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Kit Lens Problem Please Look

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Hammy

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Lately I have been taking a lot of pictures with no success with clarity. I sent the camera to Nikon services in Canada for a CCD cleaning and a firm ware update plus I asked them to check the focus as I was having a problem with blurry pictures and they said everything is working fine.

Well, I took a bunch of pictures tonight with the kit lens and cropped them to 66% and what do you know blurry pictures again.

Here are Two sets of pictures I took. The first one with the kit lens and the second one with my Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210 1:4-5.6D please tell me your opinion before I phone Nikon service.

Just so you know all shots were at the same settings accept for different lens.







 
At least you know its not the camera :)

Hal
Hammy said:
Lately I have been taking a lot of pictures with no success with
clarity. I sent the camera to Nikon services in Canada for a CCD
cleaning and a firm ware update plus I asked them to check the
focus as I was having a problem with blurry pictures and they said
everything is working fine.

Well, I took a bunch of pictures tonight with the kit lens and
cropped them to 66% and what do you know blurry pictures again.

Here are Two sets of pictures I took. The first one with the kit
lens and the second one with my Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210 1:4-5.6D
please tell me your opinion before I phone Nikon service.

Just so you know all shots were at the same settings accept for
different lens.







Click to expand...
 
Yes, thanks for that. But it makes me wounder about the tech guys working for Nikkon because I had this problem when I sent in last time and they missed it.
Hal Fisher said:
Hal
Hammy said:
Lately I have been taking a lot of pictures with no success with
clarity. I sent the camera to Nikon services in Canada for a CCD
cleaning and a firm ware update plus I asked them to check the
focus as I was having a problem with blurry pictures and they said
everything is working fine.

Well, I took a bunch of pictures tonight with the kit lens and
cropped them to 66% and what do you know blurry pictures again.

Here are Two sets of pictures I took. The first one with the kit
lens and the second one with my Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210 1:4-5.6D
please tell me your opinion before I phone Nikon service.

Just so you know all shots were at the same settings accept for
different lens.







Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
The shutter speed is too slow for the focal length being used.
Try manual at 1/250 or use a tripod.
If you are using a tripod maybe the camera is too close to the subject.

The other thing is could be is you just need to press the shutter button twice to get a more accurate focus. The most successful focus technique is to uncouple the AF from the shutter release and use the AF-L button.
Hope that helps,
Jim
Hammy said:
Lately I have been taking a lot of pictures with no success with
clarity. I sent the camera to Nikon services in Canada for a CCD
cleaning and a firm ware update plus I asked them to check the
focus as I was having a problem with blurry pictures and they said
everything is working fine.

Well, I took a bunch of pictures tonight with the kit lens and
cropped them to 66% and what do you know blurry pictures again.

Here are Two sets of pictures I took. The first one with the kit
lens and the second one with my Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210 1:4-5.6D
please tell me your opinion before I phone Nikon service.

Just so you know all shots were at the same settings accept for
different lens.







Click to expand...
 
Sorry, but I think that Jim is not correct. I tested my 18-70 the other day, and it was unacceptably soft from 18mm through 35 (at least) mm with terrible CA. Only at 50 mm did it sharpen up. Here is a link to my post on another thread about this topic.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=12448671

I'm going on vacation later this week, and I think I'll buy a 24-85 for a walkaround to get me through the week.

Dave
Jim Carr said:
Hammy said:
Lately I have been taking a lot of pictures with no success with
clarity. I sent the camera to Nikon services in Canada for a CCD
cleaning and a firm ware update plus I asked them to check the
focus as I was having a problem with blurry pictures and they said
everything is working fine.

Well, I took a bunch of pictures tonight with the kit lens and
cropped them to 66% and what do you know blurry pictures again.

Here are Two sets of pictures I took. The first one with the kit
lens and the second one with my Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210 1:4-5.6D
please tell me your opinion before I phone Nikon service.

