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Originally Posted by BonBon  I've been playing with the prime lenses. The shutter release not engaging IS because I was too close.  If I hold the button down and slowly back away, it will engage and snap the picture as soon as I'm at a correct distance.
I can also see the difference between the 35mm & the 50mm - it's so obvious to me now. 
I'm still having a problem with blurring, though. I put the camera in 'auto' mode and no blurring, but I don't like the f-stop it chooses in auto mode. Should I try a faster shutter speed in aperature mode? Or do you think it's something else I need to adjust to stop the blurring?
I'm going to set it to manual mode and play around with it some more today.
Thanks for all the advice!  |
Wonderful Bonny
! (I mean, that you found the issue, and it's an easy one, yay!)
You just don't *know* how many times I've been too close to my subject for the lens - so that's why I mentioned this. You can just be a mm too close, and yep, it won't finish focusing in order to release the shutter. BEEN THERE
plenty of times!
Okay, so....now that we know what the shutter release thing was, we can deal with that blur. The auto mode is clearer bc, you're right, it is likely choosing a much smaller aperture - so much more is in the focused depth-of-field (DOF).
You like A-mode (me too, that's my main mode), so I'd stick to that and choose the aperture that *you* want and then force the rest of the conditions to work
for you, bc that's a great way to learn too (I've found).
First thing to do: review your camera's point-of-focus choices....see how w/ the D90 you can choose a bunch of different "points" in the viewfinder to specifically focus the lens? That is one factor you can control.
The next thing is, choose the aperture you want to work with...I dunno, maybe 2 or so? Choosing 2 is still really a wide aperture, will give lots of backgrnd blur, without being totally wide open (gives you a little leeway).
Take light out of the equation, use your SB400, angle it mostly toward ceiling. Taking light out of the equation will allow you to focus mostly just what's happening w/ your aperture here and focal point.
So, using f2.0, maybe you're focusing on a pup's eyes -- so, you're waiting for the "I'm focused" beep - however, you want to pay close attention to the viewfinder to make sure that OF the various focus points...the ONE that is focused/locked -- is the ONE that is one the eyes. In other words...you don't want to have the focus point locked in on the tail, the picture snaps, and then you go "oh dang, I wanted that on the eyes" -- when the camera had actually locked its focal point in on the tail. So, you want to be sure the lens is focusing where *you* want it to, when you're using such a narrow DOF as f2.0 (you have to be very specific here).
So, the bottom line is....I don't necessarily think shutter speed is your problem....it may just be focal point. But to find out for sure, take light out of the equation (ie, take shutter speed out of the equation), choose one aperture, work with it, and look at your focal points from there. {you know what I mean by those "flashing" areas of focal points, right?}
Seriously....I feel like such a dolt when typing this nonsense....it's hard to describe, I think...? If this makes no sense whatsoever, don't feel weird....bc I can't say I wrote this in a way that made any sense
.
I cannot be held responsible for maintaining any shreds of sanity when it comes to cameras.