Viewfinder Calibration (help!)

luisspellcast

(first post on the photography forums)

hi everybody -- luis here, 32, galway -- did a bit of photography back when i was a kid (basic stuff like working with camera, lenses and lightning-- eventually learned how to develop black and white pictures in the dark room but stopped there on the photography career) -- i mostly shoot b/w 35mm while on holidays or something but my pentax was asking for a retirement even before i got it, so moved to digital and got a d3100 with the 18-55 vr kit

the first few pictures came out a bit un-focused... i corrected some of the mistakes by using a tripod and shutter remote

i also tried to calibrate by using auto-focus, turning to manual focus and re-focusing, while adjusting the viewfinder (very hard to put the previous bit in words)

i only shoot raw and usually either shutter or aperture priority --

if anyone has any tips on adjusting the viewfinder please share

thanks in advance

steve_

Have you tried calibrating the diopter? Mount your camera on your tripod and point it at something with details like a wall or something. Then autofocus by pressing the shutter button half way then adjust the diopter till its in focus

What location where you shooting in? What kind of shutter speeds where you using?

luisspellcast

hi steve -- apologies for my english

it was the diopter i was trying to setup

i did it both indoors and outdoors and can't seem to see any difference while moving the diopter - mounted on a tripod, auto-focus then adjusting the diopter but even from extreme to extreme it all looks the same to me when focusing an object against a wall (or something like it)

as for shutter speeds, i was (trying) to shoot tag-rubgy on poor light conditions (it's galway, after all) -- don't recall exactly the settings for shutter speed and aperture but i switched a few times to sports-mode to see if there were any differences, iso400, was manually focusing all the time -- end up changing to automatic focus at the end, since the manual ones were just coming up terrible

steve_

it could simply be that your camera was setting the shutter speed too slow because of the low light conditions. Check the meta data on your pics to see what the shutter speeds where. Anything below 1/60 of a sec will cause blur

luisspellcast

i checked the metadata and some of the pictures and the more blurred ones do go slower releases than 1/60

i tried to re-calibrate the diopter and i think it looks focused on 7 clicks (which is almost half way !?)

i think i need to have my eyes (re)checked, other than messing around with this

steve_

luisspellcast wrote: »

i checked the metadata and some of the pictures and the more blurred ones do go slower releases than 1/60

Well that's most likely it. In order to get clean crisp images of moving subjects you need fast shutter speeds. The faster the better

luisspellcast

i remember pushing the shutter as fast as i could with (acceptable) light conditions but maybe i didn't pay that much attention when i moved to different shooting modes -- thanks for the help

i deleted most of the pictures but i found one that explains my original post -- so constructive criticism is much appreciated

i compressed it to 1600 for uploading purposes, metadata says ISO800-300mm-f/5.6-1/60, raw shot -- i wanted to give some sort of moving effect but wanted the fella to be focused (of course ) -- i also hand-held this shot so i'm guessing that might have helped

http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/3562/tagrugby.jpg

steve_

luisspellcast wrote: »

i remember pushing the shutter as fast as i could with (acceptable) light conditions but maybe i didn't pay that much attention when i moved to different shooting modes -- thanks for the help

i deleted most of the pictures but i found one that explains my original post -- so constructive criticism is much appreciated

i compressed it to 1600 for uploading purposes, metadata says ISO800-300mm-f/5.6-1/60, raw shot -- i wanted to give some sort of moving effect but wanted the fella to be focused (of course ) -- i also hand-held this shot so i'm guessing that might have helped

http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/3562/tagrugby.jpg

Yeah that's look good, obviously you want to track the subject in order to have him in focus but the background motion blurred.

ThOnda

Two things. For the first, you are shooting at 300mm, that means your exposure time should be at least 1/300. Anything longer will cause motion blur.
Second thing is pressing the shutter. Do NOT press it quickly, but the other way, gently. The firmer (quicker) is the action, the more likely you are going to move the camera, even on the tripod.
The third thing is dioptric correction of the viewfinder. You should correct it so you can see the information in the viewfinder sharp (the digits of aperture, shutter speed and others).
If you are shooting handheld with 300mm lens (presumably on a crop body), don't try to shoot any speed longer than 1/500s.

Allanimal

The rule of thumb to hand hold a shot without blur due to your movement is to ensure that the shutter speed is faster than 1/focal length. As others above have said, in your case 1/300s, assuming no crop factor.

Having image stabilisation can reduce that somewhat, but remember that this only corrects for your movement, notthe subject's.

luisspellcast

thanks for the help guys

tripod and shutter remote solved a lot of problems -- i've also got a chance to shoot with good light conditions so been able to push the shutter speed a bit more and i got really good results -- also (and with no auto-focus) i got my diopter adjusted (which obviously helped)

i've uploaded a couple pictures (not the best ones but i suppose they make the point)