D300 problem?

[Stuart Hill]

Hi all,

I wonder if anybody has had a problem with their D300 like the one I am experiencing. Given Sigma a hard time and it would seem its not their fault after all! :o

I have a Sigma 500mm F4.5 which at F6.3 and below is amazingly sharp. At 4.5 it rubbish. On black text it shows up as 'ghosting' around the top edges and looks generally soft.

I tested the D300 with my Nikon 300mm F4 and its the same! At maximum app (F4) it ghosts the text but around the base. (see attached F6.3 on left, F4 on the right)

No amount of fine tuning in the camera seems to fix the problem. Slightly annoyed with Nikon. One would expect better on a £1000+ camera.

Got a holiday coming up but after this gonna send it back to Nikon. Any ideas?

regards.
Stu.

[BillTyler]

Are you showing us the full frames or just portions? If portion, where in the frame?

Bill

[Stuart Hill]

Sorry Bill. Yes its a portion cropped from the centre so you'd understand what I'm getting more so than my attempt at a description.

kind regards.
Stu.

[Stuart Hill]

"Regarding the Nikon 300/4, it is normal for all lenses to have somewhat inferior performance when used wide open due to various uncorrected aberrations. When stopped down 1 or 2 stops you can usually see great improvement in sharpness, micro-contrast and the presence of "halo".

They go on to say, from the sample jpg as posted here, they cannot tell if this is below normal or not.

If this is the case, why do we shell out £1,000's (or $'s;)) for fast lenses?:confused:

Can anyone post a 100% crop of an image from a D300 and 300mm f4 please? Would just like to compare.

kind regards.
Stu.

[Chris Knight]

Stuart I have a D300 and an older version Nikon 300mm f4 AF ED I will try and get you something. What were the conditions that you shot that text so I can closely duplicate. Distance, lighting, was it done on tripod....

I thought my D300 was on the soft side when I first purchased it. Comparing with my D50. I had a complete failure on it 3 months after purchase. It seemed better after returning from warranty repairs.

[John Chardine]

Stu- How are you focusing for the test? If AF then maybe you need some micro-adjustment? The greater DoF of the smaller aperture would sharpen up the image and perhaps produce the results you have obtained. The AF micro-adjustment is body-lens specific so you may not find the same results with other lenses you try. I think the D300 has AF micro-adjustment?

BTW, I have found with Canon super-teles that they are excellent wide open but even better shut down by 1/3 to 2/3 stop. It doesn't take much.

[Stuart Hill]

Thanks for the suggestions. The target was approx. 25ft from lens mount with an sb600 for light.

The f6.3 shot was at 1/500th the 4.5 at 1000th. No amount of micro adjust so far has solved the problem. And unfortunately at the moment all lenses are producing the same affect at maximum appeture.

Nikon have said to send the lens in for inspection as they don't believe it would be the D300 at fault. I disagree as both Nikon and Sigma lenses exhibit exactly the same problem.

Lots of shooting going on at the mo so will have to wait and then send the camera in for a service.

regards.
Stu.

[Ted Miller]

...sb600 for light.   The f6.3 shot was at 1/500th the 4.5 at 1000th.

At those shutter speeds you are forcing the flash to do multiple flashes for each frame because the entire frame is never uncovered at one time (flash sync is 1/250 or slower). The various exposures may overlap, and may not line up perfectly unless you have the camera bolted to a concrete pier. To do a fair test I suggest:

1. Do it in bright light on a tripod, using a shutter speed faster than 1/500.

2. Do not use JPEG. Set the camera for TIFF, so that you don't confuse compression artifacts with optical problems. (JPEG is not at it's best with text on white background.)

No semi-pro camera will produce wonderful results out of the box. You have to learn your camera, fully understand what is going on under different shooting situations, and learn to use it. It is a tool, it is not a magic wand.

[Stuart Hill]

Thanks for the advice Ted. Been a Mac artwork in the printing game for twenty years so I know a little about optical problems and the different inherent qualities of tiff and jpeg. The test shots were actually shot raw and opened in NX.

Had the camera for a year and a half but until joining here, never tried to shoot at maximum apertures so never realised there was a problem, so it's not just out of the box. As for the flash, this problem happens in daylight at the same shutter speed, this was just to highlight the problem.

I do not expect in any part of my life to put nothing in and get lots out. My D300 included.

Thanks for posting though.

regards.
Stu.