Thanks.

Camera, Nikon D70,

Lens, Nikkor AFS VRII 105mm f2.8 IF-ED, like this.

Settings, Shutter= 640 Aperture= auto ISO=200.

Useful tip I found when trying to capture moving fish, Use servo focus (AF-C) as opposed to single focus (AF-S).

Top class work there Stu. Top one is tack-sharp. You must have changed your work-flow, as your EXIF data has disappeared from your latest files

What's your shutter speed and ISO on the top one? I was doing some action shots at Coldingham on Saturday and was using 1/500 at ISO 400. 1/1000 would have been better but I couldn't afford it, and ISO 400 is noisier than I'd like it to be

What's your focusing method - servo? All points active? Front or back button? How many shots to get the top one? Hey, you were asking me those questions not long ago

Col

PS: By the time I posted, you had replied to Abacus180. Aha.. the old macro f2.8 prime trick! I had almost forgotten about that one!

Hi Col,

as soon as I read your questions I started sweating like a pupil being grilled by a teacher.

Not sure, why the EXIF data has gone, I've been saving to file, then sorting wheat form chaff, then import to LR to do any PP work. If you PM me your email addy I'll send you the RAW file, but the basic settings were

ISO 200, Shutter speed 1/640 sec, Aperture f3.5.

I've been setting the ISO fixed to 200 and raising the shutter speed to as much as I can (shutter priority) depending on the light, mainly because I'm trying to keep everything pin sharp, especially the water movement.

As for focusing, yes I've got it set to AF-C instead of AF-S, especially as I'm taking all the pics one handed while playing the fish with the other. The nikkor lens is uber fast which helps me a lot. Again, because I'm shooting while playing the fish, I just try and fire off as many shots as I can before the fish over tires, once it's ready for the net the camera goes down regardless. So I may take ten at one fish, or 3 or 4 at another. I filled a 2 gig card yesterday, and got about 4 or 5 keepers.

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement.

Hi Stu/
No problem re the EXIF data - it was just to save asking questions on settings. It does come up now and then. Folk are interested to know what camera, what lens, what focal length, shutter speed, aperture, and so ask the photographer, when if they were to take a copy of the shot, and open it in their image editing software, they would see all that information. But, if at the final save stage the software optimises file size for t'internet, it chucks out the EXIF data. Mine does that!

I'm experimenting with front button vs back button focusing on action shots, though that might be more of a Canon thing, so maybe not so pertinent to you Nikonheads What about focusing points? You using centre or all points active?

4 or 5 keepers for a 2 gig card? Respect your editorial control (I'd probably have forced out at least another half dozen iffy ones )

Col

Hi Col,

Nope you've lost me on the front button, back button malarky, what's all the about?

Us Nikon heads might not have it, but we've got. . . . NEF's! Who the hell came up with that idea! Had to put pluggins on LR and windows Photo Gallery. Silly idea.

As for focus points I'm using centre (I think ), though I can change that on the fly with the D-pad.

Yeah, the focusing thing. On Canons, you can take the job of activating autofocus away from the shutter button and give it to one of the buttons under your right thumb ('back button focusing'). I've learned to use it for almost everything. Key is the fact that once you focus on what you want to focus on, when you then compose the shot and press the shutter button the camera does not try to refocus on what is over the active focusing point(s).

Having it on the back button under your thumb means that when trying to capture an action shot, with AF in servo mode, you can keep your thumb on the button and the lens is hunting for focus all the time. It sounds perfect, but I'm not all that happy with the results I've been getting. I'm maybe missing out on some setting tweaks that would get me on the ball, or my lenses aren't quite fast enough to keep up.

Col