Lens fine tune: I was looking at some photos that I just took today. Conditions were less than optimal. I was facing directly into the wind (20+ mph), 25 degrees overlooking a lake.

manderson Loc: Northeast Nebraska

I was looking at some photos that I just took today. Conditions were less than optimal. I was facing directly into the wind (20+ mph), 25 degrees overlooking a lake. Handholding a Tamron 150-600 lens. I took tons of photos of an eagle that was attempting to grab a wounded goose out of the lake. The eagle was at least 200 yards away. Most of the photos were terribly blurry. Now to the crux of my question. As I was looking at the photo infomation in Nikon Transfer 2, I saw that the lens fine tune was "off". Should I have that turned on? I found the place in the camera where I can turn it on. Camera is a Nikon D7100. Vibration control was turned on. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

You only need to have the Lens Fine Tune feature turned on if you have actually fine tuned that lens to the camera body, otherwise it has no affect at all. However, if you HAVE fine tuned the lens to the body and there was significant tuning needed, then having it turned off negates that tuning as it will not be applied to the focus for the shots taken.

Nikon_DonB Loc: Chicago

No. That feature is for "fine adjusting" lens focus distances. Your shots are blurry because of the environmental conditions.
I shoot a D610 with the big new Sigma, 150-600 Sport down by Lake Michigan. Those big long heavy lenses are like sails and catch the wind causing blur especially when hand held.
Try timing your shots between wind gusts...Seriously. This was taken at The Hammond Marina. Check out the wind sock there.

40+ M.P.H. winds on the lake

(Download)

CO

At long focal lengths the effectiveness of vibration control is diminished somewhat. With my Nikon 80-400mm lens it seems like at 80mm it's giving me about 3 to 4 stops of benefit for handholding shots. At 400mm it seems like it's maybe 2 stops. The wind was definitely a factor as the other UHH members have already stated. If you had the lens at a very long focal length that could compound it.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

You should definitely take the time to fine tune the lens to the body for that lens - and then have it turned on ! You shoud also be using a high shutter speed in which case turn VC off. At longer ranges, atmospheric (quality, clarity of the air) will have an adverse effect also. Ideally, you should at least be on a monopod - or better tripod.

LennyP4868 Loc: NJ

I own the same lens and go to Maryland to shoot eagles all the time. First that lens is really very heavy to try to shoot a moving target especially an eagle. They move like F16s. focus in on the area like the bird he is trying to catch and get him in the flight path. 2nd and most important use a tripod. 3rd for starting out use a long depth of field like F16

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

manderson wrote:

I found the place in the camera where I can turn it on. Camera is a Nikon D7100. Vibration control was turned on. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Here are some articles on fine focusing a lens.

Checking Focus on a DSLR

Focusing Charts
http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Siemens-Star-Focus-Chart.pdf
http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Focus-Test-Chart.pdf
http://regex.info/blog/photo-tech/focus-chart

How to Check Focus
http://photographylife.com/how-to-quickly-test-your-dslr-for-autofocus-issues
http://www.nphotomag.com/2013/03/05/how-to-recalibrate-your-nikon-dslrs-af-autofocus/
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/are_your_pictures_out_of_focus.shtml

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

Nikon_DonB wrote:

No. That feature is for "fine adjusting" lens focus distances. Your shots are blurry because of the environmental conditions.
I shoot a D610 with the big new Sigma, 150-600 Sport down by Lake Michigan. Those big long heavy lenses are like sails and catch the wind causing blur especially when hand held.
Try timing your shots between wind gusts...Seriously. This was taken at The Hammond Marina. Check out the wind sock there.

Also, if using a lens shade this will add to the sail effect and lead to more motion.

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

manderson wrote:

I was looking at some photos that I just took toda... (show quote)

This lens is large making it a little hard to hand hold, but not impossible to do. If you do not have a tripod handy rest the lens against a tree , bench or what ever is handy. You don't say what SS you are shooting. You should be shooting at 1/1000 or faster if possible. Make sure the VR is turned off. Use an f-stop of f8 or f10. This should put you close to the lenses sweet spot. At this distance don't worry about DOF. Also shoot at the fastest FPS your camera allows.

This isn't the sharpest lens I own but it is capable of some very nice photos. It sounds to me your problem is with your settings, and lack of experience. Shooting BIF takes a lot of practice. One more thing. You should be using a gimbal head on the tripod for a lens this size, not a ball head.

Go shoot a lot of shots. Don't expect most of them to be sharp because they won't be. If you get 5% good photos be happy, this will increase as you become more experienced. Most of all have fun! Enjoy what you see, sometimes the memories will mean more to you than the photos.

Jim D

manderson Loc: Northeast Nebraska

MT Shooter wrote:

You only need to have the Lens Fine Tune feature turned on if you have actually fine tuned that lens to the camera body, otherwise it has no affect at all. However, if you HAVE fine tuned the lens to the body and there was significant tuning needed, then having it turned off negates that tuning as it will not be applied to the focus for the shots taken.

That was kind of my assumption. But you know what assumptions mean. Thank you for your response.

manderson Loc: Northeast Nebraska

Nikon_DonB wrote:

No. That feature is for "fine adjusting" lens focus distances. Your shots are blurry because of the environmental conditions.
I shoot a D610 with the big new Sigma, 150-600 Sport down by Lake Michigan. Those big long heavy lenses are like sails and catch the wind causing blur especially when hand held.
Try timing your shots between wind gusts...Seriously. This was taken at The Hammond Marina. Check out the wind sock there.

The wind was right at me and was blowing the lens all over. I was inside the truck and still was getting movement. It didn't help that the eagle was a considerable distance away.

manderson Loc: Northeast Nebraska

CO wrote:

At long focal lengths the effectiveness of vibration control is diminished somewhat. With my Nikon 80-400mm lens it seems like at 80mm it's giving me about 3 to 4 stops of benefit for handholding shots. At 400mm it seems like it's maybe 2 stops. The wind was definitely a factor as the other UHH members have already stated. If you had the lens at a very long focal length that could compound it.

I was at the 600 mm end and my settings were not optimum to begin with. A little too excited by what I was seeing.

manderson Loc: Northeast Nebraska

imagemeister wrote:

You should definitely take the time to fine tune the lens to the body for that lens - and then have it turned on ! You shoud also be using a high shutter speed in which case turn VC off. At longer ranges, atmospheric (quality, clarity of the air) will have an adverse effect also. Ideally, you should at least be on a monopod - or better tripod.

Right into the teeth of the wind, I chose to stay in the truck and try to reduce the wind affects. I considered a monopod, but I think that would have been worse. My tripod wouldn't have been much better I'm afraid. I guess I could have used the tripod and left the VC on.

manderson Loc: Northeast Nebraska

jerryc41 wrote:

Here are some articles on fine focusing a lens. br... (show quote)

Jerry, thanks, I think I will give it a try to fine tune the lens.

manderson Loc: Northeast Nebraska

BobHartung wrote:

Also, if using a lens shade this will add to the sail effect and lead to more motion.

I left the shade on, could have taken it off due to the overcast skies. And yes, that really helped catch the wind.