Tay Loc: Maryland

I have a Nikon D40 camera with the original lens kit. I primarily take landscape pictures on vacations via the landscape mode on the camera. Pictures have ranged from crap to awesome as I am purely amateur. My wife and I are set to retire and travel. I would love to upgrade the camera but I don’t want to break the bank. I want to stick with Nikon as I know the majority of the functions. I don’t need all the bells and whistles. I just need something that upgrades my picture taking so that we can make travel books.

If you all think I can keep the D40 body and just buy better lens I’m ok with that if I know the lens is idiot proof. It has to work for the D40 body.

Finally. Can someone please help me with getting tack sharp focus on my landscape shots? I use the landscape mode for shooting and lock focus on the most distant object or infinity. The trouble is that I typically lose focus on the foreground especially when I want some cool flowers in focus. I do not have a live view option to see the shot. What can I do to capture so many beautiful scenes that I typically miss?

Sorry to ramble. I truly appreciate all your help. Let me say in advance how much I admire the pictures I have seen on here. The majority of the compositions are breath taking and you all truly inspire me to be better. It’s amazing how images make you feel better about simply being human. God bless all of you and thank you so very much for helping us as we move about this planet.

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

Welcome to the HOG! You can get lots of help here, but It's like getting to Broadway, practice, practice, practice.

bleirer

Here is a good calculator and an article to read. When you focus on something there is only one plane of sharpest focus at a time, it is parallel to the sensor. Depth of field is the amount 'acceptably" in focus in front and behind the plane of sharpest focus. One trick is to use the calculator to find the hyperfocal distance. Focus a little bit deeper approximately than the hyperfocal on the calculator and that puts everything more or less in focus from half the hyperfocal to infinity. Another way to say it is focus about one third into your scene. Be careful though because the distant mountains might be most important so you might not want them 'acceptable' you want them really sharp. Also, use a tripod or at least a monopod even if you think you don't need it.

https://www.photopills.com/calculators/dof

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Welcome to the forum.

Try aperture mode, a small aperture will yield a greater depth of field (more in focus), but watch the speed for hand held.

As Bob stated, practice, practice, practice. It's easy to delete experimental images.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

A couple of suggestions starting by not focusing on the farthest object. I suggest “Googling” hyperfocal distance, and after you’re comfortable with the concept, either download or use an online depth of field calculator such as DOFMaster ( https://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html ) and plug in your camera type and the aperture. You can keep the ap on your phone so you can do a quick calculation on the spot. You’ll soon be able to get a feel for where in the scene you need to focus and what aperture you’ll need to get the depth of field you desire. Ther are “rules of thumb” for the hyperfocal distance like focusing at a point 1/3 the way into a scene, but a little experimentation with the calculator will show you that they aren’t always true. DOFMaster also has a hyperfocal calculator on their site.

Edit: sorry to be repetitive - I see the information has already been posted while I was (slowly) typing.

BurghByrd Loc: Pittsburgh

It sounds like one explanation for the focus/sharpness problem with landscapes is your selection of focus point. For landscapes in particular you should be aware of depth of field and the related hyperfocal distance. In short it is the focus point where the depth of field for the selected lens and aperture render the forground and distance in equal and acceptable sharpness. The rule of thumb for this is to evaluate the scene, select the forground object you want to include the the scene and want in acceptable focus and then actually focus on an object about twice as far away. I've included a link below that discusses this and other aspects of lanscape photography in more detail.

https://photographylife.com/landscapes/double-the-distance-method-explained

Tay Loc: Maryland

Wow. Thanks for the quick response. I grabbed the camera ran outside and composed a shot. Then focused on something about 1/3 into the shot, locked focus, recomposed the shot while holding the button half way, and took the shot. Looks like the foreground is in focus! I did not use aperture priority but stuck with landscape mode. This may be my answer but I’ll want to try a better location. Thank you! Hopefully my other questions will get an equally kind and helpful response.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Landscape mode may inherently select a smaller aperture.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Your D40 is fine, but you might be interested in jumping from a 6MP camera to a more modern 24MP. The same product tier would be the now current D7500, actually a 21MP camera. Or, you might consider the current D5600, a full 24MP. The change to a 24MP resolution will give more options for processing / cropping and printing, if ever interested.

Again, your kit lens is fine, but you might be interested in a more versatile lens. You might look at any of the DX VR-enabled lenses like 18-105mm, or 18-140mm, or 18-200mm. They are all much the same in sharpness, some more expensive than others, some more rugged than others.

One way to hold down costs on new(er) equipment is to shop used. Online companies like KEH.com and MPB.com specialize in used equipment. Everything mentioned above has been out for 1+ years and there should be plenty of options in the used market.

In addition to the 'where to focus' comments above, also consider moving your AF point within the camera to that specific place to focus, if applicable. That is, don't just use a center point focused first someplace and then moved. Rather, learn the camera controls and the finger feel that let you quickly move the AF point to an off-center position that is where the camera should be focused.

bleirer

You will want to get more control over the camera settings as you learn, venture off of the fully automatic modes into the semi automatic modes. Free photography video course worth watching. https://photographylife.com/news/photography-tutorials-free

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Very good answers all around. This might be a little over your head right now, but a lot of experienced photogs use focus stacking. That means you take a number of shots of the scene you want WITHOUT moving the camera (tripod helps). Each shot it taken with the focus moved from near to far or far to near. Probably at least three shots but more if desired. Some cameras can do this automatically. And then use a focus stacking software program which can blend these varying focus points from each shot into one photo with sharp focus from near to far. It works like magic and I think it is!

BurghByrd Loc: Pittsburgh

Glad to see your eureka. Do take a look at the on-line discusion. In addition to the focus point and hyperfocal distance, you should be aware that it is a function of focal length as well. Try the same shot at a wide focal length (e.g. 24mm and at longer focal length, e.g. 50mm or 70mm). You'll discover why most landscape photos are taken using wider focal length lenses (and smaller apertures) to get greater depth of field unless some other effect is desired. Have fun.

BebuLamar

Canon R5

Orphoto Loc: Oregon

Your d40 is now some 12 or so years old. For a budget purchase consider a used 7200 which would use the same lenses.

CO

Many people have already given great advice about focusing. Your D40 only has three focus points. That can be a hinderance. You might want to upgrade to a D7500. I have one. It has an excellent 51-point autofocus system and is a big step up from the D40.

Are you using the 18-55mm kit lens with the camera? Use aperture priority and don't stop the aperture down more than f/8. It's sharpest in the f/5.6 to f/8 range. You could stop down to f/11 if you want but by f/16 its image resolution has dropped a lot.

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