Wild dogs pose for the D300

The other day I went to a one horse village called Runa, close to my home in
Portugal, to take some pictures of an abandoned RR station, when I saw these
two wild dogs. I tried my best to have them come to me, but no way. They did
seem to like the D300, because they took turns in posing for me!

When I came home, I looked at the pictures and they all seemed out of focus!
I finally found it: the dynamic focus area was set to 51 point 3D. Now I
assumed it would not be active if you choose Single point AF with the AF
area selector. But it doesn't seem to focus on the target. Look at the
pictures. I focused on the dogs heads, but they are not sharp. It seems
right after or before they are. Is this a flaw or overlooked issue? I talked
to the importer and they were very eager to get my camera fixed. Like they
knew about it? Maybe I just overlooked something, but the manual isn't very
helpful either. Anybody know why?

Another question is the AF Area selection. Why would you choose 9 or 21
points if you have 51? Does it save battery time? Does it have other
advantages?

Even if you have the AF selector on single or dynamic and in the menu you
have 9 points, you can still choose any of the 51 points. Any answers?

Sorry, I'm a little lost, like my two new RR dog friends ;-)

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog1.jpg

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog2.jpg

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog3.jpg

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog4.jpg

Aren't they precious?
--
Sosumi

Sosumi wrote:
The other day I went to a one horse village called Runa, close to my home in
Portugal, to take some pictures of an abandoned RR station, when I saw these
two wild dogs. I tried my best to have them come to me, but no way. They did
seem to like the D300, because they took turns in posing for me!

When I came home, I looked at the pictures and they all seemed out of focus!
I finally found it: the dynamic focus area was set to 51 point 3D. Now I
assumed it would not be active if you choose Single point AF with the AF
area selector. But it doesn't seem to focus on the target. Look at the
pictures. I focused on the dogs heads, but they are not sharp. It seems
right after or before they are. Is this a flaw or overlooked issue? I talked
to the importer and they were very eager to get my camera fixed. Like they
knew about it? Maybe I just overlooked something, but the manual isn't very
helpful either. Anybody know why?

Another question is the AF Area selection. Why would you choose 9 or 21
points if you have 51? Does it save battery time? Does it have other
advantages?

Even if you have the AF selector on single or dynamic and in the menu you
have 9 points, you can still choose any of the 51 points. Any answers?

Sorry, I'm a little lost, like my two new RR dog friends ;-)

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog1.jpg

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog2.jpg

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog3.jpg

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog4.jpg

Aren't they precious?

All the shots you show are focused as I would expect the wide area
dynamic focus to work. It has selected the target of most contrast -
which is what it always does - and you probably have the custom option
for avoiding refocusing on passing foreground objects enabled (can't
remember what option this is, but it stops the focus resetting if you
are tracking a subject and a fencepost gets in front etc). This makes
the wide area focus prefer backgrounds - with it turned off, the WA
focus will generally prefer the closest area of high contrast detail.

Your dogs are too insignificant and dark compared to the strong hard
edges of the railroad or the grass and weeds. You would have to use spot
focus and lock to get these right.

David


--
Icon Publications Ltd, Maxwell Place, Maxwell Lane, Kelso TD5 7BB
Company Registered in England No 2122711. Registered Office 12 Exchange
St, Retford, Notts DN22 6BL
VAT Reg No GB458101463
Trading as Icon Publications Ltd, Photoworld Club and Troubadour.uk.com
www.iconpublications.com - www.troubadour.uk.com - www.f2photo.co.uk -
www.photoclubalpha.com - www.minoltaclub.co.uk
Tel +44 1573 226032

"David Kilpatrick" wrote in message
...
Sosumi wrote:
The other day I went to a one horse village called Runa, close to my home
in Portugal, to take some pictures of an abandoned RR station, when I saw
these two wild dogs. I tried my best to have them come to me, but no way.
They did seem to like the D300, because they took turns in posing for me!

When I came home, I looked at the pictures and they all seemed out of
focus! I finally found it: the dynamic focus area was set to 51 point 3D.
Now I assumed it would not be active if you choose Single point AF with
the AF area selector. But it doesn't seem to focus on the target. Look at
the pictures. I focused on the dogs heads, but they are not sharp. It
seems right after or before they are. Is this a flaw or overlooked issue?
I talked to the importer and they were very eager to get my camera fixed.
Like they knew about it? Maybe I just overlooked something, but the
manual isn't very helpful either. Anybody know why?

