Newbie need help with pics and set up of nikon d3100

Hi guys, I've purchased a nikon d3100, it has the 18-55mm lens, i also purchased the macro lens af-S micro 40mm.

 

i can't get any pics right. I've been trying and trying. the pictures I'm taking are mobile phone lcd screens from different angles.

it tends to be clear one side however blurry on the other side and vice versa.

 

any hints and tips please.

 

 

regards

Dylan

Does the Nikon have manual control ?

 

Set aperture to f8 or f5.6 and select a slow shutter speed

Setting the focus on "Center" will probably help as well. Center focus allows you to focus on what you want to focus on and not what the camera wants to focus on

seems to have made a difference :-)), thanks

 

I'm just getting bits in the middle that tend to be off focus

 

in regards to the settings menu overall, what should i adjust it to, i.e. Iso, etc etc

Setting the focus on "Center" will probably help as well. Center focus allows you to focus on what you want to focus on and not what the camera wants to focus on

 

 

will try that now thanks

I'm getting a clearer picture now as the rim of the lcd is more clear now. where as before it was all blurry. its now the centre of the lcd which is slightly blurry. very slightly though

Hi guys, I've purchased a nikon d3100, it has the 18-55mm lens, i also purchased the macro lens af-S micro 40mm.

 

i can't get any pics right. I've been trying and trying. the pictures I'm taking are mobile phone lcd screens from different angles.

it tends to be clear one side however blurry on the other side and vice versa.

 

any hints and tips please.

 

 

regards

Dylan

 

That's the problem with a DSLR which has a rather large sensor. The depth of field is too narrow. You will need to use a very small aperture like f/16 but doing that you are going to need a lot of light or a tripod and long exposure.

I'm getting a clearer picture now as the rim of the lcd is more clear now. where as before it was all blurry. its now the centre of the lcd which is slightly blurry. very slightly though

 

The LCDs are emitting light when they're on. Are you photographing the screens when they're on or off ?

 

If the screens are on, the light from them will cause flare in your Nikon lens - and that's why they are a bit blurred

The LCDs are emitting light when they're on. Are you photographing the screens when they're on or off ?

 

If the screens are on, the light from them will cause flare in your Nikon lens - and that's why they are a bit blurred

When they are off sir.

You might try posting an example image, along with a complete description of all settings and setup conditions used in its capture. It sounds like a combination of depth of field, curved focus zone, and possible lens distortion, particularly if you are photographing the perfectly flat lcd. At any off angle, the shallow dof of a macro or very close focus image will be very evident, even at smaller apertures. If photographed face-on, any distortion in the lens or lack of flatness in its zone of focus will be very obvious against the straight lines of the lcd edges, and the patter of pixels. Your 40mm macro lens will focus very, very close, but such close distance exacerbates distortion and focus plane issues. Stepping back a bit and using a longer focal length lens should give a different result, but only within the bounds of the lens' capabilities.

in regards to the settings menu overall, what should i adjust it to, i.e. Iso, etc etc

ISO: If you have flashes or strobes in use (or tripod and remote release): Set it to the lowest. - Higher means more noise or if the camera smoothens that out: less details. If you have to handhold your camera under not enough continuous light, you might have to shoot at a higher ISO to avoid camera shake. I guess 800 shouldn't be too bad but the maximum or even extended setting won't look great.

I usually don't care about any other menu setting like contrast, saturation, sharpening. - I shoot RAW images for post processing on a computer. - If you want to get JPEGs straight out of camera maybe hit kenrockwell.com for settings suggestions.

For JPEGs you'll need a fixed (not Auto) White balance setting.

 

To understand what you'll get in focus and what not: Grab a ruler oe similar to measure your subject camera distance in various points and hit A Flexible Depth of Field Calculator Looking at that you'll surely figure out on which part of your screens you should place a single focus point.

I'm shooting products too. my sensors have less resolution than yours so I dare to do the job at f16. - Maybe you'll already see diffraction kicking in at that f-stop and will be better off using f8 or maybe f11. If that is no option google "focus stacking" or save up for a tilt shift lens.

. . . Your 40mm macro lens will focus very, very close, but such close distance exacerbates distortion and focus plane issues. Stepping back a bit . . . .

 

Probably very good advice - depending upon WHAT the PURPOSE and the USE is, for these photos of Phone Screens.

 

If this, below, is something like you want to achieve, and for example you do not require exhibition quality prints, then you do not need a macro lens.

