# As per Ken Rockwell..............he says



## AMOMENT (Jun 19, 2012)

I just upgraded to the Nikon D7000.  I've been reading the manual cover to cover, over and over again.  I did a few searches to pick up any specific tips.  I once was told by a photographer to go to Ken Rockwell's site as he has lots of valuable info.  I was a little surprised to see what he said.

He advises that in MOST situations with the D7000, to COMPLETELY allow the camera to AF, as in, not to even choose your focal point and or single point/dynamic area but to let the camera do it itself.  He said that most often than not, the camera seems to get what you want and does a better job because it using the sensors it sees necessary to and the  pictuers are sharper.  He said for tracking anything moving he uses 3D.  I tried this and definitely got sharp photos but my DOF seemed well, much like a snapshot.  I practiced using AF-C and using a selected area of my focal points (in dynamic mode) and shot a few of my daughter on a swing.  They came out okay, but not super sharp.  I was using a shutter of 1/600 and an aperture of f/7, a focal length of 100mm from 12 feet from my subject.  (So I know my DOF was not too shallow and or my shutter to slow.)

I have found that I struggle to nail focus on people's eyes when they are of lighter color.  I suspect this is because they are not as of high contrast.  Any tips on where to focus in this scenario?  Let me see if I can answer my own question:  "focus on the nearest thing with higher contrast and ensure that my DOF is wide enough to get the eyes in? " I am very subject to camera shake and after I lock focus, my camera does move slightly before I shoot.  Would it primarily be helpful to always shoot on AF-C? In most cases a tripod is not ideal.  

Lastly, I was shooting in af-c but auto area mode when shooting my younger daughter who was running around outside.  The D7000 shows a filled in circle when the camera aquires focus.  The problem is that with a moving subject like my daughter, the focus shows locked for a split second and then it's "scanning" again which doesnt leave me enough time to aquire the shot when in focus.  Any tips?  Should I set my controls so that it shoots on release command?


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## HughGuessWho (Jun 19, 2012)

Yes. 3 tips;

1. Dont listen to anything Ken Rockwell says. Actually, he says some good things, but also says some stuff that is WAY out there and just plain wrong. An experienced photographer can listen to some of his obscure ideas, weed out the fluff and get some ideas from him, but as a new photographer, you wont know the good from the bad.
2. Your camera may be able to focus better than you can, but the problem is, it doesnt know WHERE to focus. That makes huge difference sometimes.
3. Dont listen to Ken Rockwell... Oh yeah, I already said that, but DONT


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## SCraig (Jun 19, 2012)

Well, if you start listening to Ken Rockwell then you can join the minority.  In all fairness, though, there are a couple of interesting pages on his site.  Personally I will ALWAYS pick my focus point (in the center) and I never use dynamic / 3D / whatever focusing.  I don't have any focus issues either.


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## 2WheelPhoto (Jun 19, 2012)

Congrats on the D7000


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## HughGuessWho (Jun 19, 2012)

SCraig said:


> Well, if you start listening to Ken Rockwell then you can join the minority.  In all fairness, though, there are a couple of interesting pages on his site.  Personally I will ALWAYS pick my focus point (in the center) and I never use dynamic / 3D / whatever focusing.  I don't have any focus issues either.



Exactly. You, however, have the knowledge to weed out the BS. Someone new to photography could be scarred for life.


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## SCraig (Jun 19, 2012)

HughGuessWho said:


> Exactly. You, however, have the knowledge to weed out the BS. Someone new to photography could be scarred for life.


Yeah, you posted while I was writing.  I agree with what you said though.  His site is misleading in many respects and for new shooters it's hard to separate the good from the bad.  My recommendation is for new shooters to TRY what he says and if it works for them then that's great, but at the same time keep an open mind and not take everything there as gospel.  There is a lot of nonsense there and the nonsense tends to outweigh the useful information by a high percentage.


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## jake337 (Jun 19, 2012)

If it were up to Ken I'd have either a D3200 or a 8x10 Field View Camera...

Everything else in between is the same.....


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## OrionsByte (Jun 19, 2012)

AMOMENT said:


> I have found that I struggle to nail focus on people's eyes when they are of lighter color.  I suspect this is because they are not as of high contrast.  Any tips on where to focus in this scenario?  Let me see if I can answer my own question:  "focus on the nearest thing with higher contrast and ensure that my DOF is wide enough to get the eyes in? " I am very subject to camera shake and after I lock focus, my camera does move slightly before I shoot.  Would it primarily be helpful to always shoot on AF-C? In most cases a tripod is not ideal.



If you shoot on AF-C, then you never really "lock" focus - it will continually focus on whatever is "under" the selected focus point.  So therefore, if you compose, half-press the shutter to focus, and then recompose (or move the camera for any other reason), the camera is going to to re-focus on whatever the focus point is now pointing at.  3D focusing is probably more what you're looking for, but it's still not perfect.  I still use single-point AF-S for virtually everything I do.