Another question is the AF Area selection. Why would you choose 9 or 21
points if you have 51? Does it save battery time? Does it have other
advantages?

Even if you have the AF selector on single or dynamic and in the menu you
have 9 points, you can still choose any of the 51 points. Any answers?

Sorry, I'm a little lost, like my two new RR dog friends ;-)

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog1.jpg

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog2.jpg

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog3.jpg

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog4.jpg

Aren't they precious?

All the shots you show are focused as I would expect the wide area dynamic
focus to work. It has selected the target of most contrast - which is what
it always does - and you probably have the custom option for avoiding
refocusing on passing foreground objects enabled (can't remember what
option this is, but it stops the focus resetting if you are tracking a
subject and a fencepost gets in front etc). This makes the wide area focus
prefer backgrounds - with it turned off, the WA focus will generally
prefer the closest area of high contrast detail.

Your dogs are too insignificant and dark compared to the strong hard edges
of the railroad or the grass and weeds. You would have to use spot focus
and lock to get these right.

David

So let me get this straight: even if you have the AF area selector on Single
Point AF (!), but the menu on 51 point 3D and you have the object in the
middle point selected, it beeps, it still looks for another contrast place?


--
Sosumi

On 12/31/07 8:21 AM, in article ,
" wrote:

On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:26:42 -0000, in rec.photo.digital "Sosumi"
wrote:

The other day I went to a one horse village called Runa, close to my home in
Portugal, to take some pictures of an abandoned RR station, when I saw these
two wild dogs. I tried my best to have them come to me, but no way. They did
seem to like the D300, because they took turns in posing for me!

When I came home, I looked at the pictures and they all seemed out of focus!
I finally found it: the dynamic focus area was set to 51 point 3D. Now I
assumed it would not be active if you choose Single point AF with the AF
area selector. But it doesn't seem to focus on the target. Look at the
pictures. I focused on the dogs heads, but they are not sharp. It seems
right after or before they are. Is this a flaw or overlooked issue? I talked
to the importer and they were very eager to get my camera fixed. Like they
knew about it? Maybe I just overlooked something, but the manual isn't very
helpful either. Anybody know why?

Another question is the AF Area selection. Why would you choose 9 or 21
points if you have 51? Does it save battery time? Does it have other
advantages?

Even if you have the AF selector on single or dynamic and in the menu you
have 9 points, you can still choose any of the 51 points. Any answers?

Sorry, I'm a little lost, like my two new RR dog friends ;-)

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog1.jpg

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog2.jpg

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog3.jpg

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog4.jpg

Aren't they precious?


Perhaps it's time to RTFM and take the camera out of AF-C mode?
And have to MANUAL focus?!? The HORROR!!!!

Sosumi wrote:


So let me get this straight: even if you have the AF area selector on Single
Point AF (!), but the menu on 51 point 3D and you have the object in the
middle point selected, it beeps, it still looks for another contrast place?


No idea. When testing the D300 and D3, I used spot central focus not
wide area for standard aim-lock subjects. I used dynamic wide area for
moving targets without any manual interference. Both options seem
logical and both worked fine. If I used the dynamic wide area for static
subejcts, I nearly always ended up with the wrong thing in focus
(typically, the foreground) so I quit doing that after my first dozen or
so reviewed shots. It was easy enough to tell from the rear screen
review whether things were going as I wanted.

David

--
Icon Publications Ltd, Maxwell Place, Maxwell Lane, Kelso TD5 7BB
Company Registered in England No 2122711. Registered Office 12 Exchange
St, Retford, Notts DN22 6BL
VAT Reg No GB458101463
Trading as Icon Publications Ltd, Photoworld Club and Troubadour.uk.com
www.iconpublications.com - www.troubadour.uk.com - www.f2photo.co.uk -
www.photoclubalpha.com - www.minoltaclub.co.uk
Tel +44 1573 226032

On Dec 31, 11:51*am, wrote:

In the end it just might be that even the newer implementation of AF-C in
the D300 still is lacking when it comes to stationary or near stationary
subjects. I' have found that to be the case for the D200, *and also the D70
which lack the release setting option of the D200/D300

Maybe they will come out with a firmware upgrade to fix the problem.
It is sad that Nikon floods the market with these prototypes without
doing proper in-house testing. Do they think their customers are beta-
testers?

