D300 focus problems

<p>Hi all, recently, Ive noticed that my D300 struggles a little with focusing. It seems to be focusing in front or even sometimes behind my intended focus point. I use single point AF on continuous servo mode for much of my photography.<br>

On nice bright days on highly contrasty subjects, it seems to perform alright, but it is not like it used to perform. No settings or otherwise have been changed unless there is something very obscure that could be done by accident to cause a problem (doubt it).<br>

Just getting a feel if this is a problem that exists or if I need to consider other factors that might be causing this.<br>

I should mention that the lens is the NIKKOR 70-200mm 2.8 with VR.<br>

Thanks in advance for any feedback.<br>

Gord</p>

<p>maybe the VR makes that problems, bring it to a service point to check.</p>

<p>VR should not cause a focus lock on problem or positional shifting. (Front focus/back focus)</p>

<p>I suggest you do some more "controlled" study.<br>

If you have another lens, use it in your testing.</p>

<p>Can AF suffer focus problems? Of course. Anything electronic can.</p>

<p>I've never experienced this however after several years and thousands of AF lock ons.</p>

<p>I would also suggest to give the body and lens contacts a good cleaning. There are videos on Youtube that show how to do it. I use DeOxit from Radioshack and it does the trick.</p>

<p>Hi:<br>

I purchased my D300S from Amazon Com on October 28, 2009 with a 50mm portrait lens as the new 18 - 200 mm zoon lens was not yet available.<br>

Right out of the box I was having auto focus problems and made negative comments on Amazon's focus group. All the "experts" basically told me I was crazy as the D300S was the best professional camera available.<br>

Finally I got the 18 - 200 mm zoom and still not able to take focused photos using any of the many auto focus settings.<br>

I did try the focus offset feature that is one of the camera's "hidden" features. I set the offset differently for each lens and the problem improved slightly.<br>

Now, I can sometimes take a reasonable photo in daylight with a bright sunny type sky.<br>

Example: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/E0ZD1pKTgQBTisRMsuFNTg?feat=directlink<br>

But in the studio. I can't use autofocus at all - nothing is in good focus. I can use manual focus and take some very nice in studio shots. <br>

The other camera settings and functions are excellent as is the color of the photo. I get excellent results that require basically no post processing other than cropping.<br>

I do believe ther is a fundamental FLAW with the autofocus of the D300S.<br>

My friend was in the studio some months ago with his D90 and it took perfect in focus shots of the same subjects I had to manual focus on.<br>

I have spent countless hour reading the manuals, making adjustments and trying different settings. I can sometimes get a decent photo outside. Here are some examples.<br>

https://picasaweb.google.com/RigaRooster/NikonTestShotsSeptember302010?authkey=Gv1sRgCLS937OW7uCFdQ&feat=directlink<br>

I continue to look for answers.<br>

This is a lot of money for a manual focus "black box"</p>

<p>.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Hi:<br>

I have found in the studio that I can achieve better results - slightly using a tripod not a mono pod. The issue is that when you click the shutter there is a slight downward movement of the lens resulting in a blur.<br>

I set up a test image on the wall that consisted of several intersecting lines crossing in the middle at all angles including horizontal and vertical. When taking photos handheld, the vertical lines are in focus and the horizontal lines are not.</p>

<p>When taking the same shots with a tripod, the horizontal lines are almost as in focus as the vertical lines.<br>

I now have a mono pod with a remote shutter release and I plan to try outside shots as soon as the weather turns warmer.<br>

.</p>