The D7000 Odyssey

[MarceloLI]

I received Friday my new Nikon TC 1.7 so I did a test of the AF and behavior of this one on my camera and I had the chance to shoot this fight of seagulls for food.

I used a tripod to shoot the series:
































Checking the pictures in my computer I noticed all of it have a front focus (notice the rocks in front of the birds) which is very strange because my 70-200 is a sharp lens.

I did a test in backyard deck and I found the same behavior, front focus.

This is a 66% crop:








I spent the entire afternoon fine tuning the lens and I think it is where is suppose to be now... sharp focusing:






100% crop










100% crop





I was very exited today after I did find the right setting for this combination and later in the afternoon I took the Nikon 15-55mm to do some test at f2.8 and I found this lens is back focusing all the pictures and for some reasons the AF fine tuning looks like is not doing anything to fix the problem.



Life is not easy with the D7000

Have a great week everyone.





Marcelo

[emptyquiver]

I believe that what fine tuning may be needed for one focal length may not be ideal for a different length with the same lens. I wonder if swaping out the t/c with the 1.4 would alter the setting also. I went through this on another trend and found what was mentioned to me to be correct in that available lighting has a profound effect on the cameras AF capibilities.

[zig-123]

Well, Life is not easy sometimes, Marcelo. One thing is sure, you'll certainly be fully versed in the operation and the intricacies of the D7000.

You might be interested in taking a look at a lens alignment tool sold by B&H
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Sh...4/N/4294255798


It may be a little easier in calibrating your lenses.

FWIW, I don't own one but had considered getting one for no other reason than
to confirm proper calibration.

By the way, the last images posted after calibrating are as sharp as I think anyone would expect.

Zig

[MarceloLI]

Originally Posted by emptyquiver

I believe that what fine tuning may be needed for one focal length may not be ideal for a different length with the same lens. I wonder if swaping out the t/c with the 1.4 would alter the setting also. I went through this on another trend and found what was mentioned to me to be correct in that available lighting has a profound effect on the cameras AF capibilities.

The D7000 have the capability to recognize and record the fine tuning of 12 lens, it will recognize also if you are using a TC 1.4 - 1.7 or 2.0 and save that value.

Check the manual page 246 for fine tuning.

Originally Posted by zig-123

Well, Life is not easy sometimes, Marcelo. One thing is sure, you'll certainly be fully versed in the operation and the intricacies of the D7000.

You might be interested in taking a look at a lens alignment tool sold by B&H
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Sh...4/N/4294255798


It may be a little easier in calibrating your lenses.

FWIW, I don't own one but had considered getting one for no other reason than
to confirm proper calibration.

By the way, the last images posted after calibrating are as sharp as I think anyone would expect.

Zig

Hi Zig,

Well... I want to keep the camera and I juts want to make it works for me, unfortunately I have only the weekends to test the camera and lens.

I'll be next week in San Francisco for 10 days and I hope I can have everything set up with the D7000 for this trip.

Thank you for the link,maybe I'll walk to B&H to see the product.

Have a great week.

Marcelo

[Wingman]

I used this focus test chart : http://focustestchart.com/focus21.pdf to ensure that my lenses/bodies were calibrated. Fortunately, I have had no issues that required calibration. I tested my lenses at its widest aperture to ensure that DoF did not give me a false negative result.

As an observation, the gulls are probably a tough test subject for front/rear focusing due to the motion. And the sensitive nature of the focusing systems might have focused on a stationary subject. Also, the picture of the bird with the branches in front of it is once again a tricky subject. I would make sure that you run the test in manual focus mode, widest aperture, and a stationary subject. This will ensure that you can confirm if the lens and/or body has a front/rear focusing problem. if the equipment tests OK, at least you've eliminated that as a source of the issue.

BTW, the last image (100% crop of the bird) looks dandy sharp to me!

Jehan

[MarceloLI]

Jehan,

Thank you for the link, I have the same test chart but for the 70-200mm + TC 1.7 is difficult to use it.

I'll some more test to make sure the focus adjustment is the correct, thank you for your feedback.

Marcelo