Trouble with focusing!!

[wulf]

I don't think anything is really in proper focus in that picture. You might be running into the problem that f/3.5 on a nearby subject gives a very small depth of field. I'd estimate that you'd need a DoF of at least a couple of feet to get sharp focus over the faces and upper bodies of all the children. Assuming you're shooting a 50mm lens from about 4' away, the DoF calculator I use says you need to stop down to about f/22 and that, at your settings, DoF will be about 3"!

It is very dependent on distance as well as aperture. At 8' away, you could get 1.75' DoF at f/5.6. There shouldn't be any difference in results between the D70 and D300s but, with the narrow tolerance of DoF at the settings given, a small discrepance in focusing would throw the whole lot out.

Wulf

[~AJ~]

Thanks so much for starting this thread - it's helping me a lot too! I find it hard when you've got more than one subject & you need to focus on the eyes - who do you pick???

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by ~AJ~

Thanks so much for starting this thread - it's helping me a lot too! I find it hard when you've got more than one subject & you need to focus on the eyes - who do you pick???

Probably can't go wrong by focusing on someone in the middle / front. To assure more folks in focus bump your f/stop up to a larger number in aperture priority. You can also choose who you think is key to your composition...an example might be when shooting a bride who is slightly in front of her groom. You may choose the bride to be sharp, while the groom standing behind her is soft. This could make a perfectly good photo if you wanted to draw the viewer's eye to the bride as your main subject.

Vinnie

[LoveDSLR]

Since you are shooting at EV 7.3, you can try

1/80, f/8, ISO 3200 or
1/80, f/5.6, ISO 1600 or
1/160, f/5.6, ISO 3200

[Raoul Isidro]

Did you buy the camera brand new? has anybody fiddled around with the settings other than you? Try to reset the camera to the factory default settings and input your D70 preferences. Chose the same AF parameters as the old camera, but the new one will will have lots more AF points than the old one... Choose single point and recompose after AF locks.