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Camera Focus (1 Viewer)

GR Triever

Well-known member
I've had a problem with focus on the last two outings... It seems that even though the scope appears to be focused correctly, all the photos I take come out blurred. I've thought everything from conditions, to camera, to my eyesight not being 20/20 through my eyeglasses.

Today I spent some time playing with camera settings on stationary objects, at both near and far distances. It seems that when the camera zoom is set to 100% full optical zoom (I have the digital zoom turned off), blurring occurs, yet if I back it off to 30-50%, focus and clarity improve.

Is this a quirk of the camera, or do all cameras have this "sweet" spot? Or am I missing something entirely?

Regards,

GR
 
I have not experienced this problem with my nikon 990 but it would help if others knew which camera you were using. This is an interesting question and I want to bring it back up to the active threads. I'm sorry, I can't answer your question. Are you perhaps too close to what you are digiscoping?
 
My camera is the Toshiba PDR-4300; distance is not the problem, because all the shots are from 30 yards plus. I have a few photos that came out crystal clear. Now if I could only remember what settings I used! <g>

GR
 
Been there my friend. I now make notes before I download the pics as my camera has that wonderful option. Time consuming but worth it when the shots are good. Your question should get some input over the next couple of days. Most of the digiscoping geniuses here are fast asleep or out partying on a Saturday night so sit tight and hopefully you will find some answers to your question.
 
I'm using the Nikon 4500 and I have the same problem when using the zoom at 4x - the photos come out somewhat 'soft'. At anything less than 4x they come out acceptably sharp assuming no camera shake. I'm no expert but I suspect that the 4x optical zoom is just too powerful for the resolving power of the scope. 99% of my shots are taken at 2-3x optical zoom. As KC says, if you are getting some decent shots then I' be inclined to run a few tests and note the results.

Even then I find some days almost every shot comes out perfect and on others I'm lucky to end up with one or two decent ones.

Likewise the scope. I had more consistent results when I used a fixed eyepiece. I now use a 20-60x zoom which adds another variable to the 'success or not' equation. I seldom get a useable shot at 60x as they are too soft. 20-30x works just fine. The advantage of the zoom lens being better framing/composition.
 
Going back out today, this time with laptop computer in tow... although the number of shots taken may suffer, I'll spend some time downloading after every few shots and playing with the settings.

GR
 
GR,

This is my first year digiscoping so I do not consider myself an expert.

I've found that as you increase your optical zoom you decrease your DOF ... a lot. If the light is not perfect it will be very hard to get sharp photos with a lot of zoom. Even with perfect light it's hard to get a good photo with a lot of zoom because of shake. I use a video monitor plugged into the video output of my 4500 and you can see the movement increase as you zoom in. You can also see that the DOF almost goes away at high zoom levels.

Bill
 
Hi Bill

I find that in Aperture priority mode on the Cp4500 f3.6-f4.0 gives the sharpest results,anything higher & less light is coming into the camera & you get a much slower shutter speed.Also making sure that the flower symbol is lit yellow(macro focus) seems to produce better results.

Regards Steve.
 
stevo said:

Also making sure that the flower symbol is lit yellow(macro focus) seems to produce better results.

Regards Steve.

This is something I am still struggling with. I can only seem to get the macro setting to turn yellow on my 990 if I back down the aperature to around 3.1 - 3.2 by lowering the zoom. Is there another way to achieve this?
 
Stevo,

I almost never use macro mode. I've found that with my setup I can usually get a sharper image with manual focus. In macro mode the camera "hunts" too long for the focus set and then sets at the wrong place or the bird flys away.

Thanks for the tip,

Bill
 
Hi KC

To get the flower symbol to turn yellow then yes you have to ease off the zoom,unfortunately that`s the only way I know of doing it.If the flower symbol is lit white then you`re out of the macro settings range.The other reason I dont use full zoom is because I find I can get a faster shutter speed.

Regards Steve.
 
Hi Steve

Thanks so much Steve for getting back to me on this. Up until now, I have not taken many shots with the macro in yellow and as I am still hand holding the camera to the scope, I imagine, as you say, the faster shutter speed might just improve my pics. There's room for lots of improvement. :)
 
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