focus issues

[Nomadr]

my eyesight's not brill so i tend to rely on autofocus (plus its quicker than manual focus and speed often counts),just lately i realise that my 70-200 2.8 can usually nail the focus whilst my 35-70 (old style) nikon 2.8 is blurred,wondering if its the VR helping on 70-200 or if i have focussing issues with the wider angle lens,I dont want to buy a new 35-70 until they introduce a VR version if i can help it but i keep missing shots with the older version, heres an example from the other night, the actual pic plus a 100% crop of where the focus point was, any ideas ? cheers martyn

[Nomadr]

ps 1/500th F2.8 iso 1600 so it shouldnt be camera shake due to low shutter speed,

[William W]

ps 1/500th F2.8 iso 1600 so it shouldnt be camera shake due to low shutter speed,

The AF might have missed focus, difficult to tell. A better way to tell that, is to make 100% or even 200% crops at different planes in front of and behind the Subject and note any differences in sharpness.

But the point is, at that Shooting Distance (and then the subsequent relative enlargement of the Subject): one must NOT rule our Motion Blur due to camera shake and/or Subject Motion.

At that S.D. (and the resultant enlargement) - around 1/1250s or faster, would be closer to a "safe" Shutter Speed to arrest resultant Blur due to Camera Shake and/or Subject Movement.

WW

[Nomadr]

thanks for your reply Bill,will check the whole of the photo to see if anything else has a sharper focus,will be using that lens again tonight at a rock concert so i need to sort it fast,the singer may have been moving about,cheers martyn

[Manfred M]

Martyn - what focus mode are you using? With the 70-200mm, you are restricting focus to a reasonably narrow band. If you are using too many focus points, the camera might be focusing one the wrong points. I've pretty well switch to doing most of my focusing using the centre focus point only, making focus and then adjusting the composition. Seems to work a lot better for me than the various matrix / multi-point modes.

[Nomadr]

i just use single point AF and usually try to get it on their face.looking at the pic more closely it looks like the focus is on her hand and she may be flicking her head back, will see how i get on tonight.cheers martyn

[Manfred M]

i just use single point AF and usually try to get it on their face.looking at the pic more closely it looks like the focus is on her hand and she may be flicking her head back, will see how i get on tonight.cheers martyn

Are you using continuous focus? That might help in these rapid movement shots.

[Nomadr]

good point to make but yes I was shooting continuous focus,I shot some bands with it the other day and it wasnt too bad (especially close ups).cheers martyn

[chauncey]

Check the floor at her feet...would give you a clue concerning back/front focusing issues.