Live view vs viewfinder?

StuartH

StuartH

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Stuart
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Put my 50mm 1.4 on the d5000 the other day to take some shots and almost every shot was out of focus? I wasnt shooting wide open at 1.4 but at 2.8 up to f4,shutter speeds were into hundreds so no problem there.
Baffled I thought I would try same shots in live view with vastly improved results I would say nearly all were bang on.
Any ideas?If anything I would have thought the results would be the other way round?
 
AutoFocus in Liveview is slooooooow IME, and the LCD of the D5000 is quite low res so it might look in focus on the LCD, but it might actually be slightly out.

I always use the viewfinder.
 
Yep live view is very slow hence my surprise. I always use view finder normally but tried the live view to see if it delivered same results. Strange how the live view images were in focus in most shots I took. I uploaded them to pc so it had nowt to do with resolution of the lcd.
 
Did I get the wrong end of the stick? You reckon your shots are focused better in live view?

Weird. Have you tried giving the little dial by the viewfinder an adjustment?
 
Yes the live view images were sharper and in focus.
The diopter adjustment is fine and tbh it seems its only with the 50mm that I struggle to get a good amount of accurately focused shots.
 
StuartH said:
Put my 50mm 1.4 on the d5000 the other day to take some shots and almost every shot was out of focus? I wasnt shooting wide open at 1.4 but at 2.8 up to f4,shutter speeds were into hundreds so no problem there.
Baffled I thought I would try same shots in live view with vastly improved results I would say nearly all were bang on.
Any ideas?If anything I would have thought the results would be the other way round?
Click to expand...
The contrast auto-focus may be more accurate, as there won't be a discrepancy between what the actual image sensor sees and what the auto-focus sensors see.

If your focus is miles off at f/4, then something has gone properly awry.
 
You need to do some controlled tests, with camera on a tripod and a static subject. Use centre focus point only.
 
Cistron said:
The contrast auto-focus may be more accurate, as there won't be a discrepancy between what the actual image sensor sees and what the auto-focus sensors see.

If your focus is miles off at f/4, then something has gone properly awry.
Click to expand...

:shrug:

HoppyUK said:
You need to do some controlled tests, with camera on a tripod and a static subject. Use centre focus point only.
Click to expand...

Agree do some tests, it could be camera shake

post an image so so we can see the exif, for better help :thumbs:

Noy sure with nikons but with canon live view you can zoom in to check focus
 
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Thanks for the replies all..I am pretty certain its not camera shake as surely this would affect the live view shots as well?
Thanks for that info Roger,I will do some more controlled tests and if its the same outcome then I will return to nikon to get it looked over.
 
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