Thanks for the suggestion. I cleaned the contacts and will hope that the issue doesn't occur again.

Phil

Thanks Gene. I'll check out the article and appreciate the insight.

Phil

Thanks for all of the suggestions everyone. I'll try those out and see if things improve.

Phil

I'm happy to provide some test shots and more details. I took 6 images in three pairs as follows. Before each pair is a picture of my live view with the settings

Image 1: Side focus on quilts at F/11 using live view
Image 2: Side focus on quilts at F/11 using viewfinder
Image 3: Side focus on quilts at F/5.6 using live view
Image 4: Side focus on quilts at F/5.6 using viewfinder
Image 5: Center focus on music book at F/11 using live view
Image 6: Center focus on music book at F/11 using viewfinder

As I described in my post, all are sharp except when using live view to focus off center at the higher F/11 aperture. If I can provide more information just let me know. Thanks.

Phil

Settings for Images 1 and 2

(Download)

Image 1

(Download)

Image 2

(Download)

Settings for images 3 and 4

(Download)

Image 3

(Download)

Image 4

(Download)

Settings for images 5 and 6

(Download)

Image 5

(Download)

Image 6

(Download)

I have been noticing some focusing issues with the above combination of body and lens that hasn't happened in the past. I have had the camera for a bit under 2 years and the lens for 18 months and never had any problems. In fact, one of my magazine photo editors commented in October how extremely sharp some recent pictures were with this setup.

Over the past 6 weeks or so I have noticed some shots that should have been tack sharp being a bit blurred. Another odd thing that happened twice in that time is that the focus in live view would not work. I would press the shutter to focus and nothing happened. I turned the camera off and back on to no avail. Removing and replacing the battery also did nothing. Finally, by removing and reattaching the lens it went back to normal.

On Christmas Eve I was taking a shot of my tree lit up at night, at ISO 64, F/8, and a 4s exposure. I was disappointed to see that the picture was blurry. I tried a few more and finally one came out sharp. I took exactly the same picture last Christmas, with the only difference that I shot at F/7.1, and every shot was absolutely crisp.

Being the chemist that I am, I started taking a lot of shots to examine different variables that might be causing this issue. Here is a short summary of my experiments from today.

1. The problem seems to disappear if I shoot at F/5.6. At F/8 or higher it's back. I actually started watching the focusing distance scale on the lens and suddenly realized that the lens was not focusing correctly. At F/8 and about 8 ft away it might focus at infinity one time, clear past infinity another, and occasionally right where it was supposed to be. All of my shots today were at exposures of 1 to 2 seconds.

2. The issue seems to happen only when I move the focus box to the side of the frame. When it's in the center there's no problem, but at the side (perhaps 1/4 of the way from the edge of the frame), the focus is way off, usually infinity. The focus box still turns green, indicating a focus lock.

3. I almost always shoot in live view, because focusing is supposed to be a bit better and I can move the focus point anywhere in the frame. But for the heck of it, I decided to compare results using the viewfinder to focus vs live view. Much to my surprise, using the viewfinder the focus was fine no matter what I did. On the edge or center of the frame, F/5.6 or F/11, no problem. I toggled back and forth between live view and the viewfinder and live view continued to fail at the edge or at smaller apertures.

4. I did a comparison test with my Nikon 14-24 F/2.8 using all of the same settings and it worked fine with either focus mode.

5. I tried both lenses on my D750 and got the same results as with the D850.

6. I tried the 24-70 with VR both on and off, with no differences noted.

7. I went outside where I could shoot at faster speeds, this time at 1/30 and F/11. When focusing at the side of the frame using live view, the focus jumped all over. I depressed the shutter several times to refocus and it kept coming out different. One time at beyond infinity and the next at 6 ft. Switching to the viewfinder there were no problems. Also, when I shot at F/5.6 and 7.1 the problem went away as well. Also, when I switched to the 14-24 everything was fine again.

I haven't called Nikon yet, as my past experiences with the tech support staff has been useless. It is clear that they know little about the equipment other than what they can read on a computer prompt, so I thought I would go to the experts at the hog and see if anyone else has observed this problem. Thanks.

