D3000 blurry pics on tripod

Hey all. So i'm trying to take natural light with my camera and everytime i take a picture of myself or someone else while it's on the tripod the person is very blurry. Why does this happen and how can i prevent it?

Beginner here.

Re: D30000 help

First things first.

A picture with the EXIF data would be very helpful.

That being said, I suspect that you have the camera set on Autofocus and you are taking the shot while the camera is still focusing.

Try slowing down a bit. I know you are in a hurry, but waiting a few seconds will probably not destroy your schedual!

Re: D30000 help

Was the person moving? How much light was there? Sometimes there isn't enough light to do certain pictures. Cameras don't see the same as our eyes see. You have to learn what it can and what it can't do. There is a learning curve to photography. Just practice and keep learning.

Re: D30000 help

Hrm, something sounds fishy about this D30,000. Knockoff? (j/k I'll fix the title for you )

Hello, have d3000, I'm a newbee to the digital SLR, sugest you get the book," Nikon D3000 for Dummies".
easy to follow, and try turning off the VR-Vibration Reductance on your lens and yes take your time.

If your lens has Vr it needs to be turned off on a tripod, also use auto focus constant [AF-C], and it pays to use your flash...

Hi Don, I am new to DSLR camera's too, i found a book by Jon Sparks, titled Nikon 3000 The expanded guide. ISBN 978-1-906672-69-0 - £14.99.
Very comprehensive and easy read.

Hi
Sorry to bring back to life an old topic, but I think I'm experiencing the same thing on different subjects. This is a picture I took with my Nikon D3000 on a tripod:

http://www.salatti.net/DSC_0077.NEF

If you zoom in, things get blurry pretty fast. Am I doing something wrong or is that normal?
The camera was on a tripod and no VR...

Sale said:

Hi
Sorry to bring back to life an old topic, but I think I'm experiencing the same thing on different subjects. This is a picture I took with my Nikon D3000 on a tripod:

http://www.salatti.net/DSC_0077.NEF

If you zoom in, things get blurry pretty fast. Am I doing something wrong or is that normal?
The camera was on a tripod and no VR...

Click to expand...

Well, at f22 you certainly are getting some kind of diffraction that does not help.Try shooting around f8-11 and the results should be better. Also, 1/40s is slow on a tripod outside if any wind is present. Did you depress the shutter with your finger? Did you use the mirror up function? Or delay shutter? These could have prevented vibrations caused by the mirror coming up just before the exposure.

Minute little things can make or kill a shot.

Practice makes perfect, don't give up.

And for those of you who just wanted to see the picture in jpg format, resized......

Sale said:

Hi
Sorry to bring back to life an old topic, but I think I'm experiencing the same thing on different subjects. This is a picture I took with my Nikon D3000 on a tripod:

http://www.salatti.net/DSC_0077.NEF

If you zoom in, things get blurry pretty fast. Am I doing something wrong or is that normal?
The camera was on a tripod and no VR...

Click to expand...

I dont know a single photographer who's photos are sharp at 100% uncropped view. So i think you're worrying too much. The photo looks fine for an amateur shot. One thing though, you've used -EV to the point where your shutter speed is down to 1/40th. Unless you have a VR lens, this maybe a tad too slow, so if you need -EV, and i assume you did because of the extreme contrast between land and sky, then up the ISO a stop ( or 2 ) to get some shutter speed back. Also with a static shot like that, you could AF then switch to MF and initiate LV 10x ( if you have that function ) and manually focus in case the lens is not accurate enough

Like Jack i ran it through my Editor ( CS5 ) and ignoring my own style of processing, the sharpness seems ok once its reduced to a reasonable size

So, after reading your suggestions I have been there once again today.
I had the time to take just two pictures, then I run out of battery...
This picture is the best of the two:

http://www.salatti.net/pre.NEF

And here is the same after a bit of post-processing (too much probably):

http://www.salatti.net/post.jpg

I'd say it's better than yesterday, but weather conditions were different...

And here is a resized version:

They both look fine to me. However, when posting to the forum, please convert to jpg before uploading. NEF files are too large and take too long to open in a browser. Thanks.

Sale said:

And here is a resized version:

View attachment 14413

Click to expand...

I took a long look at this shot. I have a couple of questions.

Does your tripod have a hook underneath in the center of the head?

If so, try hanging a bag or something weighing about five pounds off of it and retake the shot.

I suspect that you may be pressing the shutter button a little forcefully.

I am seeing a slight blurring in this shot.

If you DON'T have a hook, try using the timer to re-take this shot.

That way, you have a few photos to compare.

Hope this helps.

Its also possible that if you're using the kit lens, that its just not good enough at resolving the detail of Nikons top glass.

This may sound weird, but if you are using a tripod, there is not much reason to use VR. If you have VR turned on while your camera is on a tripod, the vr is trying to compensate for something that is not really there; therefore, causing slight blurr. Use your timer as well so you don't have to touch the camera when taking picture.

Carolina Photo Guy said:

I took a long look at this shot. I have a couple of questions.

Does your tripod have a hook underneath in the center of the head?

If so, try hanging a bag or something weighing about five pounds off of it and retake the shot.

I suspect that you may be pressing the shutter button a little forcefully.

I am seeing a slight blurring in this shot.

If you DON'T have a hook, try using the timer to re-take this shot.

That way, you have a few photos to compare.

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

I don't have a hook but there's a way to hang things there! Tomorrow I'll be there again and I'll try with some weight, but this picture was taken with the self timer (2 seconds). Unfortunately my camera doesn't have the mirror lock up functionality.

Pierro said:

Its also possible that if you're using the kit lens, that its just not good enough at resolving the detail of Nikons top glass.

Click to expand...

I'm using the kit lens...that could be the problem?

D5100Shooter said:

This may sound weird, but if you are using a tripod, there is not much reason to use VR. If you have VR turned on while your camera is on a tripod, the vr is trying to compensate for something that is not really there; therefore, causing slight blurr. Use your timer as well so you don't have to touch the camera when taking picture.

Click to expand...

I don't have the VR thing, I only have the basic kit lenses.

Ok, so...
I found out that the Nikon D3000 with standard settings and kit lenses produces somewhat "soft" images. There's a setting in the camera that allows you to increase the sharpness of your pictures. On various websites they suggest to increase this value of 1 or 2 points.
+2 is working for me!