D 90 Focus Issues

[gene thornton]

<p>Once again I come before this very knowledgeable group with a question. After my scrounging around for a deal on a used Nikon D 90 and not finding any that I felt was worth while, I bit the bullet and bought a new one from a local dealer with the 18 - 105 VR lens.<br>

I find the book to be more confusing than the camera but I do have a definite focus problem, it simply does not offer crisp sharp images, even when placed on a tripod. I have tried different settings without acceptable results, of the 40+ pictures I have taken only two are actually sharp.<br>

While looking through the view finder I can see the subject come into focus, the indicator in the view finder says it is in focus, the live view being small also looks good, but when I put it in the computer it is a different story.<br>

I went back to the dealer and he did not have much of answer and suggested I try another lens. So I tried my old 28 - 80 from my 8008 with the same result. He was willing to let me try another 18 - 105 VR but I took his suggestion to change some of the settings which made no difference in the focus.But I felt I would get further if I tried his suggestions<br>

I wonder if I exchanged the entire camera and ended up with the same situation he might not be so willing to refund any money.<br>

I don't think I am being too critical, after all when you spend that king of money I expected it to be considerably better than my Fuji f6500, but as it turns out the Fuji produces sharper pictures.<br>

One other question, how do you embed the date in the file number<br>

Open for suggestions or any thing that might offer some help on this.<br>

Thanks for any help and/or suggestions</p>

<p>Gene T</p>

<p> </p>

[gogu]

<p>Hi!<br />Why don't you post here one of the pictures you consider "unacceptable" so people can judge?<br>

Also check the camera settings and if in doubt set the camera to default settings (press simultaneously the two buttons with the green dot). Most of the times it's user's error but it's not impossible you have in your hands one of the few faulty samples.</p>

<p>rgrds</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>A sample photo would help. Otherwise we're just guessing.</p>

<p>I tried the D90 for the first time on Friday and even with the slowpoke 55-200 VR indoors (with a maximum aperture of f/5.6 at 200mm I had to crank up the ISO to 3200) I was impressed by how well the autofocus worked. It was good enough to track people walking around in a local camera shop (probably around EV 6 or 7 illumination), and could even differentiate well enough to track the subject when someone else moved between me and the subject. Coming from having used a D2H for more than four years, I was impressed enough with the D90 to consider it as a backup.</p>

<p>Are you sure you're seeing a problem with focus rather than a lack of sharpening? At least one review (dpreview) indicated the default sharpening of the D90 was a little soft. Try some careful editing and sharpening to see whether it improves things.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Indeed, we need a little more to go on, here. It's possible that you're seeing the results of a somewhat shallow depth of field, brought on by using the lens fairly wide open. It's possible you're looking at a relatively low-contrast, un-saturated, un-sharpened image that's the natural output of the camera until you either tell it to perform work in those areas in-camera as it writes the JPGs, or until you do so yourself in software after the fact.<br /><br />What software are you using, when you "put it in the computer?" There are a lot of areas to talk about, here, before you assume a defective camera.</p>

[cc_chang2]

<p>The D90 has no known issue so it should be very reliable. Try to shoot in good light with a tripod to avoid camera shake, but you need to make sure to <strong>turn the VR OFF</strong> when used on a tripod. Try AF-S, single area AF. In my experience even with slow kit lens, it focuses very fast and accurately even indoors. If this still does not work, why don't you ask for an exchange?</p>

[timblodgett]

<p>It could just be that you need to turn up in camera sharpening to your taste. I had to with my D90.</p>

[ddrake]

<p>Ditto on the above, I have the D90 and turning the VR off while on Tripod is good. Also agree that a few sample shots would be helpful.<br>

Dan</p>

[mizuho_saito]

<p>I think I set my default sharpness to 5 or something like that. Try shooting with flash/good light if possible. Good luck!</p>

[gene thornton]

<p>In first response to Lex, sharping in my mind is something you should not have to do with a camera of this caliber. Under stand I am not opposed to that move as I need to do that with one of my older less expensive Nikons.<br>

To Matt, we are not talking about depth of field we are talking about the subject not being clear or sharp. It is not my software that is the problem, image on monitor is not in focus.</p>

<p>Attached are a few shots as requested, just as the came out of the camera, no resizing, no sharpening.</p>

 

[gene thornton]

<p>Hi Guys,<br>

It looks like the system does not like the size of these pictures, now I need to ask some what size is acceptable?</p>

<p>Thanks, Gene T</p>

 

[gene thornton]

<p>Sorry about that my first time posting pictures here, I believe I have it now.</p><div></div>

[gene thornton]

<p>Next</p><div></div>

[gene thornton]

<p>Another</p><div></div>

[gene thornton]

<p>And another</p><div></div>

[gene thornton]

