Reading mode: Light Dark

Two D60's, both with focusing problems.

Go to last post
D

David Jay

Member
Messages
47
Reaction score
0
Location
US
In the last week I've received two D60's from two retailers. I'm a professional fashion photographer and shoot a lot of close-up "beauty" with VERY shallow depth of field. Accurate focus is critical.....obviously.

So I tested as follows: 50mm 1.4, wide open. Laid a tape measure out on the floor, crouched down in front of it and shot at 0ft, 1ft, 3ft, 6ft, 9ft. First focusing manually and then repeating with autofocus. Results: EVERY PICTURE OUT OF FOCUS. Manual in front, auto behind. BOTH CAMERAS.

Overrnighted one body to CPS. They adjusted it and overnighted it back to me today. Tested it again. Result. Exactly the same. Every picture out of focus. Called CPS, spoke with tech, he assured me he had adjusted it "spot on" 12 hours before. Its on its way back to CPS for round 2.
Houston, we've got a problem.
David Jay
 
David Jay said:
Almost forgot; I tried two brand new 50mm 1.4's. Same results on both.
David Jay
Click to expand...
I've heard that before... Can it be that all is well and in focus and you do not understand what's going on? I know you will explode.... Well, I've heard it before, some look at D60 negatives and think they are out of focus, when they are not. A D60 6Mpixel negative needs to be processed.

John
 
Hi David,
Keep us updated on how your camera is after round two.

Thanks
Jack
David Jay said:
In the last week I've received two D60's from two retailers. I'm a
professional fashion photographer and shoot a lot of close-up
"beauty" with VERY shallow depth of field. Accurate focus is
critical.....obviously.
So I tested as follows: 50mm 1.4, wide open. Laid a tape measure
out on the floor, crouched down in front of it and shot at 0ft,
1ft, 3ft, 6ft, 9ft. First focusing manually and then repeating with
autofocus. Results: EVERY PICTURE OUT OF FOCUS. Manual in front,
auto behind. BOTH CAMERAS.
Overrnighted one body to CPS. They adjusted it and overnighted it
back to me today. Tested it again. Result. Exactly the same. Every
picture out of focus. Called CPS, spoke with tech, he assured me he
had adjusted it "spot on" 12 hours before. Its on its way back to
CPS for round 2.
Houston, we've got a problem.
David Jay
--
Click to expand...
 
With a sharp lens the D60's photos can be sharp right out the camera. If you don't think so you may have a similar problem.

The big clue to look for is when something else at a different depth is tack sharp and the focus point is not.

Jason
John Davis said:
John
David Jay said:
John Davis said:
I've heard that before... Can it be that all is well and in focus
and you do not understand what's going on?
John
Click to expand...
No.
David Jay

--
http://www.davidjayphotography.com
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Jason:

No problems here. I actually do know what front/back focus is and... have seen many claiming it and being wrong.

John
Jason Hutchinson said:
The big clue to look for is when something else at a different
depth is tack sharp and the focus point is not.

Jason
John Davis said:
John
David Jay said:
John Davis said:
I've heard that before... Can it be that all is well and in focus
and you do not understand what's going on?
John
Click to expand...
No.
David Jay

--
http://www.davidjayphotography.com
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
went to an official leica course. they did this very interesting thing in class.

they gave us an af slr (not telling which brand) and a prime lens, then a leica rangefinder.

they told us to focus on something not moving near us, then to write the number down. do this three times on both cameras.

on the slr i got three different numbers withing 2 feet of each other (yes, camera had a lens af throw long enough to display a diff of two feet at this distance), on the rangefinder it was spot on each time.

stop testing your cameras and go use them. that IS why you bought it, yes?
David Jay said:
In the last week I've received two D60's from two retailers. I'm a
professional fashion photographer and shoot a lot of close-up
"beauty" with VERY shallow depth of field. Accurate focus is
critical.....obviously.
So I tested as follows: 50mm 1.4, wide open. Laid a tape measure
out on the floor, crouched down in front of it and shot at 0ft,
1ft, 3ft, 6ft, 9ft. First focusing manually and then repeating with
autofocus. Results: EVERY PICTURE OUT OF FOCUS. Manual in front,
auto behind. BOTH CAMERAS.
Overrnighted one body to CPS. They adjusted it and overnighted it
back to me today. Tested it again. Result. Exactly the same. Every
picture out of focus. Called CPS, spoke with tech, he assured me he
had adjusted it "spot on" 12 hours before. Its on its way back to
CPS for round 2.
Houston, we've got a problem.
David Jay
--
Click to expand...
 
The guy's only trying to get an objective handle on your problem by seeing some of the faulty images so he can judge for himself. No need to get stressed.....
David Jay said:
John,
I've already wasted WAY to much time testing these cameras. I dont
intend to waste any more with you.
David jay
Click to expand...
 
