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Help needed with focusing issue
- Thread starter matty D
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- Robert
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I've only been with mine since Monday!
Excuse if I'm out of order - If you are a pro ' you will know about this - have you tried putting body into manual mode and setting the lens' hyperfocal distance , so that the camera is in focus ( even if thru the viewfinder it doesn'took as if it is) from a predetermined distance to infinity? That way all you hVe to do as the animal runs towards you is to be aware of the minimum focussing distance available on that setting ( I.e., wherever the infinity symbol is read off the number in metres opposite it.
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- Richard
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Hyperfocal distance focusing is not practical with telephoto lenses - not unless you can stop down to f/90 or something impossible. It only works on wide-angle and standard-ish focal lengths.
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- Matt
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Yes, I remember
But I think it's important to be clear on this. Yes, IS/VR takes maybe half a second or so to get up and running, but that should already be well underway with half-pressure on the shutter release (or AF back-button activated) in which case IS/VR can only make things better.
A good thread on servo-tracking dogs here http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/help-with-dog-running-pic.461016/#post-5329736 including Tim Dodd's excellent advice, though it looks like some of his pics are missing now.
IMHO, the OP's problem centres around AF set-up and shooting technique. It must be really, because with an easier subject - say a car travelling slowly towards the camera, or maybe a cyclist where it's easy to keep the AF point accurately nailed - I'd confidently expect 80-90% hit rate from his camera/lens combo. But you must keep that AF point accurately pinned.
PS I always try to use a monopod for this kind of work (IS/VR on) - it really keeps the camera end of things steady, and that's half the battle.
Great info in that link you posted, interesting to read just how difficult it is to focus on a dog running straight at you in less than ideal light. As for the monopod, I'm quite sure it would work well for a lot of situations, but I generally lie on the floor to get a better perspective, or at the least kneel down, so a monopod wouldn't really work for me in this situation.
good grief a monopod? with a dog running round you... by the time you move camera and monodpod to a different position the dogs gone
IS/VR..half a second... a dog running at speed and you half press.. have you any idea where the dog is and your focus is half a second later ?
All I can say for sure is.. IS/VR is a problem DEPENDING ON YOUR TECHNIQUE which is what I originally wrote.. if you can lock and track then shoot at leisure it should work as you describe.. however if you point lock and shoot all at once then your in trouble.. I dont know the ops technique hence why i advised turning it off.. not permamnant but just to see if it helped...... my technique is the latter and IS/VR is a problem.. after taking your adivive I do now use IS for sport in certain condition where i can use pre emptive focusing
i still say he should give it a try... its not going to kill him to try.. am suprised your so against it....
I'll certainly give it a go, but I generally engage VR and acquire focus well before I start shooting, and to be honest, i do find the stabilised viewfinder quite useful, especially as at each stride the dog takes its head bobs up and down!
What HoppyUK said, at 200 mm and f2.8 only a couple of inches is in focus, whereas when I do the odd landscape, I shoot at f11-f16 using a 14-24mm lens, and it doesn't really mater what I focus on as its all sharp
There has been a lot of good input on this thread, thanks to everyone who has contributed. So far I have learnt that the D810 uses the same focusing system as their flagship D4s, so I am 100% certain that any shortcomings I have are down to user error! Having said that, I have also learnt that shooting a dog running towards at say 20mph, that bobs up and down with every stride, in overcast conditions, isn't easy, so with a better technique, I hope to get my keeper rate up from 30-40%, to 70-80% if not better.
Here's an example of one that turned out ok
Fun in the snow by Matt Franks Photography, on Flickr
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OP
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- Matt
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I took the camera out this morning whilst walking my dogs just to have a play with all the different suggested ideas and settings. It was quite bright today, unlike the photo shoot the other day which inspired my to create this thread in the first place, so its not a perfect comparison.
However, I tried shooting at 1/1000 and 1/2000, and there was no visible difference in the sharpness, so I can safely use 1/1000. I also tried, Single point AFC, Dynamic 9 AFC, and Group AFC. Its a bit tricky to tell which shots were done with which setting, as lightroom doesn't display that information (does anyone know of a Mac compatible programme that does? View NX2 doesn't either), but each setting was used for about 5 minutes, so I can roughly work out that Single Point and Dynamic 9 gave a MUCH better keeper rate than Group.
I tried turning VR off, and it didn't affect things at all, apart from the viewfinder being less stabilised, so for now I'll keep it turned on.
I also shot a load at f5.6, and obviously the DOF was greater, so the keeper rate was slightly higher, but the dog wasn't as isolated as well from the background, especially after cropping in, so I think I'll try and persevere with shooting wide open. When the focus is nailed, images at f2.8 are blisteringly sharp with the D810/70-200 combo, and the background goes to mush.
Thanks again to all who helped
However, I tried shooting at 1/1000 and 1/2000, and there was no visible difference in the sharpness, so I can safely use 1/1000. I also tried, Single point AFC, Dynamic 9 AFC, and Group AFC. Its a bit tricky to tell which shots were done with which setting, as lightroom doesn't display that information (does anyone know of a Mac compatible programme that does? View NX2 doesn't either), but each setting was used for about 5 minutes, so I can roughly work out that Single Point and Dynamic 9 gave a MUCH better keeper rate than Group.
I tried turning VR off, and it didn't affect things at all, apart from the viewfinder being less stabilised, so for now I'll keep it turned on.
I also shot a load at f5.6, and obviously the DOF was greater, so the keeper rate was slightly higher, but the dog wasn't as isolated as well from the background, especially after cropping in, so I think I'll try and persevere with shooting wide open. When the focus is nailed, images at f2.8 are blisteringly sharp with the D810/70-200 combo, and the background goes to mush.
Thanks again to all who helped