limitation of Nikon D7100 and 18-55mm kit lens (Page 2): What were your in-camera settings? Especially for sharpness.

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

oldtigger wrote:

Original image 6000X4000 jpeg fine, large. I sent a 1500X1000 image because that is what i would normally post to my site.

What were your in-camera settings?
Especially for sharpness.

oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA

MtnMan wrote:

I think the photo is pretty good technically. You ... (show quote)

Appreciate your comments on gear and composition MtnMan; will look at some shots and try to understand what it is that lures me in. The instruction manual and i are having a bit of trouble on focus because i'm used to a single split prism smack dab in the middle but i'll work it out. There are some scenes the 51 point focus does not work well with; just not as spot-on as the F4.

Bill Houghton Loc: New York area

MtnMan wrote:

There is a difference between Reply and Quote Reply. You should almost always use Quote Reply (see above for what happens) so people know what you are replying to. Your post does not come below the post you are replying to but at the end.

Perhaps it was miss read, His question: "reply and quick reply?" There is no difference. I Believe the OP meant as you answered.

ROCKY JA Loc: Living in Burnsville, Minnesota

oldtigger wrote:

I think this the right group to post in. I used D7... (show quote)

I feel you're being to hard on yourself. Sharpness, snap and depth, may be what you were going for when you took the shot, but results are still pleasing to the eye. It might not be what you were after, but as far as I'm concerned, I see an abstract that displays an array of dancing colors that are very pleasing.

I like it!!

Rocky
:)

winterrose Loc: Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

oldtigger wrote:

Original image 6000X4000 jpeg fine, large. I sent a 1500X1000 image because that is what i would normally post to my site.

Reducing the image to 1500X1000 you have gone from 24megapixels resolution to a miserable 1.5. So what do you expect?

normanhall Loc: Leslie Missouri

oldtigger wrote:

I think this the right group to post in. I used D7... (show quote)

i am a rookie but from looking at your image there does not appear to be any dark dark areas. With the brightness on the right and the lack of the same amount of brightness on the left there seems to be a pretty big difference in the light to darkness ratio. I am not sure you can capture the full spectrum of light in one shot, at least not with out some post production work.

jhud202 Loc: Prineville, OR

Did you use Live View to manually focus or through the lens? If through the lens, your diopter may need to be adjusted.

Beagleman Loc: Indiana

oldtigger, I'm going to make a suggestion that a lot will disagree with but here 'tis anyway. Go to kenrockwell.com and check his settings for the D7000. (He may not have anything new listed for the D7100.) Also, check his discussion on how to get the best color. Many here dislike and distrust him, but he does know Nikon.

--Beagleman

Nate Loc: Ann Arbor, Mi.

Baffling question. Seems irrelevant, nonsensical.
I am not sure the motive, especially with a camera that so immensely capable of an even better image than what's presented. nv

Bigfoot73 Loc: Canada

oldtigger wrote:

I think this the right group to post in. I used D7... (show quote)

Why would you turn the VR off in first place (I know it is not relevant here but anyway...) and why not auto-focus. There are setting that will behave same like F4 (I have F4 and D5100) so maybe that is what you should pay attention to ... You will certainly find it in the manual.

Another thing is that I would try HDR here. I know you cant do it with film but after all film and digital are different technologies.

Finally 18-55 is fine lens but can not be compared with some better glass ... I have tried some shots (same composition and spot) with 18-55, 50mm 1.4 and old 28-85 AF ... Results are so different that it was beyond my belief ...
I often shoot similar scenes like this one and I find that old 28-85 AF 3.5-4.5 to be the best so far, especially on a tripod. You can find a good one on ebay for cheap bucks

CHuckle's Loc: Lockhart, Texas

oldtigger wrote:

downloaded your adjustmensts, can readily see the improvement PP offers, thank you. back to original question, what can i expect from this body lens combination, am i approaching the limit or do i just need to get more careful in my setups?

I also own a D7100, the camera is great. The lens is a decent but not a great lens. Go into the menu and lower the focus points to zoom in on the center leaves if thats what you were trying to get because with as many focus centers the camera has, your camera foused on the foreground leaves. Still you got a nice capture and with a little tweaking it came out very nice. have fun exploring this new beast called a D7100. :-D

oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA

Thanks for the comments gentlemen..
Resolved focus issue with a +5 auto focus fine tune.
Can now single point focus thanks to ken rockwell tutorial.
Am doing without lunches so i can purchase LightRoom.
Found out how to use the excellent search on this site.
...Guess the rest is up to me.

Rbrylawski Loc: Tampa, FL

ROCKY JA wrote:

I feel you're being to hard on yourself. Sharpness, snap and depth, may be what you were going for when you took the shot, but results are still pleasing to the eye. It might not be what you were after, but as far as I'm concerned, I see an abstract that displays an array of dancing colors that are very pleasing.

I like it!!

Rocky
:)

I agree with you. My first thought when I viewed OP's picture was it's a pleasant picture. The revised picture where another member used LR to modify is sharper, but not necessarily better. Any picture can be tweaked, but I often wonder if they really should be........

oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA

Rbrylawski wrote:

I agree with you. My first thought when I viewed OP's picture was it's a pleasant picture. The revised picture where another member used LR to modify is sharper, but not necessarily better. Any picture can be tweaked, but I often wonder if they really should be........

I tend to agree with you on over tweaking. there is one site in particular

Rbrylawski Loc: Tampa, FL

oldtigger wrote:

I tend to agree with you on over tweaking. there is one site in particular

I use both Light Room and Elements (just upgraded to 12 - very nice upgrade), but if a picture is pleasant to my eye, I leave it the way my camera made it. If there's an obvious issue and I know I can fix it, I will.