Nikon's History of Poor Focus

Jeff McClure said:

I've owned a 990 for a couple of years ( I bought it shortly after
it came out). As each firmware update came out I updated the
camera (there hasn't been a new version in at least 18 months).

I've always been disappointed with the cameras ability to focus in
low-light situations. I've used digital cameras from other
vendors, and the 990 is noticeably worse in low-light focusing, and
to a lesser degree well-light focusing.

I've always wondered why Nikon does not employ AF assist lamps on
their digital cameras? Maybe this contributes to their deficit in
this area. AF assist lamps seem to be near standard on all other
vendor's cameras.

I've been considering upgrading to a 5700 for the zoom and
raw-image capability, but after reading many users complaining
about the same poor focusing that I already have in my 990, I'm
thinking I should find another 5 Megapixel, pro-sumer, raw-capable
camera.

Jeff

Click to expand...

Jeff McClure said:

I've owned a 990 for a couple of years ( I bought it shortly after
it came out). As each firmware update came out I updated the
camera (there hasn't been a new version in at least 18 months).

I've always been disappointed with the cameras ability to focus in
low-light situations. I've used digital cameras from other
vendors, and the 990 is noticeably worse in low-light focusing, and
to a lesser degree well-light focusing.

I've always wondered why Nikon does not employ AF assist lamps on
their digital cameras? Maybe this contributes to their deficit in
this area. AF assist lamps seem to be near standard on all other
vendor's cameras.

I've been considering upgrading to a 5700 for the zoom and
raw-image capability, but after reading many users complaining
about the same poor focusing that I already have in my 990, I'm
thinking I should find another 5 Megapixel, pro-sumer, raw-capable
camera.

Jeff

Click to expand...

toh keng hua said:

I own a 990 for two years now and I agree with you. However I have
been able to meet my needs by using manual focus. I bought a 4500
about a week ago and to my horror, they remove the most important
part of the data from the LCD display - this focus distance. They
replace it with a useless scroll bar display. Whoever at Nikon
approved that design ought to be fired!

Click to expand...

toh keng hua said:

I own a 990 for two years now and I agree with you. However I have
been able to meet my needs by using manual focus. I bought a 4500
about a week ago and to my horror, they remove the most important
part of the data from the LCD display - this focus distance. They
replace it with a useless scroll bar display. Whoever at Nikon
approved that design ought to be fired!

Click to expand...

tynityb said:

I've just return my CP5700, poor, I mean very poor FOCUS !!!

So I bought a Minolta 7i, FOCUS real better and faster.

I have wrote to Nikon about this, still no news !!! Hey Nikon are
you taking care of your costumer or what ?

Jeff McClure said:

I've owned a 990 for a couple of years ( I bought it shortly after
it came out). As each firmware update came out I updated the
camera (there hasn't been a new version in at least 18 months).

I've always been disappointed with the cameras ability to focus in
low-light situations. I've used digital cameras from other
vendors, and the 990 is noticeably worse in low-light focusing, and
to a lesser degree well-light focusing.

I've always wondered why Nikon does not employ AF assist lamps on
their digital cameras? Maybe this contributes to their deficit in
this area. AF assist lamps seem to be near standard on all other
vendor's cameras.

I've been considering upgrading to a 5700 for the zoom and
raw-image capability, but after reading many users complaining
about the same poor focusing that I already have in my 990, I'm
thinking I should find another 5 Megapixel, pro-sumer, raw-capable
camera.

Jeff

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

cesar said:

toh keng hua said:

I own a 990 for two years now and I agree with you. However I have
been able to meet my needs by using manual focus. I bought a 4500
about a week ago and to my horror, they remove the most important
part of the data from the LCD display - this focus distance. They
replace it with a useless scroll bar display. Whoever at Nikon
approved that design ought to be fired!

Click to expand...

As I said in other thread :

This is NOT the only bad thing in Coolpix cameras.

The conclusion is: Nikon engineers and camera designers ARE NOT
photographers. And Nikon managers ARE NOT managers. If not, these
things cannot happen.
They are happy I am not Nikon Corp. owner...

----------Nikon people: waaake up!!!------------

César

Click to expand...

Craig Brown said:

cesar said:

toh keng hua said:

I own a 990 for two years now and I agree with you. However I have
been able to meet my needs by using manual focus. I bought a 4500
about a week ago and to my horror, they remove the most important
part of the data from the LCD display - this focus distance. They
replace it with a useless scroll bar display. Whoever at Nikon
approved that design ought to be fired!

Click to expand...

As I said in other thread :

This is NOT the only bad thing in Coolpix cameras.

The conclusion is: Nikon engineers and camera designers ARE NOT
photographers. And Nikon managers ARE NOT managers. If not, these
things cannot happen.
They are happy I am not Nikon Corp. owner...

----------Nikon people: waaake up!!!------------

César

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Jeff McClure said:

I've owned a 990 for a couple of years ( I bought it shortly after
it came out). As each firmware update came out I updated the
camera (there hasn't been a new version in at least 18 months).

I've always been disappointed with the cameras ability to focus in
low-light situations. I've used digital cameras from other
vendors, and the 990 is noticeably worse in low-light focusing, and
to a lesser degree well-light focusing.

I've always wondered why Nikon does not employ AF assist lamps on
their digital cameras? Maybe this contributes to their deficit in
this area. AF assist lamps seem to be near standard on all other
vendor's cameras.

I've been considering upgrading to a 5700 for the zoom and
raw-image capability, but after reading many users complaining
about the same poor focusing that I already have in my 990, I'm
thinking I should find another 5 Megapixel, pro-sumer, raw-capable
camera.

