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5700 question from newbie

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sheldon grooms

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Location
austin, TX, US
I just brought the 5700, but I haven't received it. I reread Phil's review a few times and I started worrying about the low light focus thing. About half of the pics I take are outside with med to bright light, I live in Texas, the rest are inside and pretty low light.

My questions; have 5700 owners been able to take low light shots and get goods results? Does manual focus mode help in these situation?
Static shots are what I'm interested in, action isn't factor for me.
--
rgds,
sheldon ; }
 
I have had little to no luck with manual focus but the low light thing really isn't that much of a problem. When it is I just have a little key chain laser pointer for a focus assist. Point the laser at your subject, half press the shutter button, then when you get a focus lock keep your half press position, shut off the laser and fully press the shutter button. Works really quite well. You will LOVE this camera!

Larry Vevig
sheldon grooms said:
I just brought the 5700, but I haven't received it. I reread Phil's
review a few times and I started worrying about the low light focus
thing. About half of the pics I take are outside with med to bright
light, I live in Texas, the rest are inside and pretty low light.
My questions; have 5700 owners been able to take low light shots
and get goods results? Does manual focus mode help in these
situation?
Static shots are what I'm interested in, action isn't factor for me.
--
rgds,
sheldon ; }
Click to expand...
 
Larry Vevig said:
I have had little to no luck with manual focus but the low light
thing really isn't that much of a problem. When it is I just have
a little key chain laser pointer for a focus assist. Point the
laser at your subject, half press the shutter button, then when you
get a focus lock keep your half press position, shut off the laser
and fully press the shutter button. Works really quite well. You
will LOVE this camera!
Click to expand...
Larry,

Thanks, I really like your idea and I can definitely do the laser deal. You have eased my mind considerablely. Life is good, once again.
--
rgds,
sheldon ; }
 
Hi Sheldon!

To ease your mind some more, and provide you with some background:

Low light isn't the issue for the CP5700. Agreed, if there is no light, it will have a hard time focussing too, but who wants a picture of total darkness? ;)

Now bare in mind that all the CP5700 needs is CONTRAST. This means, sufficient difference in color (dark/light colors), to focus. You can have the cam focus easily on a subject, in a room lit by just one single candle... how much darker do you want to go? So light isn't the problem; CONTRAST is. As long as you provide it: BANGGGggg... it will focus!

Happy shooting!
Mike.
sheldon grooms said:
I just brought the 5700, but I haven't received it. I reread Phil's
review a few times and I started worrying about the low light focus
thing. About half of the pics I take are outside with med to bright
light, I live in Texas, the rest are inside and pretty low light.
My questions; have 5700 owners been able to take low light shots
and get goods results? Does manual focus mode help in these
situation?
Static shots are what I'm interested in, action isn't factor for me.
--
rgds,
sheldon ; }
Click to expand...
 
A. Michael T. said:
Now bare in mind that all the CP5700 needs is CONTRAST. This means,
sufficient difference in color (dark/light colors), As long as you provide it:
BANGGGggg... it will focus!
Click to expand...
Mike,

This does ease my mind, thanks. Honestly, I can't wait to get the camera, I'm hoping it will show up tomorrow. Might just have to take the day off. I still have two digicams that I'm very fond of, but this nikon has really gotten me worked up.
--
rgds,
sheldon ; }
 
Here's an example of really low light autofocus. The first photo below was exposed for 8 seconds, aperture wide open, to give you an idea of how dark it was. The autofocus worked fine. The second photo is the same as the first, but brightened considerably in Photoshop Elements so focus can be examined. NeatImage was also used to remove noise. I was extremely impressed by how well my 5700 focused in the boat in the foreground in this low light.

Original image, 8 second exposure:



Same photo, brightened, with noise remove:



Rodney
 
You guys kill me... I'm not being mean, it's just that having to carry, fumble with and use a laser or anything to focus this camera is a SIN. Sony, Fuji, and many others focus far better without anf aids at all. My 5700 got so bad I sent it back to Nikon for repair. Mine however was so bad it wouldn't focus in daylight. I haven't given up yet, we'll see how it works when I get it back. Oh yea, I know, Sony uses a laser IR assist. BUT, Fuji doesn, Olympus doesn't many don't I stand on my ideas that this camera has no excuse for not working. I didn't get a chance to try an IR laser to see if it would work. I still think it would be a helpfull tool for this since the 5700 does see IR. IF the focus is still funky when I get it back I'll work on this thing. It would mount on the hot shoe. I'll let you all know.