AMOMENT said:


> Lastly, I was shooting in af-c but auto area mode when shooting my younger daughter who was running around outside.  The D7000 shows a filled in circle when the camera aquires focus.  The problem is that with a moving subject like my daughter, the focus shows locked for a split second and then it's "scanning" again which doesnt leave me enough time to aquire the shot when in focus.  Any tips?  Should I set my controls so that it shoots on release command?



Okay, AF-C is Continuous, but auto-area is not.  Auto-area is going to pick the area the camera thinks you're most likely trying to focus on and pick focal points accordingly, and then AF-C is going to continually adjust the focus to keep those points in focus.  So for kids running around a lot, that's probably not going to be helpful because, as you said, the kids are not going to stay within the area the camera chose.
_
EDIT: I actually thought I might be wrong about whether or not auto-area was continuous, so I grabbed my camera and checked.  It does in fact try to keep its focus on what was originally selected, but I still wouldn't trust it for rapidly-moving subjects.  At any rate, I stand corrected._

3D focusing will attempt to track the object as it moves around the frame (so long as it is still covered by at least one of the camera's focus points), but in my experience it still only really works well when the movements within the frame are fairly subtle.  You'll do better with 3D tracking than with AF-C auto-area though, in my opinion.

Probably for you, what I would recommend would be single-point AF-C.  Pick your focus point based on the composition you're looking for, compose, press the shutter half-way, and then try to keep the focus box on your subject as it moves around and snap the shot when the stars align.  High-speed continuous shooting ("spray and pray") would help a lot in this situation too.


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## jriepe (Jun 19, 2012)

Congrats on the D7000 and I recommend this book.  Very detailed and goes through the entire menu item by item.

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Nikon-D7000-Darrell-Young/dp/1933952806/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340146715&sr=1-1&keywords=mastering+the+d7000

Jerry


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## zamanakhan (Jun 19, 2012)

jake337 said:


> If it were up to Ken I'd have either a D3200 or a 8x10 Field View Camera...
> 
> Everything else in between is the same.....



not his d40 that is the best camera ever, oh wait no its the 5dm3 its the best camera ever made by anybody in any universe, it shoots better jpegs than any camera out there. The d800 just fills up my 2gb card in just a few running shots of my kids. Its ok tho because if i dont get the right facial expressions i can always just do a face swap, i am really good at that. 

But everyone knows my bestest camera ever is my massive film 8x10 and medium format camera, this is what real photographers use, they do their prints at costco and if they really want a good image they send it to a lab.


I think it is kinda sad that i can quote his material really well since i do read it when i am superbly bored at work. In a wierd way i am a supporter by visiting his site, but its like when people watch jersey shore for how stupid the ppl act.

Ken Rockwell is kinda like the snooki of photography, we all love to hate him but we know who he is and why he is famous.


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## matt62485 (Jun 19, 2012)

hmm.  i seem to have the same issue.  if u come up with what is causing urs, please let me know.  i never had this issue with my d40, it was so simple lol.


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## PicMaker (Jun 19, 2012)

Sorry guys but I'm a Ken Rockwell fan.:blushing:

The thing is when I started to get into DSLR's I read so many forums, so many reviews, use this lens and not that one, buy this and not that, you need this its a must have, no you don't, etc etc etc, I didn't know where I was. 
Then I discovered his site and even emailed him. He replied with some advice and to be fair, for a newbie he does not steer you wrong.

As you get better and learn more you put your own take on things and do things your own way. Hey, you may even disagree with him on many things 100%, but overall he has a lot of good stuff. He speaks plain and clear and is right on many things.

To the top guys on this site he may seem to you like he's a fool, and I have heard this before, but I have read loads of stuff on his site that I have never found wrong and I am not a newbie any more.

Sorry guys


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## Alex_B (Jun 19, 2012)

Ken R. writes some really good things, some provocative things and some things where he could be either just sarcastic or using irony or having simply some odd and unrealistic points of view. The problem for the beginner is, to filter/distinguish what is worth thinking about, and what of what he writes is not to worth spending too much time with.


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## mjhoward (Jun 19, 2012)

Whats the difference between Ken Rockwell and a fart?

One comes from a smelly a$$hole and the other comes from a stupid a$$hole.

I kid.


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## SCraig (Jun 19, 2012)

AMOMENT said:


> Lastly, I was shooting in af-c but auto area mode when shooting my younger daughter who was running around outside.  The D7000 shows a filled in circle when the camera aquires focus.  The problem is that with a moving subject like my daughter, the focus shows locked for a split second and then it's "scanning" again which doesnt leave me enough time to aquire the shot when in focus.  Any tips?  Should I set my controls so that it shoots on release command?


Set your camera on f/8 in aperture priority and ISO 800.  Turn that dynamic / 3D / moving-focus garbage3 OFF, and lock the focus point in the center so it does NOT move.  Set focus mode to AF-C and shutter mode to Ch.  Point camera at daughter, zoom as desired leaving room around her to crop, push shutter button halfway down until focus is locked, push shutter the rest of the way down and hold it there.  Pan with daughter until buffer fills up (11 shots in RAW, 15 in JPEG).  Repeat until memory card is full.