<p>Now the following are all taken with a tripod and the vibration gizmo turned off</p><div></div>

[gene thornton]

<p>I see I need to type something here</p><div></div>

[gene thornton]

<p>Last one, I hope this is a fair cross section of what I am fussing about. As said before I would expect this camera to produce a sharper image than my Fuji f6500, but unfortunately it does not. Having tried a different lens with the same result, I am leaning toward returning the whole thing.<br>

I took some prints to the dealer today and the salesman agreed they were poor. I also took some other work so he knew it was not my Canon Pro 9000 printer causing the problem</p><div></div>

[stephen_asprey2]

<p>Apart from what seems to be a relatively narrow dof for f6.3, they look fine to me. Go to aperture priority and select F8 or F11 and try that.</p>

[billsymmons]

<p>Try turning off the focus points and using just the centre focus spot so you can tell what you are focusing on. some of these look like a somewhat shallow DOF with focus on the closest thing to the camera.</p>

[hans_janssen]

<p>Gene wrote: "In first response to Lex, sharping in my mind is something you should not have to do with a camera of this caliber. "<br>

Change something in your mind, because have sharpen pics from a digital camera even from a D3.</p>

[james_symington1]

<p>Hans is right Gene. There is nothing produced digitally that does not need sharpening of some sort. Typically you would sharpen your image a little when captured - usually part of the customisable Picture Control settings - and when you output them to the web or a printer you would go through a second round of sharpening. A fact of digital life.</p>

[gogu]

<p>Gene,<br>

there is nothing wrong with your pictures!<br>

In the pictures of flowers they are sharp where the camera has focused but because of the focal length of your lens and the close shooting distance they have a shallow depth of field thus anything else is out of focus; I'd say everything is normal with this kind of photography!</p>

<p>rgrds</p>

[chris_letts]

<p>When I first bought my D200, I was horrified that the images did not seem to be as sharp as my old D80.<br>

Trawling the internet educated me as there were several references to this 'fact'. The fact was actually that I was misconstruing what I believed to be 'sharpness'.<br>

Now you don't say how you are taking images (raw or what?) but if not raw most of the apparent sharpness is probably in the processing - I think if you shoot raw+jpeg you will probably find the jpeg looks initially 'sharper' than the raw image.<br>

Apologies if you have considered all this, but at that time I did not and it took me a while to realise that the D200 was in fact producing better images than the D80 so it's just a word-of-caution !<br>

As others have observed your sample pictures look just fine to me.</p>

[jamie_mahoney]

<p>Hi Gene!<br>

As a happy owner of a D90, perhaps I might offer a few suggestions for your situation.<br>

The D90 is actually a fairly complex camera, allowing for many adjustments in-camera for image processing. I shoot about 80% jpeg (I'm not a big fan of post processing) and I can tell you that the look you are wanting is most probably within a few setting changes on your camera.<br>

I spent a few hours when I first got my D90 experimenting with the Picture Controls in the menu. Then I found out about the My Menu menu, and the ability to set the top item in the My Menu menu to the Fn button on the front of the camera. This little trick allows me to pick a picture control with just a push on one button.<br>

I made several custom picture controls, and experimented with the various types of photography I prefer. For example I made a Portrait -HI (Sharpening +6) and a Portrait-LO (Sharpening +2) for the different subjects I might encounter. I think of Picture Controls as picking a film type from the old days. My custom Landscape for example has sharpness +6 and saturation +2, for the Velvia look.<br>

If you prefer RAW, then ViewNX can still apply your custom Picture Control to your RAW file, and you can further adjust the setting such as sharpness and contrast, among many others. ViewNX also works fine with jpegs.<br>

Your Fuji f6500 probably has it's default sharpening and processing set at higher levels than Nikon does. Also, Active D-Lighting (which I use on auto mode) in the D90 extends the dynamic range of the image, but it may appear less contrasty, making your pictures appear less sharp. Turning this mode to low or off might give you more of the look you seek.<br>

As I have found out more about the amazing features the D90, and how to use them quickly and effectively, the better my images have become, right out of the camera. I hope this helps you to do the same!</p>

<div></div>

[gene thornton]

<p>Thanks Guys,<br>

All these shots were taken with the setting at raw+jpeg, all prints are from the raw file. They do clean up when sharpened but having to do that is somewhat disappointing.<br>

I have a friend that has a D 70 and another that has a D 40, I have some pictures that were sent to me from the D 40 and they are sharper than mine. I can borrow the D 70 and try it as well.<br>

So today's project will be to get this thing off program and into aperture and take a bunch of shots using my settings, and I will dispense with the 9 focus points which seems annoying to me anyway, as it seems that it can't make up its mind as to where it wants to focus.<br>

I will be back</p>

<p> </p>