gaule

<p>I use a ThinkTank Rotation 360, which, I find, gives me the best of both worlds. The lower part of the pack swivels around to the front, like a beltpack, and my D700 with a 24-70mm f.2.8 (lens hood reversed) fits in snugly in a horizontal position, ready for use. I mostly carry a D300 with a 70-300mm telephoto in the top part of the backpack, along with several other photographic items. The only problem is that this is really for a short, dedicated photo expedition, since it leaves very little room for carrying any of the gear a hiker would want on a longer trip. It's a solid pack, and with a tripod attached it makes its weight felt after a few hours' hiking.</p>

<p>From all you say, Gene, you definitely seem to have a problem with the lens. I would be slow to spend good money trying to refurbish it, but it may be worthwhile getting a professional opinion on that. If you are unable to move the focus points using the AF Direction Pad, it may well be that the camera itself has a malfunction. If the camera, on inspection, proves to be in good condition, perhaps you could get it alone at a nicely reduced price.</p>

<p>Many thanks to all for the helpful replies. Yes, I think manual focus is the way to go.</p>

<p>I use a Nikon D700, mainly for landscape photography, and usually try to include some foreground interest with as much DoF as possible. For this I tend to use hyperfocal distance and Single Point AF, but here a problem arises. The desired focusing point will normally be a short distance in front of me, in the lower third of the image, yet even the lowest AF sensor that I can choose on this FX camera is still too high. (Using a DX camera like the D300, there is less of a problem because the 51-point array covers a larger area of the total sensor surface.) You might say, just focus on what you want and reframe, but I have found that the resulting down and up tilt in the focal plane, however small, is usually sufficient to produce a perceptible loss of sharpness. Even when I stop down as much as possible to create greater DoF, this cannot be avoided completely. I use a 14-24mm f 2.8 and 24-70mm f 2.8, and know through experience that both are capable of excellent sharpness. Have others found this difficulty and found as well a way around it?</p>