Nikon D7000 Soft pictures.

[SwissJon]

I just picked up a Nikon D7000 with a Nikkor ED 16-85 - F/3.5-5.6G IF DX VR lens and a Nikkor ED 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF

My previous camera was a Sony A55V with which I used a Vario Sonnar T* DT 16-80 F3.5-4.5Z which was really nice and sharp, it just had a bit of CA to deal with.

So I'm taking photos with my new camera, and I'm finding that no matter what aperture I use, the pictures are a little bit soft. Zoomed up close, they look slightly out of focus when focussed to infinity, especially towards the edges, in fact, my camera seems capable of focussing beyond infinity (A neat trick, I guess it's long sighted!) The photos appear very sharp at shorter focal lengths, it's only the infinity focus, and the hyperfocal lengths that seem to have this problem. The VR is switched on and set to normal, I found that if I switched the VR off, I get camera shake, even when on the tripod using Mup mode. The focal lengths I'm using are quite short (As low as 16 mm and the shutter speeds are at least as long as the focal length, if not longer, but I tend to use a tripod anyway. The attachment is from about the top RHS 1/3rd area as an example

Is this normal for this lens or have I got a faulty one? It came with a warranty, should I take it back a dealer? I'm slightly disappointed with this as I thought I would be getting better photographs from it, compared to my A55.

Soft-Focus.jpg

[Almond.Butterscotch]

are you getting that result with both lenses?

[SwissJon]

Weirdly enough, no.. I thought the 70-300 would have been softer but its slightly better.. I was wondering if there was issues with the VR on a Nikon, or whether lenses had a tendency to focus in front of or behind the subject? I heard that you can set up lens profiles to correct this, but I don't know how.

[sk66]

There is no focus "beyond infinity", but the point of infinity focus changes for different focal lengths and environmental conditions (it's an "infinity range") If you are manually focusing you may be too far.

There is no such thing as a "hyper-focal length". But hyper-focal distance varies with lens length....I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding what you mean or if you are misunderstanding "hyper-focal distance".

What is the zoom level for the example? Anything beyond 100% will probably not look great.

Also, if shooting in RAW some "capture sharpening" needs to be applied. This is done in-camera when capturing Jpegs.

[SwissJon]

I'm not misunderstanding hyperfocal distance, I understand the concept and have used it to my advantage many times. I'm tired, it's been a long day, I'm slightly dyslexic and got my words mixed up (I'm much more a visual person than a verbal person.)

The example is at 100%, the lens was at 16mm F/8 1/400sec.

The problem isn't with PP sharpening, I shoot in RAW for all my cameras and apply sharpening for all photos (LR sharpening settings here are 25,1.0,25,0) the issue is that this photo has a much lower IQ than the equivalent photo taken with my Sony and the 16-80 Zeiss lens.

I understand that there's no focus beyond infinity, (actually there is, it just will never provide focus, because the focal point for parallel light rays is behind the sensor, so light rays would need to be already converging to create a focal point, much like a pair of glasses or contact lenses correct your eyes.) The problem is that the centre of the picture is slightly out of focus, the edges are much more out of focus. This example is about half way between the two. I can focus the centre manually by zooming the live view to max and twisting the manual focus ring. The problem is, even when, like here, the subject is a couple of kilometers or so away, the focal point is not at infinity, it's ever so slightly before. The trouble is, the camera autofocusses to this.

My question is, is this the standard I should expect from this lens, and if so, is there a better lens that covers this range? If not, have I got a lemon, and will Nikon change/fix it? (It's less than a month old)

[LoveDSLR]

Originally Posted by SwissJon

The problem is that the centre of the picture is slightly out of focus, the edges are much more out of focus. This example is about half way between the two. I can focus the centre manually by zooming the live view to max and twisting the manual focus ring. The problem is, even when, like here, the subject is a couple of kilometers or so away, the focal point is not at infinity, it's ever so slightly before. The trouble is, the camera autofocusses to this.

Have you tried AF fine-tuning?

[SwissJon]

Originally Posted by LoveDSLR

Have you tried AF fine-tuning?

No.. How do I do that?.. Ahh.. Don't worry, Uncle Google knows!

http://focustestchart.com/focus10.pdf

[SwissJon]

Ahhhhh... Thanks LoveDSLR.. 16-85 Lens had a back focus of 10mm, and the 70-300 had a front focus of 5mm, which explains why it had a better focus, it was focussing within the hyperfocal distance.

I'll be able to test these new settings later in the week I hope.

[rpps]

So I'm taking photos with my new camera, and I'm finding that no matter what aperture I use, the pictures are a little bit soft. Zoomed up close, they look slightly out of focus when focussed to infinity, especially towards the edges

Attachment 50042[/QUOTE]
Hi John,
I recently tested the D7000 and like you I found my photos came out far too soft for my liking, I have a D90 with the Nikon 16-68mm lens and that takes beautiful sharp photos.
I really want to upgrade to the D7000 so I am very interested in how you go sorting out this soft focus issue. Regards Ross

[rpps]

Originally Posted by SwissJon

No.. How do I do that?.. Ahh.. Don't worry, Uncle Google knows!

http://focustestchart.com/focus10.pdf

I made the plunge and bought the D7000. I made the focus chart tonight and did a quick test, it appears my 18-85mm Nikon lense has a back problem too of 10mm. I will re-run the test again tomorrow in better light with no shadows, I hope this is a cause of the soft out of focus photos I see with my camera.