Once again, pleasse don't start flaming over this it's jusy my opinion, I know many prople disagree, thats fine if you don't mind spending more than a thousaand dollars for a camera that doesn't work as well as my Fuji S602 or my Olympus E-10
Larry Vevig said:
Larry Vevig
sheldon grooms said:
I just brought the 5700, but I haven't received it. I reread Phil's
review a few times and I started worrying about the low light focus
thing. About half of the pics I take are outside with med to bright
light, I live in Texas, the rest are inside and pretty low light.
My questions; have 5700 owners been able to take low light shots
and get goods results? Does manual focus mode help in these
situation?
Static shots are what I'm interested in, action isn't factor for me.
--
rgds,
sheldon ; }
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
Michael,
Larry Vevig said:
Larry Vevig said:
Larry Vevig said:
Larry Vevig said:
Larry Vevig said:
Larry Vevig said:
*
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Fuji S602 PRO, Fuji 4900, Nikon 5700, Olympus E-10, Olympus D-600L
 
Sheldon,

The AF does require light to get the contrast needed for the AF system to operate. The more light the more likely you will get decent contrast for not only the AF but for decent photo quality as well. The best thing you can do when you get your camera is read the manual while the battery is charging (approx. 1.5-2 hrs.) and read it again. Here is a tip regarding the AF, if you need the best low contrast performance, use AF Area mode set to OFF, but if you want precision spot focus, use AF Area Mode set to MANUAL. Good luck and have fun!

Ron T
sheldon grooms said:
I just brought the 5700, but I haven't received it. I reread Phil's
review a few times and I started worrying about the low light focus
thing. About half of the pics I take are outside with med to bright
light, I live in Texas, the rest are inside and pretty low light.
My questions; have 5700 owners been able to take low light shots
and get goods results? Does manual focus mode help in these
situation?
Static shots are what I'm interested in, action isn't factor for me.
--
rgds,
sheldon ; }
Click to expand...
 
Nice shot Rod, could have used White Balance but this is not a good focus example it's so near the infinity seting it's not a challange. Here is one in my living room at my sons 10 yr birthday party.



Our little dog stepped up ready to partisipate. This shot is f3.7 and 1/125 with the Nikon built in flash. Not a bad photo, focused in room light. The camera most likely found her tags as a focus point. This, however is the only one out of 5 that worked. Here is what happened to the others.



These were all taken from the same distance, same light (By the way is one 75watt bulb in a lamp and a 300 watt bulb in a pole lamp) In my opinion this is a lot better than "low light". Then again, My 5700 is in Nikon repair so they can look at it, so maybe it's a bad camera. If yours is doing anything like this I don't think it's normal or acceptable.

--
Michael,
Rodney N. Yerby said:
Rodney N. Yerby said:
Rodney N. Yerby said:
Rodney N. Yerby said:
Rodney N. Yerby said:
Rodney N. Yerby said:
*
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Fuji S602 PRO, Fuji 4900, Nikon 5700, Olympus E-10, Olympus D-600L
 
Absolutely agree on the contrast issue. My greatest difficulty in getting the focus to lock was on a very, very bright day, and bright subject - snow, ice, and fog at mid-day. Very high shutter speed (about 1/250) and small aperture - but because there was no contrast in most of the scene, I had to find an object for the focus to work with (a tree trunk that I didn't want in the image, but it was the right distance away and more contrasty) and use the focus lock button, then recompose.

So, it's not low light. It's low contrast.

And frankly, the older I get, the more I'm like this camera, suffering with being able to see clearly in low contrast situations.
sheldon grooms said:
A. Michael T. said:
Now bare in mind that all the CP5700 needs is CONTRAST. This means,
sufficient difference in color (dark/light colors), As long as you provide it:
BANGGGggg... it will focus!
Click to expand...
Mike,

This does ease my mind, thanks. Honestly, I can't wait to get the
camera, I'm hoping it will show up tomorrow. Might just have to
take the day off. I still have two digicams that I'm very fond of,
but this nikon has really gotten me worked up.
--
rgds,
sheldon ; }
Click to expand...
 
What did you have the metering set on? I would be willing to bet you were using Matrix metering...is this true?
If so, try spot or center-weighted.

With the combination of Matrix metering and manual auto focus area, your camera will do exactly that in low light.

If you turn the auto focus area mode to "OFF" and use center or spot metering, it will focus.

Give it a try. It has to do with the metering sensors interacting with the focus sensors.

-JG

...a picture is worth a thousand words, but the really good ones leave you speechless...
 
Hi Sheldon,

I have been using the 5700 now for about 9 months. I have a mobile studio set up and use the SB80DX external flash. I chose the Nikon for the lense, the 8X optical zoom is very important to support for the type photography I prefer. All cameras will struggle to focus in 'very' low light (I include the top pro models in this statement as I have often seen comments from others who own these hi end cameras), they can't find the contrast required to operate the auto mechanism. As the 5700 zooms out to 280mm (35mm eqiv) which is much more than most other cameras in this range it struggles sometimes at maximum zoom. Back the zoom off a little and it usually fixes the problem. If you are taking pictures indoors with a flash and you have the normal amount of lighting required to see where you are going it's not a problem. I have taken photos at parties, in clubs, pubs, restaurants etc. with the usual low light ambience at these venues and never really struck a problem. Some of the other cameras that are often compared with the 5700 don't have the 8X zoom so it is not apples for apples when someone states the other unit has 'no' problems under the same low light conditions. If they had the extral zoom it's likely they would be faced with the same problems. Check out my web page I maintain for our local windsurf club. I took a heap of pictures last Friday evening, they are in the gallery under 'cruise'. Most of the pictures were at night with just the ferry lights for ilumination. The 2002 marathon pics are also all taken with the 5700. Don't panic, you have selected a fine camera and won't be disappointed. http://members.iinet.net.au/~rdunlop/windsurf/
Hotworks
 
