Come to my house in Chandler Az, Have killed over 100 bark scorpions in my yard and in the house so far this year. One has to watch their step here at night

Amen to that! This one of about five I found on the inner wall surrounding our yard in East Mesa Monday night. (Under a UV light, of course.)

Steve Perry]No worries, my comments were not directed at you in any way, but rather towards those who make the assumption that if I have two poor copies of a lens in a row that it must somehow be user error.

Steve; in my book and many others', you don't need to defend your credibility and reputation. I'm mostly a bystander when it comes to this forum, have only been deeply involved in the digital photography world for the last few years and have learned a LOT from many people, but no one has guided me on a straighter, more truthful and knowledgeable photography education path as you have.

If others doubt what you've gone out of your way to print and use as an education tool, then so be it. We're all entitled to our own opinions and not everyone is correct all the time.

My wife and I are headed north in 2 weeks to Pittsburg. As first time visitors, we plan to catch a Pirate ballgame and go to the Pittsburg Zoo. I would like some other photo-op suggestions for the city (i.e. picturesque neighborhoods, downtown sites, etc.). Please give me some suggestions, it will be greatly appreciated.

Make sure you take a river cruise or two. We took the 'Just Ducky' tours on a vessel that has wheels and drives on land, but also has the ability to go down a ramp and into the water. We were taken on a cruise past all the riverfront sites and I got a number of good shots.

You'll also want to make it a point to go up to the top of Mt. Washington and get some shots of the city at dusk or night time.

There are also tours of the city that take you by not just the older, historic buildings, but the newer ones as well, showing off the architecture that makes up downtown Pittsburgh. You'll run out of time before you run out of places to go for good pictures of the area.

Awesome camera angles and great picture. Thanks for posting the link!

Hi, bkyser; I can tell you that since I noticed soft focus shots on both my Tamron 150-600mm G1 and a rented Sigma 150-600mm Sport lens, I've been testing shots at 100-150 yards extensively (the most common distance when I'm shooting wildlife), and contrast detection (Live View) has consistently yielded better and WAY sharper results phase detection (viewfinder). Since the main camera sensor is being bypassed in contrast detection mode (and i'm assuming the sensor is off in my D5600), I've learned that until my new D500 gets here, I'll have to shoot via live view when I'm out in the field if I want sharper images.

Still a great shot though!

Thanks, r.grossner. I splurged on the D500 yesterday, so after my wife gets over that expenditure, I'll look at acquiring the G2. With a limited budget, I have to take baby steps! :-)

Thanks, bkyser; that's a good point. The LensAlign ad on Amazon states: "Adjust the Auto-Focus Fine Tune and Micro-Adjustment on compatible DSLRs", but the D5600 doesn't have those options. And not that it's the final answer, here's an excerpt from page 291 of Steve Perry's "Secrets to the Nikon Autofocus System":

"We’re going to examine four of the most common systems / methods for AF
fine-tuning below - LensAlign, FoCal, DotTune, and Nikon’s Auto AF
fine-tune (Nikon D5/D500/D7500/D850). However, there are some general
guidelines that apply to every setup, so I wanted to go over those now."

He didn't list the D3XXX and D5XXX series in there, so I think you're on to something and thanks again. More reason for me to consider the D500 a little quicker than I anticipated.

Thank you, dsmeltz. I'd read up on the differences between the two, which helped me come to my original conclusion.

Maybe it's time to bite the bullet and move up to the D500 a little quicker than I expected to? :-) I'm not sure if that would be considered GAS or not, but I mainly shoot outdoor wildlife [eagles, hawks etc.] in Arizona, so shots per second and the camera's buffer are a big deal to me. I'm also looking for more in-camera options and flexibility for fine-tuning the AF system.

Even if I did have the sensor calibrated on the D5600, I'd still have my eye on the D500 and how much more it offers while out in the field.

Thanks, Larry and I agree, Hoodman isn't an ideal solution, but it is a solution. I wasn't aware there was a product like that available for LCD screens. From reading its description, it's pretty much just meant for reviewing the shots I've already taken, but I suppose in a pinch, I could possibly use it while I'm shooting, to make sure the lens AF is doing its job.

I can't disagree with you on that, but with my budget (and knowing the Sigma Sport yielded similar results), why would Live View show sharper images? I'm ok with the images from the Live View test, but not necessarily through the view finder.