On Dec 31, 4:07*pm, wrote:

Maybe they will come out with a firmware upgrade to fix the problem.
It is sad that Nikon floods the market with these prototypes without
doing proper in-house testing. Do they think their customers are beta-
testers?

They are just following Canon's lead, no?

You said it. Canon leads, Nikon follows.
Canon Rules and Nikon Drools.

On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:23:24 -0600, Annika1980 wrote
(in article
):

On Dec 31, 4:07*pm, wrote:

Maybe they will come out with a firmware upgrade to fix the problem.
It is sad that Nikon floods the market with these prototypes without
doing proper in-house testing. Do they think their customers are beta-
testers?

They are just following Canon's lead, no?

You said it. Canon leads, Nikon follows.
Canon Rules and Nikon Drools.

Canon Fanbois Drool and Nikon users just laugh at them.


--
Randy Howard (2reply remove FOOBAR)
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those
who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw

Randy Howard wrote:
On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:23:24 -0600, Annika1980 wrote
(in article
):

On Dec 31, 4:07 pm, wrote:

Maybe they will come out with a firmware upgrade to fix the problem.
It is sad that Nikon floods the market with these prototypes without
doing proper in-house testing. Do they think their customers are beta-
testers?
They are just following Canon's lead, no?
You said it. Canon leads, Nikon follows.
Canon Rules and Nikon Drools.

Canon Fanbois Drool and Nikon users just laugh at them.


Hahahaha. A very weak attempt to turn the tables. Annika is right,
Canon rules!

Colin D.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Dec 31 2007, 9:26*pm, "Sosumi" wrote:
The other day I went to a one horse village called Runa, close to my home in
Portugal, to take some pictures of an abandoned RR station, when I saw these
two wild dogs. I tried my best to have them come to me, but no way. They did
seem to like the D300, because they took turns in posing for me!

When I came home, I looked at the pictures and they all seemed out of focus!
I finally found it: the dynamic focus area was set to 51 point 3D. Now I
assumed it would not be active if you choose Single point AF with the AF
area selector. But it doesn't seem to focus on the target. Look at the
pictures. I focused on the dogs heads, but they are not sharp. It seems
right after or before they are. Is this a flaw or overlooked issue? I talked
to the importer and they were very eager to get my camera fixed. Like they
knew about it? Maybe I just overlooked something, but the manual isn't very
helpful either. Anybody know why?

Another question is the AF Area selection. Why would you choose 9 or 21
points if you have 51? Does it save battery time? Does it have other
advantages?

Even if you have the AF selector on single or dynamic and in the menu you
have 9 points, you can still choose any of the 51 points. Any answers?

Sorry, I'm a little lost, like my two new RR dog friends ;-)

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog1.jpg

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog2.jpg

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog3.jpg

http://atlantic-diesel.com/Dog4.jpg

Aren't they precious?
--
Sosumi

Hey Sosumi?
Those bolts holding the rails in place were called "dogs" by the
"fettlers" who used to drive the spikes into sleepers as they made the
railways of the world. I know because I worked on the "trans
Australian" standard gauge line across Australia's widest expanse of
country back in about 1965. The paymaster used to motor out in an old
1937 Daimler converted for rail travel. No steering wheel, just a
driver's seat and a back seat for the paymaster.

In those old days it went: Sleepers then "fish plates" onto which went
the rails and then the dogs were driven into holes bored in the
sleepers with a hand auger. A "wild dog" was when you missed the spike
with your hammer and hit the line itself. Do it more than a few times
a day and you got your "marching papers" (fired).

I think a far more compelling picture is there than just rail lines
with a dog. Of course they no longer use wooden sleepers and spikes
but it is none the less a very valuable part of the history of rail
and could turn your photo into a memorable work of art if you can just
find a man made rail line to photograph and show the comparison.
Personally I think the rail lines are a compelling image alone. The
dog destroys or at least detracts from an otherwise excellent photo.

PQOTD