Phil

As a followup to my previous post, do those of you using XQD cards simply erase and reuse them when they fill up? If so, any idea how many cycles one can do so?

I do shoot in RAW, but mostly landscapes, so perhaps I haven't noticed the delay you observed. Being the anal guy I am, I always save all of my full SD cards in my fireproof safe along with two backup hard drives with all of my photos as well. Perhaps I should get an XQD card and just reuse it, counting on my three external hard drives to save me from disaster. That would make it actually cheaper than buying new SD cards every time I fill one up. And the D850 with bracketing can fill a card pretty fast.

I really liked the fact that my D750 had two SD slots. When I got my D850 I was disappointed to find one SD slot and one XQD slot. My concern is that the XQD cards are several times as expensive as SD cards.

I was wondering if there is an option to get an XQD sleeve in which an SD card can be inserted, much as we do with micro SD cards? I would like to keep a backup card in my second slot, but $130 for a 64 MB card seems overly expensive.

Phil

Steve Perry and Tom Mangelson. Both amazing landscape and wildlife photographers.

I have this same issue repeatedly with my D750 and then with the D850. I was pretty sure the many spots in my photos were oil spots. Although Nikon claimed it was not, when I had my sensor cleaned at Mike's Camera they confirmed the problem was oil, which is why I am never able to blow out the dust.

My previous camera, a Canon T4i, never had a single spot in the three years I used it. It would seem unlikely that I suddenly became so careless that my Nikon cameras were exposed to large amounts of dust that I managed to avoid with the Canon. I love my D850 but do spend a lot of time in Photoshop removing spots from images, mainly in clear areas like sky.

Phil

I do this very easily using the Camera Raw module in Photoshop. I haven't used Elements for a while but it may have the same function. In Camera Raw there is a vignette tool that allow you to draw ovals or circles around any part of your image and then apply any changes you wish either inside or outside of the oval. It works great as a dodging or burning tool like in the old darkroom days. I take a lot of fly fishing pictures and usually select the fishermen and lighten them up half a stop or so just so they 'pop' a bit and stand out in the image.

I believe that the elliptical marquee tool does the same type of selection as the vignette tool.

Phil

El Portal is a few miles south of the valley and there are a couple of nice motels there. I usually head up the last week of March each year and the motels then are around $80/night. On April 1 they jump in price but are still cheaper than the valley. The snow should be great this year but I am highly skeptical that Glacier Point will be open as mentioned in an earlier post. Especially in a heavy snow year such as this.

Unfortunately, this year we had clouds in central California so I wasn't able to get any shots. However, I did do so last year during the "super blue blood moon". I also had the focus issue mentioned, that is, the moon during eclipse is too dark to lock a focus. So I did something I commonly do when taking pictures with a remote shutter release. I focused on the full moon prior to the eclipse when it was bright enough to lock on. I then switched off the autofocus on my lens so it wouldn't change. Once the eclipse came it was still focused fine. Looking back at my pics from last year, I used ISO 3200, 1/10 s, and F/4 with my D750 at totality and it worked fine.

Phil

To tell you the truth Dan, I don't know. I shot some images with both lenses at a photo store at one time and really couldn't see much difference in image quality or I might have simply upgraded to the G2. The Nikon 24-70 was noticeably sharper at the edges than the G1 or G2, but it does cost $2400. However, being the pixel peeper I am I bought it anyway. I did have several magazine covers published which were taken with the Tamron lens so it is good quality. I just wanted the best lens I could get.

There are many reviews out there comparing the two so you might want to check those out. You can certainly get the G1 much cheaper than the G2. If you are interested just let me know.

Phil

Due to a warranty issue, Tamron recently sent me a brand new copy of the G1 version of this lens. However, being the pixel peeper that I am, I bought a new Nikon 24-70 lens to go with my D850. The Tamron is a nice lens, and at the center I can't see any difference in sharpness. Of course, the Nikon version is very pricey, which is why it took me a few years to be willing to spend the money on it. In any event, I am selling the Tamron to offset a little of the cost of the Nikon. Other than a few test shots in my back yard the lens has not been used. The price for both the G1 and G2 is $1199 new, and I would like to get $700 for this one, but I will entertain reasonable offers.

Phil