Nikon has admitted to me that mine is a known problem. it is being workid on.
Thanks
Lensflare said:
What did you have the metering set on? I would be willing to bet
you were using Matrix metering...is this true?
If so, try spot or center-weighted.
With the combination of Matrix metering and manual auto focus area,
your camera will do exactly that in low light.
If you turn the auto focus area mode to "OFF" and use center or
spot metering, it will focus.
Give it a try. It has to do with the metering sensors interacting
with the focus sensors.

-JG
...a picture is worth a thousand words, but the really good ones
leave you speechless...
Click to expand...
--
Michael,
Lensflare said:
Lensflare said:
Lensflare said:
Lensflare said:
Lensflare said:
Lensflare said:
*
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Fuji S602 PRO, Fuji 4900, Nikon 5700, Olympus E-10, Olympus D-600L
 
On high it helps the focus and IMG. Shrp. on low makes it harder to focus. I can't believe the focus mechanism for the camera uses the image after proceessing and not before, "Unprocessed." I was suprized to see this. unless, once again, maybe it's just my camera and this is part of the problem with it. IF not give it a try if you don't hate Image sharpening put it on high and see fo yourself.
Michael
RL said:
thanks JG. i tried and it worked. my experienced the best combo is
auto focus area mode "off" and spot meter.
-rl
Click to expand...
--
Michael,
Cebu_Boy said:
Cebu_Boy said:
Cebu_Boy said:
Cebu_Boy said:
Cebu_Boy said:
Cebu_Boy said:
*
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Fuji S602 PRO, Fuji 4900, Nikon 5700, Olympus E-10, Olympus D-600L
 
I don't know how image sharpening would affect camera focus??

I guess I'll never know the benefits of that, because the images come out looking sort of "cheesy" and the highlights blow out WAY too easily when you use the sharpening higher than the "normal" setting, in my experience.

The 5700 has enough trouble with blown highlights WITHOUT using the on-camera image sharpening...
I use Photoshop for any sharpening anyway.

The picture example you showed was exactly the problem I had when combining matrix meter and manual auto focus area.
Did you notice that the wall behind your dog was in focus?

-JG

...a picture is worth a thousand words, but the really good ones leave you speechless...
 
sheldon grooms said:
I just brought the 5700, but I haven't received it. I reread Phil's
review a few times and I started worrying about the low light focus
thing. About half of the pics I take are outside with med to bright
light, I live in Texas, the rest are inside and pretty low light.
My questions; have 5700 owners been able to take low light shots
and get goods results? Does manual focus mode help in these
situation?
Static shots are what I'm interested in, action isn't factor for me.
--
rgds,
sheldon ; }
Click to expand...
 
Is that a known problem specific to the 5700, or only your particular camera.

Thanks
Austin316 said:
Lensflare said:
What did you have the metering set on? I would be willing to bet
you were using Matrix metering...is this true?
If so, try spot or center-weighted.
With the combination of Matrix metering and manual auto focus area,
your camera will do exactly that in low light.
If you turn the auto focus area mode to "OFF" and use center or
spot metering, it will focus.
Give it a try. It has to do with the metering sensors interacting
with the focus sensors.

-JG
...a picture is worth a thousand words, but the really good ones
leave you speechless...
Click to expand...
--
Michael,
Austin_316 said:
Austin_316 said:
Austin_316 said:
Austin_316 said:
Austin_316 said:
Austin_316 said:
*
Click to expand...
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Fuji S602 PRO, Fuji 4900, Nikon 5700, Olympus E-10, Olympus D-600L
Click to expand...
--
CP5700
Sydney, Australia
http://www.pbase.com/louiek
 
Low ligth focus is one of the 5700 serious shortages.
What helps is patience to find a spot where the lens can fix and focus.
It's not a camera for low light conditions, niether for fast action.
davve said:
sheldon grooms said:
I just brought the 5700, but I haven't received it. I reread Phil's
review a few times and I started worrying about the low light focus
thing. About half of the pics I take are outside with med to bright
light, I live in Texas, the rest are inside and pretty low light.
My questions; have 5700 owners been able to take low light shots
and get goods results? Does manual focus mode help in these
situation?
Static shots are what I'm interested in, action isn't factor for me.
--
rgds,
sheldon ; }
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
cholo
 
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