Jeff

Click to expand...

Craig Brown said:

I am so disappointed to read these messages.

Click to expand...

csbrown said:

waiting for the 5700 but now it looks like I am going for the
Minolta 7i. Too bad.

Click to expand...

Scotty B said:

I had the good luck to walk in to my local camera store when they
had the DiMage 7i, the 5700, the 4500, the G2 and the 707 all
sitting on the shelf. I got to handle and shoot each one for about
half an hour.

Click to expand...

Bimo said:

Hi Jeff,

Since you’d owned a Coolpix camera, could you just go to the store,
try the camera and see for yourself? I know that it’s still lack of
AF assist lamp and the AF method Nikon employs is not the best out
there. Focusing might not quick in low light. But how low is low?

Click to expand...

Scotty B said:

I had the good luck to walk in to my local camera store when they
had the DiMage 7i, the 5700, the 4500, the G2 and the 707 all
sitting on the shelf. I got to handle and shoot each one for about
half an hour.

My decision was made after having handled and shot each one of
them, and it was definately different than what I thought I was
going to do walking in the store.

Click to expand...

Jeff McClure said:

Hello All,

I went to a local retailer and tried out the 5700. I was very
impressed with the camera while using it in the store. The
focusing was very superior to the 990 I've had for nearly three
years. I tested some low light shots in the store, and the camera
performed well.

After playing with the camera for about 45 minutes I decided to go
ahead and purchase it. I had been looking at it very closely since
I first heard about it, and trying it out was the final step for
me. I've had it for three days now and I am very happy. The
camera takes AWESOME pictures. The focusing works well (much
better than my 990), however there is still a little room for
improvement.

One of the clever things the camera does while focusing under
low-light, is to crank up the gain on the CCD (similar to changing
to 800 ISO film). It focuses the camera with the gain high, then
drops it back to normal and uses the flash to take the shot. Very
clever and effective.

The lens is more noisy then other vendors when focusing and
zooming, but it's really nothing to speak of. It's actually
somewhat useful as additional feedback to inform you that the lens
is still focusing. I can't imagining anyone every opting not to
buy the camera based on this. If your considering opting-out on
this camera because of talk of this, you definitely need to go to a
store for yourself.

There are many great features of this camera, and it really does
take spectacular shots. There is one feature I would like to
mention since I haven't heard it mentioned before, and that feature
is the flash. The power on this flash is really something else. I
was blown away by the camera's ability to take indoor pictures.
One thing that I noticed immediately when taking flash photagrphy,
is that the flash makes a audible and satisfying “popping” noise.
I've only seen this before on much larger more powerful shoe-type
flashes.

Summing up....I'm not going to go into all the great features of
the camera, but hopefully this will provide another piece of the
puzzle for anyone considering purchasing the 5700.

Please let me know if you find these comments useful.

Jeff

Click to expand...

Scotty B said:

I had the good luck to walk in to my local camera store when they
had the DiMage 7i, the 5700, the 4500, the G2 and the 707 all
sitting on the shelf. I got to handle and shoot each one for about
half an hour.

Click to expand...

Bimo said:

Since you’d owned a Coolpix camera, could you just go to the store,
try the camera and see for yourself? I know that it’s still lack of
AF assist lamp and the AF method Nikon employs is not the best out
there. Focusing might not quick in low light. But how low is low?
So far I never feel frustrated until I wanted to smash my camera
because it fails to focus in places and moments when doing my job
or with my family. Only when almost dark or in woods I need to use
my laser pointer. It seems odd but it works, besides I think a $10
vertical laser pointer still not too distracting like what F707 has
or an AF lamp.

Many things in Coolpix that I like which enough to get my job done
and not to turn my head to other brand (yet). But I still wish
Nikon will listen to us more and add this features in the next
model.

With warm regards,
Bimo.

Jeff McClure said:

I've owned a 990 for a couple of years ( I bought it shortly after
it came out). As each firmware update came out I updated the
camera (there hasn't been a new version in at least 18 months).

I've always been disappointed with the cameras ability to focus in
low-light situations. I've used digital cameras from other
vendors, and the 990 is noticeably worse in low-light focusing, and
to a lesser degree well-light focusing.

I've always wondered why Nikon does not employ AF assist lamps on
their digital cameras? Maybe this contributes to their deficit in
this area. AF assist lamps seem to be near standard on all other
vendor's cameras.

I've been considering upgrading to a 5700 for the zoom and
raw-image capability, but after reading many users complaining
about the same poor focusing that I already have in my 990, I'm
thinking I should find another 5 Megapixel, pro-sumer, raw-capable
camera.

Jeff

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Jeff McClure said:

Sure, I'll head out to a store and give the 5700 a try. I'm still
very interested in it, the main features I'm interested above the
990 is the 5 mega-pixel, 8x optical zoom, and raw image format.

In reading the replies I was interested that people have commented
that other bleeding-edge cameras also have focus issues in
low-light situations.

More specifically, the situations that I consider the focusing to
be sub-par on my 990 (based on experience with cameras with AF
assist lamps) is very low close range (within two or three meters),
where the flash is sufficient to light the subject for the
exposure, but the camera cannot obtain focus lock.

One note, it seems that the 5700 is only available in the "gray
market" and a lot of the standard retails are still waiting for
their official , sanctioned camera shipment. However, many
people are still getting the camera. Has anyone else noticed this?

Jeff

Bimo said:

Hi Jeff,

Since you’d owned a Coolpix camera, could you just go to the store,
try the camera and see for yourself? I know that it’s still lack of
AF assist lamp and the AF method Nikon employs is not the best out
there. Focusing might not quick in low light. But how low is low?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...