Focusing Nikon D90

[anne_wolff]

<p>I'm back again with my autofocusing questions. After much reading and talking to Salespeople and Nikon, I've concluded that for shooting running and playing dogs, my settings should be: AF-C, Dynamic, and Normal.( I think!) I'm also trying to keep my ISO low on bright sunny days, but to get the shutter speed (in shutter priority) up to 1000 and get a fairly high f-stop, I need it set to at least 500. I need 1000 to get speeding dogs and at least f-10 or f-11 to help get the eyes in focus.<br>

One last thing - I try very hard to keep rectangle in viewfinder on dog's head, but my camera salesman pointed out (and I saw) that my camera is focused on the grass and keeping that in focus even as I pan with the dog!<br>

I would appreciate any advice from anyone who does similar action shots. I'm attaching a sample.<br>

Anne Wolff</p><div></div>

[Matthew Brennan]

<p>I see in this example here that the focus is clearly on the rear quarters / lower belly of the dog. I think you need to set your focus point closer to the head end of the frame and try to pan a little ahead of the dog giving the camera a small lead before you hit the shutter button. I find this works for me when chasing birds. It's a counter intuitive technique but works well for me as I tend to slow the lens' panning speed as i hit the shutter button and get the subject lagging inside the frame.<br>

<br /> I'd sugget you are using too tight an apperture here f/10 f/11 is overkill, I'd open your lens up to f/5.6 to f/8 and see if an ever faster shutter speed can gain you some extra sharpness to your images. In this example I think the ears and rear paw are a little motion blurred.</p>

<p>I agree that a shutter speed of 1/1000th is the minimum you need to get all the moving parts of a dog in full movement nice and still. I'd like to see the shutter speed halved to 1/2000th for real freeze effect.</p>

[nishnishant]

<p>Also, one other alternatuve to try is to use M mode, set the minimum shutter speed you want, say 1/1000, the minimum aperture you want, say f/5.6, and then set it to auto-iso. You may find some of your shots have rather high ISOs, but your shot will be in focus without blur. And the D90 has good ISO performance anyway + worst case you can clean the noise using software.</p>

[Peter_in_PA]

<p>Don't be afraid of higher ISO. For stuff like this, right now I only have the "soft" 200mm end of my 18-200, what I've been doing is setting it at f8 or f11 (on my lens I get MUCH better results at f11 if the background is not too busy, ymmv), setting auto ISO, with max ISO 1600 and min shutter speed 1/500 or 1/1000. In dim light I find that ISO3200 is okay for the prints I make, but only if the exposure is spot on (My son is African-American, so I need to over-expose a bit anyway). I have tested, and up to 8 x 10 you can (if you are careful) get just as good a result with 3200 as 400 or 800. That said, I've shot dogs, too, and they are actually a little more challenging than kids.</p>

<p>I get good "action" results, but focus can be iffy. (Shoot a LOT and learn how to manage your AF system by LOTS of trial and error...) I'm not normally a sports photographer (just when my kid plays soccer), so I don't worry about it. Otherwise I'd have saved longer for the D300 or something. But I know you can get some good action stuff with this camera, you'll just have a lot more throw-aways than those guys with the Multicam 3500 AF module (D300/700/3/3X). That's okay, SD cards are cheap!</p>

<p>Oh, and turn VR OFF.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>I agree: it's do-able with the D90, but your technique has to be really good, and you have to tolerate weeding through a lot of OoF action shots. It's just reality until you're working with a more sophisticated AF system (as seen on the D300).<br /><br />But just as an example, here's one taken at f/3.5, 1/800th, and ISO 320 (in fairly decent light). This was done with a D<strong>200</strong>, which means its AF system isn't particularly better than the D90's. The D300, which I use for most action stuff these days, is a substantial improvement.</p><div></div>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Here we have the D300, also with the 70-200/2.8. Stopped down more, this time, at f/9. <br /><br />Used AF-C, 51-point 3D tracking. 1/800th was fast enough for me, action-wise. These dogs were really moving, so panning technique is important.</p><div></div>

[anne_wolff]

<p>Thank you all very much. Your suggestions were exactly what I needed and I actually did much better today! Can't tell you how much I appreciate your help and look forward to the day I'm confident enough to help other people.<br>

Matt, your pictures are fantastic!</p>

[samuel_lipoff]

<p>Matt, that shot of the two dogs frozen in motion is just beautiful!</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Thanks, Anne and Samuel. I like that photograph as well - it really captures the breed well. Needless to say, the folks who own those two dogs have a large print of that image hanging over their couch (the couch those same two dogs sleep on, of course!).</p>