Nikon 850 autofocus challenge: In my experience Nikon auto focusing has been spot on as set and ultra reliable. My D850 however has stopped doing this & I'm having to resort to manual...

petego4it Loc: NY

In my experience Nikon auto focusing has been spot on as set and ultra reliable. My D850 however has stopped doing this & I'm having to resort to manual, too slow. BB focus also not working right. I'm sure (?) I'm missing a critical setting but have checked all the logical ones (AF on camera body, slide switches on lens, currently Nikkor 24-120) and the autofocus custom settings bank; also switched lenses, still no go. It auto focuses and beeps when selected in center and lower quadrants but not upper usual head portrait selection using either 55 or 15 spots. No dust observable on the mirror, do I need to try to lock it up? Camera has not been knocked. At the moment, it is looking like another long trip to LI?

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

If you can remember the custom settings you put in, invoke the return to factory settings mode and re-load your settings like you did originally.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

Get Steve Perry’s book on the Nikon autofocus sysyem. I am working through the mirrorless version now with my Z6. I have had a half dozen Nikon DSLRs over a half dozen years and thought I fully understood it. I have already learned how little I knew.

You may be at the point of factory reset to ensure the camera hasn’t broken. If it isn’t broken Steve will lead you to get it where you want it.

Quixdraw Loc: x

Haven't done it, but you can format a new card, save your current settings to it and take it out of the camera. Then do a 2 button reset to original settings and see what happens. You will still have your custom settings if they are not the issue.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

petego4it wrote:

In my experience Nikon auto focusing has been spot... (show quote)

I had an issue with autofocus on my D850 after using it reliably for several months. Tried everything I know to no avail and eventually sent it Nikon for repair along with images and settings. It came back good as new with no explanation other than a sticker saying it conformed to specs. There was no charge.

Eventually switch to Sony but not because of this experience. I just wanted the advantages of mirrorless.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

IDguy wrote:

Get Steve Perry’s book on the Nikon autofocus sysyem. I am working through the mirrorless version now with my Z6. I have had a half dozen Nikon DSLRs over a half dozen years and thought I fully understood it. I have already learned how little I knew.

You may be at the point of factory reset to ensure the camera hasn’t broken. If it isn’t broken Steve will lead you to get it where you want it.

FTn

Pay particular attention to Steve's section on formal testing. I know that shooting a test chart is not the most fun but if you want really sharp pictures you need to test all of your lenses with your D850 at all apertures to find each lens' sweet spot. It is usually about 2 to 3 stops down from wide open. If you do need to send your camera and lenses back to Nikon you will need to include these files to the teck can see what it is doing.

You may also want to use the auto focus fine tuning that is available in the menus of the D850. Again you will have to do this for all of your lenses.

Unfortunately very few of Nikon's F lenses have the resolving power to work well with a 45 mp sensor. If you want to take full advantage of the D850's sensor you need to pick your lenses wisely.

- FTn

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

FTn wrote:

Unfortunately very few of Nikon's F lenses have the resolving power to work well with a 45 mp sensor. If you want to take full advantage of the D850's sensor you need to pick your lenses wisely.

- FTn

While it is true that some lenses have more resolving power than others (all brands)...if you currently get sharp and pleasing images with your current lenses a high resolution sensor will only improve them. Mostly what is scarified is noise and that can be mitigated.

Don't believe the false claims that circulate on this forum...check out DXOMark data for lens and camera combination performance.

Data properly gathered trumps opinions any time.

FTn

joer wrote:

While it is true that some lenses have more resolving power than others (all brands)...if you currently get sharp and pleasing images with your current lenses a high resolution sensor will only improve them. Mostly what is scarified is noise and that can be mitigated.

Don't believe the false claims that circulate on this forum...check out DXOMark data for lens and camera combination performance.

Data properly gathered trumps opinions any time.

Sorry I didn't bother to footnote my comments about Nikon's F lenses ability to resolve but my information comes from DXOMark and and Photography Life. You may want to read "Most Nikon F Mount Lenses Cannot Resolve Adequate Detail On Modern High-Resolution Cameras" on www.photographylife.com by Nasim Mansurov. Here Mansurov presents some pretty good scientific data to back up his argument.

According to DXOMark the Nikon 24-120mm f3.5 - 5.6 only scores a 12 for sharpness and the Nikon 24-120mm f4 doesn't do much better with a score of 16. Just as a reference the 105mm F1.4 scores a 40 and the 28mm f1.8 scores a 33 but, according to Mansurov, the 28mm f1.8 doesn't have the resolving power to take full advantage of the abilities of a 45 mp sensor. I can't find the 28mm f1.4 on DXOMark yet. The bottom line here is that to take full advantage of the abilities of a 45 MP sensor like the one used in a D850 you have to buy great glass. Otherwise it's kind of like putting Mastercraft tires on a Ferrari.

- FTn

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

petego4it wrote:

In my experience Nikon auto focusing has been spot... (show quote)

You know, of course, that Steve Perry is a member of UHH, right? My first thought is that any issues with focusing a Nikon DSLR might be best solved by PMing Steve and asking him directly.

User ID

FTn wrote:

Sorry I didn't bother to footnote my comments abou... (show quote)

Such BS. Ask an actual photographer if any of that really matters.

Just loooooove your analogy about tires. You have zero clue what that analogy actually imparts to a thinking reader.

User ID

Bridges wrote:

If you can remember the custom settings you put in, invoke the return to factory settings mode and re-load your settings like you did originally.

Or just dial over to one of the custom modes. That should get you away from any problematic user settings you might have set up.

BTW does the AF in the live view function work normally ? It should, but it’s easy enough to double check it.

Have you blower cleaned the AF sensors ? Cleaning the imaging sensor doesn’t clean the SLR AF sensors. Only the live view AF uses the imaging sensor as an AF sensor. SLR AF sensors “see” via the SLR mirror.

FTn

User ID wrote:

Such BS. Ask an actual photographer if any of that really matters.

Just loooooove your analogy about tires. You have zero clue what that analogy actually imparts to a thinking reader.

I am a commercial photographer. If you look at my avatar that was the cover shot that I did for the Callaway Alfa Romeo Twin Turbo dealer brochure back in '84. Shot with an 8x10 Sinar view camera on Extachrome. I worked early on in my career as an assistant for Ernst Haas, David Pruitt, and Frank Poole. It was here that I learned the importance of using the sharpest lenses available.

I'm only trying to be helpful here and provide an explanation to the OP as to why his images look out of focus. If you are happy with with the image quality that you get with a with consumer grade lenses on a 45 mp good for you. The OP posted because he was not happy. Without seeing his images, my first concern is the is the Nikon 24 - 120. It may work OK with a 24 mp sensor but may not be so good with a 45 mp sensor. Nikon as well as several independent authors like Thom Hogan have published lists of the subset of Nikon lenses that will work well on the D850. The 24 - 120 mm doesn't make any of those lists.

- FTn

jefflane

My 24-120 works fine on my D850. In addition to his longer tract on Nikon autofocus, Steve Perry has a youTube on steps to fix autofocus problems.

uhaas2009

I reset my 810 before because I couldn’t figure out what I set wrong. There is 3 different reset. I have to look it up in David Bush book, i did this a while ago.