Just so you know all shots were at the same settings accept for
different lens.







Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
The first picture is with kit lens and the second one is with 70-210 so wouldn't the second one be blurrier then the kit lens? The other set is the same way all shot in AUTO mode
Jim Carr said:
Hammy said:
Lately I have been taking a lot of pictures with no success with
clarity. I sent the camera to Nikon services in Canada for a CCD
cleaning and a firm ware update plus I asked them to check the
focus as I was having a problem with blurry pictures and they said
everything is working fine.

Well, I took a bunch of pictures tonight with the kit lens and
cropped them to 66% and what do you know blurry pictures again.

Here are Two sets of pictures I took. The first one with the kit
lens and the second one with my Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210 1:4-5.6D
please tell me your opinion before I phone Nikon service.

Just so you know all shots were at the same settings accept for
different lens.







Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I found my kit lens to have two issues that cause slightly blurry images:
-focusing inconsistency
-slightly soft image even if focus is good

The images I got were not as blurry as yours, but compared to other lenses I have (even a cheap Nikon 35-80/4-5.6), it's the softest.

My copy has been repaired by Nikon (in Torrance, California) twice. Looks to me the images are still slightly soft. But I just got it back today and will need to do more tests to confirm.

I believe there is big quality variation on this lens. And Nikon allows low standard in its resolution check in service center. It's why both time my lens passed Nikon services' check (as well as yours) but came back still slightly blurry.

Yours looks like focusing issue. Besides sending it back and hope this time Nikon does adjust it properly, I can't think of other suggestions. I've run out of ideas for mine too.

Good luck!

Photobug
Hammy said:
Lately I have been taking a lot of pictures with no success with
clarity. I sent the camera to Nikon services in Canada for a CCD
cleaning and a firm ware update plus I asked them to check the
focus as I was having a problem with blurry pictures and they said
everything is working fine.

Well, I took a bunch of pictures tonight with the kit lens and
cropped them to 66% and what do you know blurry pictures again.

Here are Two sets of pictures I took. The first one with the kit
lens and the second one with my Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210 1:4-5.6D
please tell me your opinion before I phone Nikon service.

Just so you know all shots were at the same settings accept for
different lens.







Click to expand...
 
Take a look at your pic of the can with the kit lens. To the left of the can is some woven material, tack sharp. Looks to me as if your kit lens is backfocusing (if that's even possible, for just the lens to backfocus).....

Did you buy your camera in Canada? I got mine in the states, but was wondering if Nikon Canada would service it under warranty.
Hammy said:
Lately I have been taking a lot of pictures with no success with
clarity. I sent the camera to Nikon services in Canada for a CCD
cleaning and a firm ware update plus I asked them to check the
focus as I was having a problem with blurry pictures and they said
everything is working fine.

Well, I took a bunch of pictures tonight with the kit lens and
cropped them to 66% and what do you know blurry pictures again.

Here are Two sets of pictures I took. The first one with the kit
lens and the second one with my Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210 1:4-5.6D
please tell me your opinion before I phone Nikon service.

Just so you know all shots were at the same settings accept for
different lens.







Click to expand...
--
D70 newbie
 
My focus point was on the red lettering on the can for both shots.
brianb.w said:
Did you buy your camera in Canada? I got mine in the states, but
was wondering if Nikon Canada would service it under warranty.
Hammy said:
Lately I have been taking a lot of pictures with no success with
clarity. I sent the camera to Nikon services in Canada for a CCD
cleaning and a firm ware update plus I asked them to check the
focus as I was having a problem with blurry pictures and they said
everything is working fine.

Well, I took a bunch of pictures tonight with the kit lens and
cropped them to 66% and what do you know blurry pictures again.

Here are Two sets of pictures I took. The first one with the kit
lens and the second one with my Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210 1:4-5.6D
please tell me your opinion before I phone Nikon service.

Just so you know all shots were at the same settings accept for
different lens.







Click to expand...
--
D70 newbie
Click to expand...
 
