AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

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TerryInns

Senior Member
Hi,

I have a AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II lens and am having some difficulty in getting crisp images from it, particularly with moving subjects, the images are coming out noisy, does anyone have one of these and have noticed similar issues?

I get better results from my 18-300 lens which is not what I'd expect given the relative cost.

_DSC9091.jpg
 
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10 Gauge

Senior Member
That photo looks good to me for shooting wide open. A lens in itself shouldn't (can't?) make your photo's noisy/grainy.

Are you shooting in RAW or JPG? If JPG, what are your NR / Sharpness settings? If you are looking to get slightly sharper images, try stopping the lens down a few steps and it should become absolutely razor sharp as that lens should be near razor sharp wide open.

Welcome!
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Welcome to Nikonites.

What I see in this picture is not noise, but rather lack of fill-in light. I'm 100% certain that if you would have used a fill flash the picture would look way sharper. 1/100s could be a bit slow for a moving subject and/or shake due to mirror slap. There also seems to be a bit of back focus (have you adjusted the fine focus with it?).

Practice makes perfect... Enjoy your lens.
 
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singlerosa_RIP

Senior Member
I have this lens and use it on three bodies, including a D7000. If you're getting better results from your 18-300, under the exact same conditions, something's not right. Obviously, conditions can't be the same, because the 18-300 can't shoot at 2.8. Try shooting both at 5.6 or f/8 and see what happens. Any chance you could try the lens on another body? Minimum focusing distance is 5', so make sure you get far enough away from your subject or your photo will not be sharp. The 70-200 VRII is an awesome lens and should allow you to take great pics. Good luck.
 
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mauckcg

Senior Member
f2.8 is a very narrow depth of field when your that close. Try stopping down to 3.2 or 4 and see what difference that makes.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
TerryInns said:
Hi,

I have a AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II lens and am having some difficulty in getting crisp images from it, particularly with moving subjects, the images are coming out noisy, does anyone have one of these and have noticed similar issues?

I get better results from my 18-300 lens which is not what I'd expect given the relative cost.
Click to expand...
I'm leery of trying to gauge too much from just one 600 x 400 image but I'm not really seeing noise in that shot; I do think the image is a little soft however. That being the case, and having only this one particular photo to look at, I'm inclined to agree with @mauckcg in that this could be a DoF issue. That being said I'm not ruling out motion blur either; especially considering the 1/125 shutter speed at 70mm. which would be the absolute bare minimum shutter speed in my book under those conditions.

Also, have you calibrated the auto-focus on that lens? Have you adjusted the Sharpness setting in the Picture Control menu? If you haven't done both of those things, I can't suggest too strongly that you do so. Both are easy to do, don't cost you anything and both can have dramatic impact on the overall sharpness of your photos.

EDIT: Almost forgot to ask... Did you have VR enabled when you took that shot? I find a lot of people turn on VR and just leave it on all the time, which is NOT a good idea. VR is a wonderful thing but it is a specific solution to a specific problem and, left to its own devices, it can cause as many problems at it solves: Softness in the image being the most common manifestation.
 
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TerryInns

Senior Member
I was shooting RAW, at the time I had NR on on the lens and I have tweaked up the sharpness setting on the vivid option in picture control.

Thanks for the tips, I am trying to master my skills with a small Fstop as I am taking shots of swimming indoors and so need to deal with low light and want to keep the ISO down
 
T

TerryInns

Senior Member
Marcel said:
Welcome to Nikonites.

What I see in this picture is not noise, but rather lack of fill-in light. I'm 100% certain that if you would have used a fill flash the picture would look way sharper. 1/100s could be a bit slow for a moving subject and/or shake due to mirror slap. There also seems to be a bit of back focus (have you adjusted the fine focus with it?).

Practice makes perfect... Enjoy your lens.
Click to expand...


I did did since try adjusting fine focus but to be honest the default seems to be pretty close.
 
S

singlerosa_RIP

Senior Member
DOF expands as the distance from your subject grows. Shooting at 200mm, @ 2.8 from 7' gives a DOF of .7", where as moving to 20' gives a DOF of 5.9". Moving back to 30' expands DOF to 1' 1.5". So, the closer you are, the more razor thin DOF is. There are many free smartphone apps that show this info.
 
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10 Gauge

Senior Member
TerryInns said:
I was shooting RAW, at the time I had NR on on the lens and I have tweaked up the sharpness setting on the vivid option in picture control.

Thanks for the tips, I am trying to master my skills with a small Fstop as I am taking shots of swimming indoors and so need to deal with low light and want to keep the ISO down
Click to expand...
If shooting in RAW only then no settings are applied to the photo. No NR, sharpness, picture style, etc. All of that is up to you to handle in post.

Sent from my HTC One M8 using Tapatalk
 
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TerryInns

Senior Member
Geoffc said:
Is that at Sale Waterpark? I took some these shots there. As to that lens, it's stunningly sharp at all apertures. If not there is a problem.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...

Thanks Geoff, that is why I am posting as I am expecting it to be stunningly sharp, not sure my results equate to that!
 
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