03-22-2017, 05:43 AM
I don't know if anyone here has noticed a sudden flurry of posts and threads about the dynamic AF modes on the D5/D500 DSLRs?
Since having the D500 I've taken quite a lot of birding shots but very little BIF shooting, although I did give it a spin at the aircraft model club where I got a high keeper rate.
Now the hunting season is over and the risk of picking lead pellets out of one's posterior or worse, is over , I've been out and about trying to find some flying birds to shoot, there haven't been many but the few that I have shot haven't been giving me many sharp shots.
I've been trying the dynamic 153 point mode which basically covers the width of the frame and after coming home and looking at the shots I found a load of OOF images. I checked my settings and all seemed well
Then I stumbled across a thread at DPreview linking to Fred Miranda's site where Steve Perry (Of Black country video productions) has put out a call to D5/D500 owners asking to check their AF dynamic modes.
The bottom line is, on previous models (D750/ 810) the dynamic modes would focus on the subject from the single AF square and follow it within the 9/25/51 point dotted area...It worked fine!
The D5/D500 now has the choice of 25/72/153 points, the new flawed implementation version locks on to the single square within the area only, the rest of the dotted outlined area does nothing and while keeping the subject within that area it jumps focuses to the background. What it's giving you is "single point" while duping you into thinking it will track the subject within the area chosen.
The test is easy, you put a box (or whatever) on a table and put the camera into one of the dynamic modes using AF-C, the 153 point mode using is easiest, you focus using the center square on the box and then point the camera away from the box, as soon as the AF square moves off the box, the camera focuses on the background, just like it would in single point mode.
Strangely nobody apart from one or two users had noticed this flaw and after Steve's thread all of a sudden hundreds head scratching uses have posted that they have indeed got the same result.
Basically it means the three dynamic focusing modes are absolutely useless, except against a blanc background.....that leaves only, single point, group, 3D and auto (which actually works like dynamic 153 point should have done as long as the subject is the closest to the camera)
At least it explains some of my problems!
..What were Nikon thinking?
Now we need a FW update to rectify the issue!
Here's the link to the thread at Fred Miranda's site for those interested or D5/D500 owners.
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1478115
Since having the D500 I've taken quite a lot of birding shots but very little BIF shooting, although I did give it a spin at the aircraft model club where I got a high keeper rate.
Now the hunting season is over and the risk of picking lead pellets out of one's posterior or worse, is over , I've been out and about trying to find some flying birds to shoot, there haven't been many but the few that I have shot haven't been giving me many sharp shots.
I've been trying the dynamic 153 point mode which basically covers the width of the frame and after coming home and looking at the shots I found a load of OOF images. I checked my settings and all seemed well
Then I stumbled across a thread at DPreview linking to Fred Miranda's site where Steve Perry (Of Black country video productions) has put out a call to D5/D500 owners asking to check their AF dynamic modes.
The bottom line is, on previous models (D750/ 810) the dynamic modes would focus on the subject from the single AF square and follow it within the 9/25/51 point dotted area...It worked fine!
The D5/D500 now has the choice of 25/72/153 points, the new flawed implementation version locks on to the single square within the area only, the rest of the dotted outlined area does nothing and while keeping the subject within that area it jumps focuses to the background. What it's giving you is "single point" while duping you into thinking it will track the subject within the area chosen.
The test is easy, you put a box (or whatever) on a table and put the camera into one of the dynamic modes using AF-C, the 153 point mode using is easiest, you focus using the center square on the box and then point the camera away from the box, as soon as the AF square moves off the box, the camera focuses on the background, just like it would in single point mode.
Strangely nobody apart from one or two users had noticed this flaw and after Steve's thread all of a sudden hundreds head scratching uses have posted that they have indeed got the same result.
Basically it means the three dynamic focusing modes are absolutely useless, except against a blanc background.....that leaves only, single point, group, 3D and auto (which actually works like dynamic 153 point should have done as long as the subject is the closest to the camera)
At least it explains some of my problems!
..What were Nikon thinking?
Now we need a FW update to rectify the issue!
Here's the link to the thread at Fred Miranda's site for those interested or D5/D500 owners.
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1478115