Comments on: unsharp images – so what went wrong this time?

By: Fred Hoegeman

Fred Hoegeman — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:39:28 +0000

It seems this is a hand-held issue.
Do the shots (vertical) improve overall when a mono or tri-pod is used?
This leaves the left hand with less to do.:-)

Fred Hoegeman

By: Bogdan

Bogdan — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:35:23 +0000

Hi Neil.
Having small hands does not help if you don’t pay attention to your technique.
I have small hands but I had a similar issue free switching from 28-70 to the 24-70. I believe this last lens handles quite a bit better than the old one (larger zoom ring set a bit further from the camera) but one’s enthusiasm could lead to somewhat sloppier technique ( it did for me).
Thanks for posting this.
Cheers,
Bogdan

By: David Lee

David Lee — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:01:55 +0000

Hi Neil,

I usually get more out-of-focus shot with my EF28-135, maybe due to accidentally nudge the ring too. I’ll try to take note on my next shooting. Thanks for pointing out this possibility.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:10:31 +0000

I have to agree that is is an informative entry. While I don’t have large hands, I do think this has happened to me as well. My grip on the lens is close the the focus ring and even the slightest nudge while pressing the shutter release button will mess up the focus. I’ve had a few out-of-focus shots in a series of shots, so I was wondering if it was me or the camera.

By: Steven Seelig

Steven Seelig — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:13:22 +0000

I have also done the same thing and try as I may, I probably still do, just not as often. BUT…I have observed something else as well (D700 with 24-70 lens, but I think the same thing happens with me 70-200 as well)

I almost always use spot focus. The center focal point will focus whether the contrast/lines are either horizontal or vertical. But the outer focal points when camera is held in a vertical position have a very difficult time focusing on horizontal contrast/lines. You can test it for yourself using a light switch plate on the wall (use one that is very plain). There are two horizontal (top & bottom) and two vertical lines (either side) and just move the focal point around and observe performance. It is not absolute because it will occasionally focus, but the failure rate is very high.

I am very curious as to whether anyone else can replicate this experience.

I discovered this phenomena because I was having some difficulty getting my camera to focus in the vertical position when doing portraits and after the experiment above, i concluded that I was trying to focus on peoples eyes (horizontal lines when camera is in vertical position) and the auto focus failed. This provoked a ‘work around’ of just rotating the camera a bit to make the eyes not horizontal, locking focus, and then rotating the camera back to the position I want, but I really don’t like doing that.

By: Lance

Lance — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:07:33 +0000

I did this (or something very similar) when I had rented the 14-24mm f/2.8 to play around with on my D40. The focus ring always seemed to be under one finger or another, and I had no idea why over half of my shots were coming out completely out of focus. I was just bumping the focus ring! D’oh!

By: Neil

Neil — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:13:51 +0000

Mike … then I feel good about having posted all this. At first I thought that the entire post might be too trivial, but if it directly helps others, then it has value. Pass it forward. : )

Neil vN

By: Mike Buoy

Mike Buoy — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:04:15 +0000

Neil,
Thanks so much for this post. Uncanny timing on it actually. This past weekend I saw the *exact* same symptoms you were describing when culling down the images from the day. Only difference from you is that I am using a D700 + Vertical Grip with the 24-70.

I read your post last night and checked my vertical holding technique this morning. The shot you included here could have been replaced with my own hands :-) I’ve got a rather large set of “bear paws” myself and my left index finger was in fact touching the manual focus ring when shooting vertically. Makes me wonder if this is only an issue for us large-handed people :-)

Thanks again for your transparency and dedication to sharing!
-Mike

By: Neil

Neil — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:45:59 +0000

Michael .. I don’t get consistent performance either with the focusing points on the outer edges of the D3, so I predominantly just use the center focus point while the camera is set to Dynamic Area AF, with my camera mostly set to single focus mode. I like the simplicity of that and being able to decide.

Neil vN

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:32:27 +0000

Neil, I am getting the same problem with D3-24-72/2.8…
sometimes the camera refuses to focus outside of the center point
with static subjects, I have to use the center focus point and recompose..