Focusing with the 90-280mm

[wolan]

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Hi

I am planning to buy the 90-280mm. I have reviewed hundreds of pictures, including those published in this forum. I have noticed that many of them are slightly misfocused. Either the focus was not on he right place (eyes) or they had a bit of motion blur or they were just a bit front or back focused.

So the question is: how difficult is to focus with this lens? I am mostly interested in AFs (single). My experience with AFs with the Nikon Z system is very good: it is quick, precise and almost never hunts, even with telephoto lenses.

Thank you

 

[Jeff S]

No problem using focus magnification (I use it in conjunction with back button AF), if time allows.  OIS, along with IBIS in the SL2 models, also provides some shutter speed flexibility.  Technique always matters, however, regardless of technology. 
 

Jeff

[hofo100]

Have not had any issues with that lens with both SL (601) and SL-2. Also, from following the SL2 sample thread in detail I cannot really confirm your observation. Re blur - you are aware that due to the forum software you do have to click on images and view them in the "Lightbox" to get a proper view of sharpness. Other, most pictures just look blurry...

Back to the lens - IBIS and OIS are extremely helpful to avoid any kind of motion blur caused by the photographer. For correct focussing in tricky situations and shallow dept of field I recommend using spot autofocus. For portraits, the face detection of SL2 works extremely well (with AF-S). 

[michali]

6 hours ago, wolan said:

Hi

I am planning to buy the 90-280mm. I have reviewed hundreds of pictures, including those published in this forum. I have noticed that many of them are slightly misfocused. Either the focus was not on he right place (eyes) or they had a bit of motion blur or they were just a bit front or back focused.

So the question is: how difficult is to focus with this lens? I am mostly interested in AFs (single). My experience with AFs with the Nikon Z system is very good: it is quick, precise and almost never hunts, even with telephoto lenses.

Thank you

 

I use this lens extensively on the SL2 & SL2-S. The issue is that there's an element of shutter slap/shock with mirrorless cameras which is magnified by long tele lenses. A couple of us picked this up quite early on, as you say, images appeared mis-focused or appeared to have motion blur. I found the same issues when I had the Sony A7r & the Lumix S1R.

The conclusion was that you should use the electronic shutter.

My standard settings for both cameras when photographing wildlife are: Electronic Shutter & focusing set to SPOT & AFS. I've since had no focus or blur issues.

I've posted quite a few images taken with the 90-280mm (all hand held) from a recent safari on the SL2 & SL2-S threads, no focusing issues whatsoever. Have a look at  this image taken with the VE90-280mm which is cropped to 100% & displays no blur.

Edited August 25, 2021 by michali

[jaapv]

4 hours ago, hofo100 said:

 Re blur - you are aware that due to the forum software you do have to click on images and view them in the "Lightbox" to get a proper view of sharpness. Other, most pictures just look blurry...

 

I added a post about that at the top of each and every image thread just now.

[wolan]

vor 25 Minuten schrieb michali:

I use this lens extensively on the SL2 & SL2-S. The issue is that there's an element of shutter slap/shock with mirrorless cameras which is magnified by long tele lenses. A couple of us picked this up quite early on, as you say, images appeared mis-focused or appeared to have motion blur. I found the same issues when I had the Sony A7r & the Lumix S1R.

The conclusion was that you should use the electronic shutter.

My standard settings for both cameras when photographing wildlife are: Electronic Shutter & focusing set to SPOT & AFS. I've since had no focus or blur issues.

I've posted quite a few images taken with the 90-280mm (all hand held) from a recent safari on the SL2 & SL2-S threads, no focusing issues whatsoever. Have a look at  this image taken with the VE90-280mm which is cropped to 100% & displays no blur.

Thank you.

I had this problem on my Nikon 850 first and then later on the Z system when using the 70-200mm f4. Since I shoot with with ES no more blurry pictures, even shooting at lower shutter speeds.