It would help if you gave the full exif info. Are they handheld?

Are you set to AF-S? Are you locked onto the center AF zone?

The 18-70 has been tested to be a very sharp lens, especially for the money, but in any case a '4' out of '5' money aside. It does seem that there is some percentage of out-of-spec examples though.

The only way to know for sure is to mount the lens on a tripod and take a range of pics up and down the f-stops and the focal lengths (18, 35, 50, 70), with a remote. Mix in a few MF's. Do this with enough light to keep the shutter speed up. Then take a few pics of the same target with a 50 1.8 set to f8, to establish a 'gold standard', and compare. At 40-50mm and f8-11, the kit lens should not be too far off the 50 1.8.

But the earlier poster is right: the can of air seems to be back-focused. You might want to do a back-focus test first. Search on Google or here for "back-focus chart" and you'll find a printable target and proceedures. The back-focus issue is apparently at least partly one of calibrating the camera to a specific lens.
 
Hey Reck,
If it was a BF problem wouldn't it be with both lenses?

So you know, all shots where hand held in Auto Mode 1/60 F4
reck said:
It would help if you gave the full exif info. Are they handheld?

Are you set to AF-S? Are you locked onto the center AF zone?

The 18-70 has been tested to be a very sharp lens, especially for
the money, but in any case a '4' out of '5' money aside. It does
seem that there is some percentage of out-of-spec examples though.

The only way to know for sure is to mount the lens on a tripod and
take a range of pics up and down the f-stops and the focal lengths
(18, 35, 50, 70), with a remote. Mix in a few MF's. Do this with
enough light to keep the shutter speed up. Then take a few pics of
the same target with a 50 1.8 set to f8, to establish a 'gold
standard', and compare. At 40-50mm and f8-11, the kit lens should
not be too far off the 50 1.8.

But the earlier poster is right: the can of air seems to be
back-focused. You might want to do a back-focus test first. Search
on Google or here for "back-focus chart" and you'll find a
printable target and proceedures. The back-focus issue is
apparently at least partly one of calibrating the camera to a
specific lens.
Click to expand...
 
Of course you can say I'm wrong, but how can you test lens focus accuracy hand-held at 1/60 at 70mm wide open? If the focus indicator was lit in AF-S mode, how come the background is in focus?

My 18-70 is tack sharp from about 5-7 feet at wide angle, but if focussed beyond that to say 15-25 feet it is soft. Weird. I haven't sent the lens in to be fixed yet because the next widest I have is a 28 2.8 E series and a 50 mm.

No wonder Nikon is charging $5,000 for the D2X, it needs to balance the expenses for all the D70 and kit lens focus repairs/adjustments, not to mention D2h meter and AF replacements all under warranty.

I was not trying to start an argument, but to test focus you need a tripod or at least a shutter speed 1/focal length. Come on.
Jim
Sailor36 said:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=12448671

I'm going on vacation later this week, and I think I'll buy a 24-85
for a walkaround to get me through the week.

Dave
Jim Carr said:
Hammy said:
Lately I have been taking a lot of pictures with no success with
clarity. I sent the camera to Nikon services in Canada for a CCD
cleaning and a firm ware update plus I asked them to check the
focus as I was having a problem with blurry pictures and they said
everything is working fine.

Well, I took a bunch of pictures tonight with the kit lens and
cropped them to 66% and what do you know blurry pictures again.

Here are Two sets of pictures I took. The first one with the kit
lens and the second one with my Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210 1:4-5.6D
please tell me your opinion before I phone Nikon service.

Just so you know all shots were at the same settings accept for
different lens.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
... with kit lens: backfocus. Check my posts (in profile) about my experience. You can try exchanging lens or body but if you want perfectly focusing camera send it to Nikon.

