Most, yes. I was about 6 feet from the bird. Using an 18-200 lens.

brads said:

Not all pics were as bad as this. Most, yes. I was about 6 feet from the bird. Using an 18-200 lens.

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From the looks of that shot, I'd say the focus point was somewhere in the vicinity of the red "X", not on the bird. Were you using AF-A as your Auto-focus Area Mode? I ask because AF-A typically selects the nearest object as the focal point when left to its own devices.
.....

Horoscope Fish said:

From the looks of that shot, I'd say the focus point was somewhere in the vicinity of the red "X", not on the bird. Were you using AF-A as your Auto-focus Area Mode? I ask because AF-A typically selects the nearest object as the focal point when left to its own devices.
.....
View attachment 201012

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Yes, it probably was, although I wasn't being attentive. It was my first day with the camera. Compared with this, a better shot in my opinion.

Birds in the woods only use SINGLE POINT way too many branches for focus points to catch

Kevin H said:

Birds in the woods only use SINGLE POINT way too many branches for focus points to catch

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Is single point also the best for birds in flight or would you recommend something different for that.

Thanks.

It is very doubtful that you can follow a flying bird with single point. That is is for stationary subjects, where you have time to select the focus point. Or slow moving stuff, but flying birds seems ruled out.

Read the camera manual, what it says about single point and 51 points, etc.

WayneF said:

It is very doubtful that you can follow a flying bird with single point. That is is for stationary subjects, where you have time to select the focus point. Or slow moving stuff, but flying birds seems ruled out.

Read the camera manual, what it says about single point and 51 points, etc.

Click to expand...

You might want to look at the Birds in Flight thread most are shot in single point I know all mine are

Be careful when you let the camera select the focus point, else what happened in your first image will be the result. Normally for stationary/slow moving objects you use a single focus point. When selected it will show as a red rectangle. Even then is the focus point rectangle is larger than the object (happens with distant objects) you may get focus at wrong point. So always check what the camera has focused on. Here is an example. I wanted the red flower, but camera focused on yellow. The red rectangle is the focus rectangle. (this is 1:1 zoom)

WayneF said:

It is very doubtful that you can follow a flying bird with single point. That is is for stationary subjects, where you have time to select the focus point. Or slow moving stuff, but flying birds seems ruled out.

Read the camera manual, what it says about single point and 51 points, etc.

Click to expand...

It's not that hard to keep tracking a bird with single point but there's more room for error than when using multiple. I close to never use single (for moving) on my FX but for some reason my D7200/Tam doesn't perform too well when using more than a single point.

Kevin H said:

You might want to look at the Birds in Flight thread most are shot in single point I know all mine are

Click to expand...

Power to you then. It is of course good to know where the focus point will be, and I guess I don't know the details, but I assumed the predictive focus tracking of motion needed more than one point.

I am another one who uses single point for BIF.

Brad, can you get your PP to show where your focus point is in your shots? I known I can do this with NX-2. It showed me where I failed on a few occasions.

Roy1961 said:

I am another one who uses single point for BIF.

Brad, can you get your PP to show where your focus point is in your shots? I known I can do this with NX-2. It showed me where I failed on a few occasions.

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Here I go, proving what a dill I am. @Roy1961, not sure what the PP is and how do I show it.
Cheers
Brad

PP is just post process, whatever you use to clean/touch up your shots, i use the free NX2 i got with the camera, along the top row there is an icon button to show your focus point when you shot.

sent from Pandora's blue lagoon