Shooting birds at the feeders on a snowy Sunday, I had the rare opportunity to find a Cardinal and a Downy Woodpecker dining together. Results were very disappointing: although I was spot autofocusing on the feeder, the feeder and the birds were fuzzy, while the evergreen in the background (8-10 feet behind the feeder) were sharp.
Using Olympus OMD EM10 with 45-150mm Zuiko lens, Aperture Priority, Auto ISO and WB. (See EXIF Data on attached photos.
Any help will be most appreciated.
Mark
G Brown
Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK
Contrast and pattern of the woodpecker is very similar to that of the tree. Maybe this is what fooled auto focus. I totally missed it in the first image.
I never use auto focus for these kind of pic .
If you used center spot your birds are not in the center it on the trees.
Your camera could be back focusing and needs to be adjusted. That is where it's focus goes beyond where your focus point is. I do not know about Olympus, but it can be adjusted on Nikons. Google focus adjustment for Olympus and see if anything comes up.
Carlo
Loc: Maryland, NW.Chesapeake Bay
Maybe focusing on 1 specific bird would produce a different more clear result..??
mffox wrote:
Shooting birds at the feeders on a snowy Sunday, I had the rare opportunity to find a Cardinal and a Downy Woodpecker dining together. Results were very disappointing: although I was spot autofocusing on the feeder, the feeder and the birds were fuzzy, while the evergreen in the background (8-10 feet behind the feeder) were sharp.
Using Olympus OMD EM10 with 45-150mm Zuiko lens, Aperture Priority, Auto ISO and WB. (See EXIF Data on attached photos.
Any help will be most appreciated.
Mark
Shooting birds at the feeders on a snowy Sunday, I... (
show quote)
Use manual focusing and at least F8 to get depth of field.
Do you use Manual focus? And, if not center, what would you suggest?
Thank you. Later in the day I switched to a Minolta 35MM film lens and got a few sharp shots of Mr. Cardinal, but had to open aperture to 4.5 to get enough light, which gave me a nicely blurred background.
My experience with AF has been that even when I choose center spot and carefully put the spot on my subject the focus initially and rather consistently goes beyond to the more contrasty background when there is one. If I keep refocusing (pressure off shutter button, repress to re-acquire) time and again I may get one in focus out of six or so. That's when I switch to manual focus.
mffox wrote:
Thank you. Later in the day I switched to a Minolta 35MM film lens and got a few sharp shots of Mr. Cardinal, but had to open aperture to 4.5 to get enough light, which gave me a nicely blurred background.
Please use "quote reply" and we will know who you are responding to.
MMC
Loc: Brooklyn NY
Did you crop these pictures ?
mffox wrote:
Shooting birds at the feeders on a snowy Sunday, I had the rare opportunity to find a Cardinal and a Downy Woodpecker dining together. Results were very disappointing: although I was spot autofocusing on the feeder, the feeder and the birds were fuzzy, while the evergreen in the background (8-10 feet behind the feeder) were sharp.
Using Olympus OMD EM10 with 45-150mm Zuiko lens, Aperture Priority, Auto ISO and WB. (See EXIF Data on attached photos.
Any help will be most appreciated.
Mark
Shooting birds at the feeders on a snowy Sunday, I... (
show quote)
Don, the 2nd son wrote:
My experience with AF has been that even when I choose center spot and carefully put the spot on my subject the focus initially and rather consistently goes beyond to the more contrasty background when there is one. If I keep refocusing (pressure off shutter button, repress to re-acquire) time and again I may get one in focus out of six or so. That's when I switch to manual focus.
You need to change your settings to back button focus so you are not re-focusing every time you press the shutter button.
orrie smith wrote:
Please use "quote reply" and we will know who you are responding to.
Thanks. I learn something new every day.
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