Nikon Coolpix 4500 : Macro focussing problems. (1 Viewer)

Andrew

wibble wibble

• Jun 29, 2006

• #1

Earlier today I crawled on a heath through gorse and dried cow pats in shirt sleeves to get close to a stunning Golden-ringed Dragonfly.

I had it only a foot and half away in glorious sunshine.

The damn Nikon Coolpix 4500 in macro mode refused to focus on it at all despite many attempts.

I even tried focussing on the stalk it was resting on and no dice.

It has happened a few times before.

Has anyone got a clue what the problem could be?

 

Dave Smith

Well-known member

• Jun 29, 2006

• #2

Andrew said:

Earlier today I crawled on a heath through gorse and dried cow pats in shirt sleeves to get close to a stunning Golden-ringed Dragonfly.

I had it only a foot and half away in glorious sunshine.

The damn Nikon Coolpix 4500 in macro mode refused to focus on it at all despite many attempts.

I even tried focussing on the stalk it was resting on and no dice.

It has happened a few times before.

Has anyone got a clue what the problem could be?

Click to expand...

Did you check that the flower symbol was yellow? The macro only works on part of the zoom range.

Dave

 

Andrew

wibble wibble

• Jun 29, 2006

• #3

It was in yellow.

 

Blackstart

Saxophonus pinus

• Jun 29, 2006

• #4

Hi Andrew,

I often have the same problem when the subject and the background are similar in color (say, a small green flower, or foliage against grass) or when the camera can't find an edge to focus on.

Drives me nuts.

Adam

 

yossi

Well-known member

• Jun 29, 2006

• #5

Indeed, when the BG has a lot of details, focusing is almost impossible.
The solution - a bit clumsy with this camera - manual focus.

 

Andrew

wibble wibble

• Jun 29, 2006

• #6

Did not even know manual focus was possible. Got my manual out and will try that out later. Thanks.

 

A

Astrokev

Well-known member

• Sep 26, 2006

• #7

Andrew said:

Did not even know manual focus was possible. Got my manual out and will try that out later. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Manual focus? - I wouldn't bother. The 4500 is far inferior to the earlier 995. Why they changed this is something I'll never understand.

I've struggled with this problem but have found that, with perseverence, once you have a focus lock on the subject, re-focussing tends to find the target pretty much every time. This doesn't help of course if you can't get it that first time!

Another "trick" I've tried with some success is to focus on my hand held at roughly the right distance away from the camera, then with the shutter half-depressed, re-frame the subject and move the camera slowly towards it until it's in focus, then fully depress the shutter. Not ideal but it's at least as good as manual focus!

On a related topic, has anyone found the focus confirmation function of any value? I struggle to see any difference between it being switched on or off. Anyone else find this?

AstroKev

 

Andrew

wibble wibble

• Oct 8, 2006

• #8

Thanks for that. I have refocussed when a lock has been acheived without really knowing why I did it. Now I have a purpose!

 

PaulK

Accident Prone Birdwatcher

• Oct 9, 2006

• #9

Go in to the modes and select "Close Up". It has everything set up already for macro pics. It has selection boxes so focusing is not so critical. When just putting it on macro mode and zooming till the flowers yellow i find it will focus on anything other than what you want.

 

Szabi

Well-known member

• Oct 18, 2006

• #10

I also had this problem with mine. I found out that macro photographing is the best in Aperture Priority mode. Push the mode button and rotate the rotation button while you get an 'A' at the lower left corner of the screen. My experience is that in this mode the camera is more ready to focus on the closest thing and not the background.
Szabi