Autofocus problem?

[lynn_malpass]

<p>Hello everyone. <br /> I'm shooting indoor and outdoor concerts with a Nikon D70s and a Tamron 2.8 zoom and up until recently I have gotten amazing results from this little setup. I also have a couple of other lenses and a telephoto, but I always find myself resorting back to the Tamron - it's seemed like the perfect lens for me and almost everything I want to do with it.</p>

<p>Lately, however, I have been experiencing autofocus problems and I'm not sure what the issue is, whether my camera is possibly wearing out, or the lens is having a problem. The camera is now over 3 years old and though I have not looked for the exact number at this writing, I suspect I have probably shot 40,000+ shots with it over these three years. It doesn't SEEM to be having any problems, but lately I cannot get my autofocus to give me the results I have gotten in the past.</p>

<p>What I am experiencing is that my lens will focus, say on a person playing guitar, but the strumming hand is blurry. I never had that before. Sure, the shots that were not done with high enough shutter speed, but in general I have always been able to adjust to where I could stop the motion and get the strumming - or drummning - hands still, without a blur. The past three times I have been out, no go. I shoot with the camera on AF-C mode, Dynamic Area, though I have played around to see if I am just not set correctly, and still I cannot completely freeze the shot any longer. I can't freeze the motion even by upping my shutter speed, so that really baffles me. This is happening in daylight and low light, equally.</p>

<p>I just shot Warped Tour, which is an all-day concert with tons and tons of bands, shot 14 sets, 10G of pics and most of what I shot is junk. Thankfully I at least have enough "representative" shots for my needs, but there is nothing really "great" in this whole set. Unlike last fall when I shot Mayhem Festival, and got a few amazing pictures (and a portfolio image as well) in almost no light at all.</p>

<p>Any advice? Could this be camera wear with the autofocus or shutter speed? Lens problem? Can you recommend a way that I can try to pinpoint what it is?</p>

<p>Also, while I'm at it, to upgrade affordably... D90? </p>

<p>Thank you all for your time and advice.</p>

[mark_sirota1]

<p>If you could post a sample, preferably with the EXIF data intact, that would help a lot.</p>

[tommyinca]

<p>Did you set Auto ISO on before and now turned it off? If that happen, ISO can stay low and shutter speed goes low.</p>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>Is this a focus or motion problem? If the strings are in focus but the hand is blurred, it's motion.</p>

[Peter_in_PA]

<p>need to see a photo with exif data to know. It could be so many things...</p>

[wing8]

<p>At F2.8 you have very limited depth of field.</p>

[robert_k1]

<p>I just responded to a similar question here:</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00WvW7</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>...these dslrs have many focus setting options. They can be confusing and are not easy to understand as described in the user manual. If not set correctly for a particular situation, the seemingly random out of focus shots may lead one to blame the lens. Let us know what your settings are and the shooting situation, and you may get better answers.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>We know you shoot concerts, and "shoot with the camera on AF-C mode, Dynamic Area,..." That's a good start. While I'm not familiar with the D70s, I suspect that there maybe more focus setting options on it.</p>

<p>On my D200, there are far more menu settings involved, not to mention the body's knobs and switches. For example, focus point, focus locking, focus tracking, nearest subject, etc. can all be defined by a combination of the settings. Get one of them wrong, and you can end up with very unexpected and confusing results.</p>

<p>Some more information about the out of focus fingers shots would also help:<br>

- what percentage of the image do the fingers take up, e.g. 50% (closeup) or 2% (wide)?<br>

- how fast are the fingers (and body?) moving? what is the aperture and shutter speed?<br>

- if you are focusing on the fingers, how you you do it? e.g. the focus point is centered and so are the fingers, or the focus point is moved to where the fingers are (off center), or the focus point is centered and the fingers are off center, you focus on the fingers and recompose before releasing the shutter? in each of these situation, do you lock the focus first before releasing the shutter? (each of these three situation would require a different combination of settings to work right)<br>

- are the fingers in *high* contrast?<br>

- when the fingers are out of focus, are there other subjects in focus? are they in front or behind the fingers?</p>