Jeff Graeber said:
stop testing your cameras and go use them. that IS why you bought
it, yes?
Click to expand...
Yes jeff, that is why I bought them. Thankfully I tested them first as these two bodies are litterally unuseable in a professional setting.
David Jay

P.S. By the way jeff, although I tested the auto focus and found it to be off, I am primarily concerned with manual focus as that is what I use 90% of the time.
 
Do mean one end of the tape was at your feet, and it was extending directly away from you? And you focused at the 1, 3, 6, 9-foot marks on the tape?

David Jay wrote:
[SNIP!]
David Jay said:
So I tested as follows: 50mm 1.4, wide open. Laid a tape measure
out on the floor, crouched down in front of it and shot at 0ft,
1ft, 3ft, 6ft, 9ft. First focusing manually and then repeating with
autofocus. Results: EVERY PICTURE OUT OF FOCUS. Manual in front,
auto behind. BOTH CAMERAS.
Click to expand...
Regards,

Mark J.

--
EOS 1D ~ 28-70mm f/2.8 L ~ 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS ~ 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 ~ 550EX
 
I recommend a different lens. Contrary to most peoples apparent results, I got bad focus results with the 50mm prime, both the 1.8 and 1.4.

The 6mp imager really reveals the slightest focus problem. I'd bet if you resampled 50% of your images to 4mp you wouldn't notice the problem.

Everyone seems to think a 10mp camera would be a dream, but I suspect it's going to reveal a lot of flaws in lenses and focus results. CMOS and CCD technology may not be the limiting factor in future digicams, I think lenses may be the limiting technology.
David Jay said:
In the last week I've received two D60's from two retailers. I'm a
professional fashion photographer and shoot a lot of close-up
"beauty" with VERY shallow depth of field. Accurate focus is
critical.....obviously.
So I tested as follows: 50mm 1.4, wide open. Laid a tape measure
out on the floor, crouched down in front of it and shot at 0ft,
1ft, 3ft, 6ft, 9ft. First focusing manually and then repeating with
autofocus. Results: EVERY PICTURE OUT OF FOCUS. Manual in front,
auto behind. BOTH CAMERAS.
Overrnighted one body to CPS. They adjusted it and overnighted it
back to me today. Tested it again. Result. Exactly the same. Every
picture out of focus. Called CPS, spoke with tech, he assured me he
had adjusted it "spot on" 12 hours before. Its on its way back to
CPS for round 2.
Houston, we've got a problem.
David Jay
--
Click to expand...
 
Mark J. said:
Mark J. said:
So I tested as follows: 50mm 1.4, wide open. Laid a tape measure
out on the floor, crouched down in front of it and shot at 0ft,
1ft, 3ft, 6ft, 9ft.
Mark J.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Seems to me the lens's long axis forms at least a 15-30 degree angle with the face of the tape measure. The plane of focus is not parallel to the numbers on the tape. Could this account for part of the difference in apparent focus on the numbers? I realize that the numbes on the tape could be considered a point on the focus plane, but I'm not sure the test measures what it appears to.

--
Walter K
 
David Jay said:
So I tested as follows: 50mm 1.4, wide open. Laid a tape measure
out on the floor, crouched down in front of it and shot at 0ft,
1ft, 3ft, 6ft, 9ft. First focusing manually and then repeating with
autofocus. Results: EVERY PICTURE OUT OF FOCUS. Manual in front,
auto behind. BOTH CAMERAS.
Click to expand...
I am maybe asking granny to try some farm fresh eggs, but with the tape measure you did measure to the sensor-plane marking on the body and not the front of the lens ?

rgds,
--
Peter Galbavy
http://www.wonderland.org/
Help decode CRW files: http://www.wonderland.org/crw/
 
Peter Galbavy said:
David Jay said:
So I tested as follows: 50mm 1.4, wide open. Laid a tape measure
out on the floor, crouched down in front of it and shot at 0ft,
1ft, 3ft, 6ft, 9ft. First focusing manually and then repeating with
autofocus. Results: EVERY PICTURE OUT OF FOCUS. Manual in front,
auto behind. BOTH CAMERAS.
Click to expand...
I am maybe asking granny to try some farm fresh eggs, but with the
tape measure you did measure to the sensor-plane marking on the
body and not the front of the lens ?

rgds,
--
Peter Galbavy
http://www.wonderland.org/
Help decode CRW files: http://www.wonderland.org/crw/
Click to expand...
That shouldn't make a difference, if I understand his test. He is not commenting on the actual distance from the lens or the sensor plane. Rather, he is using an identifiable mark that the camera or his eye reports as being in focus, then examining the results to see how far off the actual focus was.
--
Walter K
 
WalterK said:
That shouldn't make a difference, if I understand his test. He is
not commenting on the actual distance from the lens or the sensor
plane. Rather, he is using an identifiable mark that the camera or
his eye reports as being in focus, then examining the results to
see how far off the actual focus was.
Click to expand...
Then why is he using a measuring tape ?

rgds,
--
Peter Galbavy
http://www.wonderland.org/
Help decode CRW files: http://www.wonderland.org/crw/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top