 

Nor do you necessarily need a longer focal length lens. Nor do you need Focus Stacking. Your kit lens will do the job.

 

There are three photos below. All made with a 50mm Macro Lens at F/5.6.

The top row are un-cropped. The bottom row are cropped to about the same size for the phone.

 

The first two are taken at a Subject Distance about 300mm.

The first image has "SAMSUNG" in focus but the bottom of the phone is not in focus.

The second has the bottom of the phone in focus but "SAMSUNG" is not in focus.

 

The third image is taken at a Subject Distance about 1000mm, (i.e. at SD = 1000mm then ANY 50mm lens will do the same job) - note how when cropped the top and also the bottom of the phone is in reasonable focus.

 

The theory behind this is "Depth of Field". And the application of the theory in this case is: the greater the Subject Distance the more DoF you will have.

 

The error that many beginners make is believing (or being told) that a MACRO lens is necessary for making images of small objects for low res viewing - for example as sample photos for web display on a selling website.

 

 

On the other hand - if web images are not your final use, then more details are required from you to attain more precise advice.

 

WW

Good advice above.

 

As others said, the biggest issue is likely to be depth of field - how far out of focus something has to be before it looks blurry.

 

The lens makes an image of a surface in 3D space; if your subject is on that surface, it'll be "in focus". For most lenses, that surface is supposed to be flat and perpendicular to the front of the lens (a "focal plane"); in reality, there tends to be a bit of curvature. A macro lens is likely to have a flatter field than a general-purpose zoom, though, so if you're using one, it's likely that a bigger problem is that the screen you're photographing isn't all the same distance in front of the lens. I would suggest locking the camera in place (with a tripod if you've got one, wedged against something solid if not), positioning the phone in front of it, and using the live view mode on the camera. You can then zoom in and move around the image with the controller on the back; this gives you a very good idea of whether the image is in focus, and you can examine all the areas of the image separately. Put the camera in manual focus (the autofocus system probably won't know what it's looking at), and adjust the lens until some of the phone is in focus. Then rotate the phone until you get all of the bits you want to be sharp, in focus. As Wouter says, being absolutely sharp isn't necessary if you're planning to produce a smaller image for web use.

 

Finally, as others said, you can increase the depth of field (the rate at which things not on the focal plane go out of focus) by reducing the aperture. The smaller the aperture the less light you'll be letting in (so allow for a longer shutter speed - another reason to use a tripod - or use a flash), and the more the image quality will reduce from diffraction - but if you're up close, f/8 to f/16 might be a good idea, and allows you to be more out of alignment than if you were at f/2.8. As in Wouter's helpful examples, what you need will depend on your distance from the subject - get really close and even the smallest aperture you can select will only give you a tiny depth of field.

 

Photographing an off screen is a bit strange. Are you trying to show scratches or diffraction colours from the touchscreen grid? You may find that control over the light is more important than anything else. If you're only looking at a relatively small area of screen, lighting the phone with a flashlight (or an actual flash gun) might be more important than trying to get the focus nailed.

 

Best of luck, and I hope that's some help.

Depth of field is a real problem here. When I took pictures of my old cameras to list them on Ebay I couldn't get everything in focus if I use my Nikon Df so I used my very old Nikon Coolpix 5000 and everything was in focus.

Depth of field is a real problem here. When I took pictures of my old cameras to list them on Ebay I couldn't get everything in focus if I use my Nikon Df so I used my very old Nikon Coolpix 5000 and everything was in focus.

 

It can be done with a DSLR...

 

 

Depth of field is a real problem here. When I took pictures of my old cameras to list them on Ebay I couldn't get everything in focus if I use my Nikon Df so I used my very old Nikon Coolpix 5000 and everything was in focus.

 

Well, a flip-out screen is useful for macro (extensively, since I've been using my D850 for it), so I guess that's a reason to consider the Coolpix 5000. As far as I can tell the Coolpix lens goes down to f/8 (wide end) on f/7.6 (long end), and it's got a crop factor of about four. So that minimum aperture is about f/32 in full-frame terms (f/8 divided by four); the 60mm AF-S macro stops down to f/32 (even ignoring the reducing aperture at close range), so you should be able to get that from the Df. Some lenses, especially faster ones, bottom out at f/16 (since you're into diffraction there anyway), but then you could apply a 2x crop to the Df's 16MP image and still roughly match the Coolpix.

 

But whatever's convenient for you. :-)