Before your contact Nikon I suggest you to make prints of focus test chart (search for focus test chart threads) at different focal length but always wide open to narrow DOF and make it obvious. Send those prints together with your camera and lens. If you send just camera and lens they'll tell you that's no problem. After you receive your camera test it again. If backfocus not fixed make another prints and send it again. It took several times in my case but finally they fixed it. Don't give up. Kit lens is very sharp when it focuses right, so I think it's well worth the efforts. BTW, don't pay for postage - it's Nikon's problem and should be covered under warranty.

You may also check manual focus accuracy and make Nikon fix it if it's not right.

Good luck, Alexys
 
Could it be that you are just too close to the object. I cannot test it right now (I am at work), but to get a bottle this big with the kit lens you should be very close.

Can you tell the distance between the bottle/card and the camera?

Thanks,
Marcello
Alexys said:
... with kit lens: backfocus. Check my posts (in profile) about my
experience. You can try exchanging lens or body but if you want
perfectly focusing camera send it to Nikon.
Before your contact Nikon I suggest you to make prints of focus
test chart (search for focus test chart threads) at different focal
length but always wide open to narrow DOF and make it obvious. Send
those prints together with your camera and lens. If you send just
camera and lens they'll tell you that's no problem. After you
receive your camera test it again. If backfocus not fixed make
another prints and send it again. It took several times in my case
but finally they fixed it. Don't give up. Kit lens is very sharp
when it focuses right, so I think it's well worth the efforts. BTW,
don't pay for postage - it's Nikon's problem and should be covered
under warranty.
You may also check manual focus accuracy and make Nikon fix it if
it's not right.

Good luck, Alexys
Click to expand...
 
I was about six feet away when I took those pictures. Remember I cropped them at 66%.
Marcello Geerts said:
Can you tell the distance between the bottle/card and the camera?

Thanks,
Marcello
Alexys said:
... with kit lens: backfocus. Check my posts (in profile) about my
experience. You can try exchanging lens or body but if you want
perfectly focusing camera send it to Nikon.
Before your contact Nikon I suggest you to make prints of focus
test chart (search for focus test chart threads) at different focal
length but always wide open to narrow DOF and make it obvious. Send
those prints together with your camera and lens. If you send just
camera and lens they'll tell you that's no problem. After you
receive your camera test it again. If backfocus not fixed make
another prints and send it again. It took several times in my case
but finally they fixed it. Don't give up. Kit lens is very sharp
when it focuses right, so I think it's well worth the efforts. BTW,
don't pay for postage - it's Nikon's problem and should be covered
under warranty.
You may also check manual focus accuracy and make Nikon fix it if
it's not right.

Good luck, Alexys
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hand held at 1/60 sec then a 66% crop, oh come on that is not a focus test.

Use a tripod and the timer, photograph something flat like a brick wall, that way you are not guessing what the camera actually focused on.

On your shot of the can the camera's auto focus picked the fabric behind the can, simple.

I have the kit lens, it is sharp, it is very sharp at 70mm f4.5.

I don't have any of the problems reported by others, I suspect user error may be involved.
Hammy said:
Marcello Geerts said:
Can you tell the distance between the bottle/card and the camera?

Thanks,
Marcello
Alexys said:
... with kit lens: backfocus. Check my posts (in profile) about my
experience. You can try exchanging lens or body but if you want
perfectly focusing camera send it to Nikon.
Before your contact Nikon I suggest you to make prints of focus
test chart (search for focus test chart threads) at different focal
length but always wide open to narrow DOF and make it obvious. Send
those prints together with your camera and lens. If you send just
camera and lens they'll tell you that's no problem. After you
receive your camera test it again. If backfocus not fixed make
another prints and send it again. It took several times in my case
but finally they fixed it. Don't give up. Kit lens is very sharp
when it focuses right, so I think it's well worth the efforts. BTW,
don't pay for postage - it's Nikon's problem and should be covered
under warranty.
You may also check manual focus accuracy and make Nikon fix it if
it's not right.

Good luck, Alexys
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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