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Post by lindasutton on Oct 15, 2006 14:15:03 GMT -5
Wanted to check if anyone else is having this problem with their d70. This has happened a lot of times, and particularly when I'm using the long 300mm lens. Local camera store is saying to buy a new camera...kind of a standard reply. I did buy a monopod and am trying that out now. If anyone else has any suggestions on what can be done to help, please reply.
I have a 600 flash unit that I use with it. The click-up flash unit often is trying to come up too. Is there a way to disable that when the other 600 is on?
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Post by Larry N. Bolch on Oct 16, 2006 17:07:41 GMT -5
Very doubtful a new camera would solve anything. Extreme focal lengths present extreme problems for everyone who is stuck using them.
The Focusing Problem
When a 300mm lens is out of focus, it can REALLY be out of focus - to the point that the camera sees just a featureless grey blur. Auto-focus requires finding something quite contrasty to lock onto. Since all it sees is the blur, it has to hunt until it lucks onto something - and that can take a while. Of course, if the light is dim and the lens is slow, that adds to the problem. At f-2.8, a pro 300mm lens may focus reasonably well, but typical consumer zooms can only manage something like f-5.6 at the telephoto end, so have only 1/4 that amount of light to work with.
You may have to focus manually. Nikon's breathtakingly expensive 300mm f-2.8 lens - beloved by Sports Illustrated shooters - has a thumb-switch on the barrel to instantly kick it into manual focus mode. Even in the brightly lit stadiums where it is used, and with the pricey Nikon D2Hs and D2Xs bodies optimized for quick focus, there are times when it is faster and more accurate to manually focus. With the minimal depth of field of super-telephotos, accuracy in focus is of utmost importance. Even manually, a 300mm lens is a challenge to focus in anything other than very bright light.
Motion Blur
Even more of a problem than focusing a 300mm lens, is motion blur. The 35mm equivalent of a 300mm lens on a D70 is 450mm. Compared to a "normal" 50mm lens, all camera movement is being multiplied nine-fold. Motion blur is often mistaken for lack of focus. Where there is motion blur, auto-focus is also drastically impeded - even if the camera does find something contrasty to lock onto, camera motion is so great that it still can not.
By the well known rule of thumb, one should not attempt to hand-hold a camera with such a long lens at under 1/450th of a second. Many people are not capable of achieving sharpness without going to even shorter exposure times. A lens or camera that uses image stabilization or vibration reduction can improve the situation somewhat, but even these technologies have limits. A monopod can help a lot, perhaps letting one shoot at 1/125th instead of 1/500th. However, even with a monopod, any side to side movement is still being amplified by nine-times.
None of this can be improved by a new camera - you are fighting the laws of physics and those were set by nature long before photography was invented. A 300mm lens is a challenge to use in bright sunlight, and supremely difficult to use otherwise.
So what to do?
If the light level is low, use a very sturdy tripod and a great deal of patience. When shooting from tripod, a remote release or using the self-timer will reduce movement. Whenever possible use your feet for zoom and use a shorter focal length instead. A 300mm lens is considered special equipment and has very limited use.
Be obsessed with your shutter speed. If hand-holding, NEVER shoot under 1/450th of a second. If shooting from monopod, lean against something if you can for added stability, and still try to keep the shutter speed as high as possible. If you must hand-hold, again look for something to give added steadiness - a post, a tree, back of a chair, anything that you can rest your hand or your camera upon.
Practice and test to learn just what it takes to shoot with this lens. Realize that few pros other than wildlife photographers and sports shooters have ever even touched a 300mm lens and they work for years on their skills.
They may be shooting a thousand or more pictures per week, which helps keep the level of skills up. Even so, they must shrug off a lot of shots that are of less than optimum sharpness. They shoot enough exposures to cover these.
A couple of years back at the SuperBowl game, 11 SI photographers shot over 16,000 exposures during the game - for the few that actually made it onto the pages of the magazine! Even though these are the best sports shooters in the world, the editors were complaining about how many fuzzy shots there were.
Given the challenge of the super-telephoto, give yourself time to practice enough to determine your personal threshold shutter speeds - when hand-holding, shooting off monopod and shooting off tripod. Be aware of what it needs to focus when selecting subject matter - make sure there is something with adequately high contrast for it to lock onto. Practice manually focusing as well.
Above all, be patient - with the equipment and with yourself.
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Iwerk
New Member
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Post by Iwerk on Oct 20, 2006 23:48:51 GMT -5
I've noticed problems with the autofocus on my D70s when pointing at a black object only a few yards away. This was indoors and I was using a 50mm f/1.8 prime lens. As Larry has already stated, the camera is looking for something of contrast to lock on to.
There is a saying in the photography world that I find quite amusing. It is about the real difference between amateur and professional photographers. The pro is ecstatic when one of his photos looks good, while the amateur is upset when one of his photos doesn't look good.
The moral of the story is to take lots of photos. Eventually, you will get the hang of it. It's like anything in life, practice makes perfect...
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Iwerk
New Member
Posts: 36
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Post by Iwerk on Oct 21, 2006 0:12:39 GMT -5
In regards to the question about the flash popping up when you didn't want it to.
The Auto friendly modes, on the dial, will automatically pop the built-in flash.
Modes M, A, S, P will not pop the flash unless you do it manually.
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Post by Larry N. Bolch on Oct 21, 2006 2:49:58 GMT -5
There is a saying in the photography world that I find quite amusing. It is about the real difference between amateur and professional photographers. The pro is ecstatic when one of his photos looks good, while the amateur is upset when one of his photos doesn't look good.... And a similar quote "If you want a job done quickly, hire a beginner." |
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