And don't you DARE tell me she's moving faster than This!

Yep, it really is that simple.


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## matthewo (Jun 19, 2012)

i applaud your thread title for bringing many people into your thread. everyone loves to jump on ken. while he site isnt great, it does have some useful info and nice product shots.

as far as the d7000 goes, its a very capable camera. i like to use single point for focusing. if your having a problem with focusing do a test with a tripod and using live view mode and zoom in and use smallest f-stop value or largest aperture possible. then review the photos and make sure the lens is focusing correctly and doesnt need AF fine tune. which you can do with the d7000 if needed.

most likely a little bit of improvement in technique will fix your focusing problems. i have a d800 now and i can tell you the d7000 focus isnt must worse, if any


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## MTVision (Jun 19, 2012)

matthewo said:
			
		

> i applaud your thread title for bringing many people into your thread.  everyone loves to jump on ken.  while he site isnt great, it does have some useful info and nice product shots.
> 
> as far as the d7000 goes, its a very capable camera.  i like to use single point for focusing.  if your having a problem with focusing do a test with a tripod and using live view mode and zoom in and use smallest aperture possible.  then review the photos and make sure the lens is focusing correctly and doesnt need AF fine tune. which you can do with the d7000 if needed.
> 
> most likely a little bit of improvement in technique will fix your focusing problems.  i have a d800 now and i can tell you the d7000 focus isnt must worse, if any



Wouldn't you want the largest aperture for a focus test??


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## matthewo (Jun 19, 2012)

yes im sorry, im thinking smallest f stop value


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## AMOMENT (Jun 19, 2012)

Pan with daughter until buffer fills up (11 shots in RAW, 15 in JPEG).  Repeat until memory card is full.

If I lock my center FP while in AF-C , everytime I pan do I need to depress the shutter halfway, keep it depressed between each shot, or just shoot away.  Should I try a burst mode?  WTH is my buffer/pan lol?  I know what panning means...................

Thanks everyone, BTW...great tips as usual!!!


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## zamanakhan (Jun 19, 2012)

AMOMENT said:


> Pan with daughter until buffer fills up (11 shots in RAW, 15 in JPEG).  Repeat until memory card is full.
> 
> If I lock my center FP while in AF-C , everytime I pan do I need to depress the shutter halfway, keep it depressed between each shot, or just shoot away.  Should I try a burst mode?  WTH is my buffer/pan lol?  I know what panning means...................
> 
> Thanks everyone, BTW...great tips as usual!!!



your buffer is the amount of pictures your camera will hold until it needs to write them to the card. So when you hold the shutter down in burst mode, it is the amount of pictures it will take until you notice the shutter speed to lag. For action a burst mode is very very helpful. Pan with daughter just means follow her movement with the camera. Pan the camera with her movements.

Shooting action is tough, and the fact that she is moving back and forth and not just one direction is even tougher, It is important to pan well with her, and keep focus on. 

If none of this works then set the focus to where her face would be where you want it manually and shoot it in manual focus every time your daughter moves up to the same point. Pre-focus.


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## SCraig (Jun 19, 2012)

AMOMENT said:


> Pan with daughter until buffer fills up (11 shots in RAW, 15 in JPEG).  Repeat until memory card is full.
> 
> If I lock my center FP while in AF-C , everytime I pan do I need to depress the shutter halfway, keep it depressed between each shot, or just shoot away.  Should I try a burst mode?  WTH is my buffer/pan lol?  I know what panning means...................


Yes!  That's what shutter release mode Ch is and it's why I said to hold the shutter button down.  Pan with her.  Keep her head right in the center of the viewfinder as she moves, and just SHOOT.  The frame buffer will fill up after 11 shots in RAW (15 in JPEG) and then it will take a couple of seconds to clear before you can shoot again.  If you shoot 500 shots, so what?  It costs nothing except having to recharge the battery occasionally.   Let your camera worry about the exposure and focus, all you have to do is keep her head right in the center of the viewfinder.

When I shoot action events (motorcycle and auto races, air shows, etc.) I usually come away with about 10 times as many shots as I want.  I'd rather do that than miss the one that I do want.


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## Infidel (Jun 19, 2012)

zamanakhan said:
			
		

> Ken Rockwell is kinda like the snooki of photography, we all love to hate him but we know who he is and why he is famous.


Sig'd.


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## zamanakhan (Jun 19, 2012)

Infidel said:


> zamanakhan said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



awesome, glad you liked that.

 The more i think about it, the more i feel it to be true. I think its finally ok for me to admit that i like reading his material, mostly for entertainment purposes.


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## Solarflare (Jun 20, 2012)

I said it before and I say it again: I am a photography newbie and have no trouble with "getting" Ken Rockwell.

You have to use your brain and not take everything literal and at face value. He writes entertainingly and he writes his opinion. I never had trouble understanding that.


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