Hi, all,

I'm hoping the experts here can either confirm my suspicions or point me in a new direction.

I've posted two shots of the eave of a neighbor's house about 130 yards away on a sunny afternoon in Arizona. You can confirm this via the EXIF data from the RAW files, but I'm shooting with a Nikon D5600, Tamron 150-600mm (first gen) (all the way out to 600mm), F6.3, ISO 800 and 1/2500.

The first shot is the best of 6 photos I took through the view finder and the second one is the best of the 6 I took via Live View. I auto-focused in on the small patch of horizontal stucco at the top of the eave with the view finder and let Live View auto focus on the same (but larger) area. (I did have to crop both RAW files in LR to be able to post them here.)

Comparing the images side by side in LR, to me, the first shot is soft and the second shot is noticeably sharper, especially when looking at the details of the stucco and cement to the right of it. (At the top of the eave.)

One additional note: I rented the Sigma 150-600mm Sport lens over the weekend and compared its images to my Tamron's images under identical circumstances and the Tamron actually won out by just a hair, so I know the lens(es) are probably not not the issue, unless two completely separate lenses yield almost identical 'soft' images.

So, based on what I've read, I believe this means my camera is either front or back focusing, correct? Before I rented the Sigma last weekend, I was ready to get LensAlign, but now I'm leaning towards taking the camera to a reputable service center to have it calibrated. (I read online how to do it for the D5600, but that involves taking off the bottom plate and making small sensor adjustments with an allen wrench via the holes under that plate; and don't feel comfortable going that route.)

Or is difference between the two images not large enough to warrant a camera tune-up? (I'd really like to take shots as sharp as possible and only blame myself for soft images; not my equipment.)

Thanks in advance to anyone that can offer a little advice.

Attached file:
(Download)

Attached file:
(Download)

On a review of the D500, Steve Perry talks about one instance where he noticed battery drain with the camera, even when it was turned off. He said that after turning off Wi-fi and Bluetooth didn't do the trick, turning on Airplane Mode within the camera settings stopped it and no more battery drain. My guess is, Airplane Mode turns off all Wi-fi, Bluetooth and other battery draining processes on the camera. Just a thought. (If it works for you, it's not the lens - it's the camera.)

Thanks for you suggestions, everyone! I really appreciate it!

Hi, UHH members,

I'm a new forum member but have been reading the forum Q & A section for almost a year now, so I think (hope) I'm fairly familiar with how things work here.

Some of you have been very helpful by answering how-to and equipment-specific questions from others that have helped me quite a bit and now I have a question / request of my own that I haven't seen asked and answered in the posts I've reviewed: Are there any members here from the Phoenix, AZ area (specifically, the east valley, around Mesa and Apache Junction) that can offer one or two decent locations for spotting and photographing bald eagles?

I routinely hike Lost Dutchman State Park on the weekends and have seen my share of deer, rattlesnakes and hawks, but never a bald eagle. I've recently been going to a section of the Salt River, near the Phon D Sutton parking area and just by chance, spotted a pair of beautiful bald eagles about a month ago, but just as I got the camera turned around, they were off and on the other side of a hill; not to be seen again. I've been back to the same site three times and just sit with my gear set up and waiting (3-4 hours at a stretch) for them to come back, but haven't seen them since. My preference would be stay close to the east valley area and although I've researched nearby bald eagle sightings and where their nests are (or have been in the past), still no luck in my last three outings. (I've seen and photographed quite a few wild horses in the area as well.)

I'm not sure if this info matters based on my request above, but I'm a novice photographer who loves taking nature shots and just took the dive into the DSLR world within the last year. I moved 'up' from a Canon SX50HS bridge camera to a Nikon D3300 and the typical 18-55 and 70-300mm kit lenses in early 2017, and because of the number of websites, YouTube videos and other instructional information I've absorbed, I graduated to a Nikon D5600 next. Due to a limited budget, I primarily carry Tamron 18-400 and Tamron 150-600mm (G1) lenses in my kit. I have my sights set on a D500 and am renting a Sigma 150-600mm Sports lens this week to see just how much of a difference I think it makes in the long range shots I take. (I wish it weren't the case, but a long range prime lens is not really in the cards.)

Any advice on a few decent sections of the east valley area I mentioned above would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!