What AF modes do you use

greenoak

greenoak

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Carl
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I have recently bought a sigma 24 - 70 and really disappointed with my results.

Nothing seems to be in focus

I have taken lots of photos of people from work using f 2.8 / f 3.5 and even f4 and the results were dreadful.

The camera was set to Auto mode rather than the single point focus, Is that likely to be the problem

It looked like the shrubs behind me collegues were nice and clear but shirts and faces were all soft.

£600 lens and junk photos not a happy bunny

I have a Nikon d90

Thanks
 
greenoak said:
I have recently bought a sigma 24 - 70 and really disappointed with my results.

Nothing seems to be in focus

I have taken lots of photos of people from work using f 2.8 / f 3.5 and even f4 and the results were dreadful.

The camera was set to Auto mode rather than the single point focus, Is that likely to be the problem

It looked like the shrubs behind me collegues were nice and clear but shirts and faces were all soft.

£600 lens and junk photos not a happy bunny

I have a Nikon d90

Thanks
Click to expand...

Try switching to a single point of focus that may well be issue as it sounds like you've back focused from how you described it would be easier for us to tell us if you could post a photo of the issue
 
MWHCVT said:
Try switching to a single point of focus that may well be issue as it sounds like you've back focused from how you described it would be easier for us to tell us if you could post a photo of the issue
Click to expand...

as MWHCVT has already said, try switching to a single point of focus, as currently being on "auto" the camera is trying to do all the work for you and work out what you one in focus etc (not always picking the correct places).

Personally i'd start off by switching the camera to "P" - Program Mode.

I find this a great little step up from auto as it'll give you some control over the camera, ie focus points, but it'll also still do most of the work for you like ISO, Aperture, shutter speed and so on.

Select this mode and change your focus points to just the centre "dot". Now place your object of interest over the focus point and it should come up nice and crisp :)

also F2.8 - F4 are quite big apertures, which means what is not in focus will become very blurred (although this affect looks great in portraits etc).

Try setting you're camera to something a bit smaller like F8 or F11, this'll keep everything in relative focus so you don't get that "blurred" effect :) , best setting to do this in would be "A" Aperture Mode.

Hope some of that helps :)
 
I use whichever focus mode seems appropriate to me for the situation. Usually AF S (single shot autofocus) with only the centre focus point enabled. For the sort of stuff I tend to shoot, that seems to work for me. If necessary, I'll switch to AF C or even the dynamic mode and let the camera chase the subject around the screen and select the AF point etc.
 
Never used a D90 but doesn't it show you which focus point has been used in the viewfinder?
 
As others of said it depends what you are shooting but it sounds like it was people who were stood still in which cast AF-S will be your best bet. I'm sure when you view the photos using the supplied Nikon software (think its called View NX?) you can display which points the camera used to focus, might be an idea to go back and review the shots.
 
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