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Nikon 5700 Zoom Advice Wanted (1 Viewer)

Angie

Well-known member
I have been trying to take photos of birds on a feeder with full zoom and am not getting very clear results.

I am using a tripod.
Distance is about 45 feet.
Have tried loads of settings.

Assuming its me and not the camera at fault, can anyone suggest what settings I should try to achieve better results.
 

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I used to have a 5700 which I really liked but part-exchanged for a digital SLR.

I am looking at your picture at work on an LCD screen but agree that it does not look clear. I doubt if it failure to focus properly as even the trees look blurred to me on this screen. Are pictures of other subjects clear? How good was the light and what shutter speed was the camera using? Even with a tripod it is possible to jar the camera when releasing the shutter. have you tried a delayed release shot? Have you sharpened this at all on you PC?

Richard
 
Hi Richard,
Thanks for replying.
Here are the details of the above shot: The only thing I have done to it is to resize it.

Taken 7/1/04 10:10 am. Sun was going in and out - probably behind a cloud for this shot.

JPEG (8-bit) Fine
Image Size: 2560 x 1920
Color
ConverterLens: None
Focal Length: 284.8mm
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Spot
1/60sec - f7/4
Exposure Comp: 0 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 100
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-S
Tone Comp: Contrast (+)
Digital Zoom Ratio: 4.00
Saturation comp: +1
Sharpening: High
Noise Reduction: OFF

Funnily enough, noise reduction is set to on but says off in Nikon View.
The Digital Zoom Ratio if set at about 2.60 is clearer, but I have never managed to get a clear shot at 4.00 (full zoom).

The flash won't click back into place so the camera will be going back to Nikon next week to be repaired. I can ask them to check the zoom in case it is the camera at fault.

Last Sunday a ring-necked parakeet appeared in the garden and today brought 2 friends. I was hoping to get a good photo for this month's competition. She (I think as it does not have a ring around its neck) is a very good subject as she sits on the feeders for ages. The first photos I took, were without a tripod so I could understand their lack of clarity, but since then I have used a tripod through an open window and they are still unclear.
 
As the shot was taken at 1/60 I would have to guess that the blur is due to camera shake even though you were using a tripod. However, perhaps it is the focus that is at fault - see what they say.

Richard
 
I see you are using digital zoom. I never use this as I find it gives a lower quality than taking at full optical zoom and enlarging in Photoshop. Some of your problems may be down to this.
 
I strongly concur. Digital zoom is analagous to viewing the picture at 400% on the screen - all it does is blow the image up in the camera rather than on the computer. It makes the image soft and sometimes blocky (unless the camera antialiases it as well). It's really just a marketing ploy of the camera manufacturers. I'd recommend turning it off and forgetting it exists. If you need more reach, you could try a teleconverter. I believe Nikon makes one for their Coolpix cameras.

In regards to noise reduction, it typically won't be applied until you get over 1 second exposures. It's a way to get rid of CCD noise in long exposures and has no effect on the shorter shutter speeds.
 
Hi Angie,

I agree about the digital zoom. I seldom ever use it and it could be responsible for a lot of the softness. However one thing that strikes me about this shot is that to my eyes at least the hedge behind looks a little sharper and I wonder if the camera autofocus has picked up on the hedge instead of the feeder. I don't know if the camera has the facility to lock focus by half depressing the shutter and then re-framing, but it's worth exploring. An alternative of course would be to use manual focus if the camera has it. Ordinarily a little ore depth of field through a hiher f-number would be preferable but as you are already down to 1/60 that not really on unless you increased to ISO 200 'film' speed.
 
Thanks for the info.

I did try blowing up photos that I had not used the full digital zoom on. They were not too good either.

I have been wondering whether to get a telephoto lens...I am also wondering about the life of the camera! I will have to see what Nikon say.

But before I took it in I was hoping to get some good photos of the parakeets. I have taken about 300 photos so far. Some of them are not too bad but they are not really good.
So I have set up a peanut feeder outside the window where I take my photos from. Unfortunately, this morning was very dull, windy, rainy and dark. Only 1 parakeet turned up and didn't go to the peanut feeder. Tomorrow maybe!
 
I also meant to say about the manual focus.
I didn't get on with it when I tried. I find the viewfinder too small and not clear enough to be able to focus on a subject. You can adjust the viewfinder for the clearest view, but it is very fiddly and I have never been able to get it that clear.

As I was taking photos a few days ago using the LCD screen, I was really pleased with them as they looked good ... until I downloaded them and you see the real results.
 
Digital Zoom

Angie said:
Hi Richard,
Thanks for replying.
Here are the details of the above shot: The only thing I have done to it is to resize it.

Taken 7/1/04 10:10 am. Sun was going in and out - probably behind a cloud for this shot.

JPEG (8-bit) Fine
Image Size: 2560 x 1920
Color
ConverterLens: None
Focal Length: 284.8mm
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Spot
1/60sec - f7/4
Exposure Comp: 0 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 100
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-S
Tone Comp: Contrast (+)
Digital Zoom Ratio: 4.00
Saturation comp: +1
Sharpening: High
Noise Reduction: OFF

Funnily enough, noise reduction is set to on but says off in Nikon View.
The Digital Zoom Ratio if set at about 2.60 is clearer, but I have never managed to get a clear shot at 4.00 (full zoom).

The flash won't click back into place so the camera will be going back to Nikon next week to be repaired. I can ask them to check the zoom in case it is the camera at fault.

Last Sunday a ring-necked parakeet appeared in the garden and today brought 2 friends. I was hoping to get a good photo for this month's competition. She (I think as it does not have a ring around its neck) is a very good subject as she sits on the feeders for ages. The first photos I took, were without a tripod so I could understand their lack of clarity, but since then I have used a tripod through an open window and they are still unclear.

I dont know how this will come through, this is the first time have have replied on this system.

Are you using the Digital Zoom or the Optical Zoom. If you are using the Digital it will not give you sharp image, turn it off and use Optical. If it is Optical, set it on P mode and take a image of a brick wall or something that has some detail. and see if you are still having the problem. If it is still out of focus make sure that you deprss the shutter release half way to allow the camera to focus than press it the rest of the way. Hope this helps, if you have any problems you can reach me at www.tedpappas.com
 
As most others have said, your problem is almost certainly the digital zoom. Digital zoom is fine for snapshots but certainly not for critically sharp images.

The bottom line is that a 285mm equivalent zoom is short for most bird photography. I progressed from a CP995 (155mm?) to adding a 3X extender (450mm?) and was still wanting more reach. This is why I ended up with digiscoping. I think the guys photographing birds professionally typically use lenses in the 400-500mm range - and then they often add matched teleconverters.

I think 400mm is probably the lower end of the magnification range that be regularly useful for most bird photography.
 
Jay Turberville said:
As most others have said, your problem is almost b certainly the digital zoom. Digital zoom is fine for snapshots but certainly not for critically sharp images.

The bottom line is that a 285mm equivalent zoom is short for most bird photography. I progressed from a CP995 (155mm?) to adding a 3X extender (450mm?) and was still wanting more reach. This is why I ended up with digiscoping. I think the guys photographing birds professionally typically use lenses in the 400-500mm range - and then they often add matched teleconverters.

I think 400mm is probably the lower end of the magnification range that be regularly useful for most bird photography.


I use a 300mm2.8D with a 2X converter on a F5 and that is a bare minimum, most berd photographers will use a 500 or 600mm with a 1.4 or 2.0 converters. If you have not been to Art Morris's web site you should go and look at it, he is the top bird photographer. Go to www.birdsasart.com. My bird images can be seen at www.tedpappas.com
 
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