Did the AF assist lamp fired? Try turn off the AF Assit lamp and try again?

At aperture f/1.4, slight movement (not noticeable) will also move the focus depth/plane. The DOF is very shallow, and also depend on your distance.
16-85 have smaller aperture.

Try shooting at f/2 or f/2.8? Shoot closer to your subject and re-check. If you have a Nikon DSLR friend, try mount the lens on his/her camera and you try it then let your friend try it.

True, I think it depends on the person, but for people who are not used to wide aperture especially first timers or new to DSLR, it's critical. In other forums, you'll find many complain about front/back focus, when most of the time, it's because of the slight movement or how they hold and snap photo, it's like not Point and Shoot, which is really point and shoot; With DSLR, you need to hold it more properly and also when pressing and after pressing the shutter. Some people, moved the camera during or RIGHT after pressing the shutter which can caused OOF images or shift the focus plane/depth.

Of course, I'm not trying to deny the problems, but to help people to identify first.


But previously you tested there is no such problem? It the lens dirty? etc?

I'm not sure if a lens can have front/back focus issue overtime, if yes, then everytime need to send back for adjustment/tuning? Or something happened?

Use AF/AE Lock button, or configure the half-press shutter to lock both focus and exposure.


Yes, you can use that or configure the settings, for both the AF/AE Lock button as well as the half-press shutter.

If you're using the AF/AE lock button, default for D7000 I think is lock both Focus and Exposure, so if you hold it, the focus and exposure will be lock until you release. So even you release the shutter, it's still maintained,

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Added on February 1, 2011, 12:25 pmSince the SC is close, nothing much you can do. Try to check for finger prints/etc on the lens, clean the lens and re-try. If you have other friend with other Nikon models, no harm to try it out since you can't send to SC anyway now.

Good Luck bro; Sorry to hear about the bad news.

This post has been edited by Andy214: Feb 1 2011, 12:25 PM

The price is OK/good enough; No point survey too many times, the time and money wasted is it worth it? As long the shop provide OK/Good price and good service, I think it's good enough.

You can forgo the filter, not necessary.

Depends on what you look for in photography, what kind of photography (landscape, portrait, sports, etc), it'll be easier to decide on the lens; else you can get the kit lens first; If you have a bit more to spend, get the 50mm f/1.8D for less than RM400. It'll be a good lens for portraiture and you might use it more than your zoom lens, unless you need the wider angle.

Memory Card speed effect if you're shooting bigger file size, saving the photo, and more importantly, viewing the photos in camera; You can view in list view, which will load the photos as small thumbnails. With slower cards, it loads slower.
If you're trying to do some processing in camera, the speed plays the role as well.
Finally, for HD video, you need at least Class 6 (I think).

EDIT:
Forgot to mention, if you have budget, get an external flash unit; It makes a big difference to your shooting.

This post has been edited by Andy214: Feb 1 2011, 05:03 PM

You can try google more about filter and decide whether you think it's worth to buy one and it's necesary. Yes it can help to protect the lens, so does the hood. The problem is mainly the price of the filter.
It's also mentioned that filters "will" affect the photo, altough it may not be noticeable in most situation, but when people test, they only test for that particular moment, so it's hard to say in real situation, if happen the filter affected without the photograher knowing. You might find some experience/senior pro photographer never use it, and also some shop seller honestly tell you it's not necessary (very rare as it's one of their biggest source of income).
Anyway, the decision is up to you; As they say, if you want to get a filter, get a VERY GOOD one, which will be $$$$$.

Surveying is ok, what I mean is, spending time, money (petrol, tol, parking fee, etc) to go all the way there and to few shops, etc. The time and money wasted is not worth it, in the end, you're actualyl paying more even you managed get RM4400. BUT, if you're passing by, dropping by OR maybe you enjoy the process of surveying to learn and get to know, then it's a different story "lah", hehe

For your photography style, the kit lens might fit those mixed photography style; You can invest on a prime lens for those lowlight situation like indoor parties, gatherings, etc. The 50mm f/1.8D is a good low budget prime lens, but if you have more to spend, you can consider the 35mm primes which is more usable for indoors, food photography, small group, etc. The 50mm will be better for portraiture.
Will advice you to invest on a Flash Gun as well, such as the SB700. The Flash will make wonders to your kit lens especially indoors/lowlight situations.

For HD Video, if you use lower speed card, the video will fail to record (if you're on HD). D7000 have smaller buffer (in camera memory) compared to the Canon 60D. If the card speed is not fast enough, it will fill up the buffer. So, if you have slower card and you're using continuous shoot mode, once the buffer fills up, the burst will slow down as the camera tries to clear the buffer to transfer to the memory card.

If you're going to kit lens package and have RM5K budget, get the 50mm f/1.8D prime lens; use it for indoors/lowlight situation, portraiture or when you need the shallow depth of field, blowing the background using wide apertures.

35mm f/2D I think is around RM1K
35mm f/1.8G DX is around RM760

Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC Macro HSM around RM1.6k
Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM around RM2.4k

This post has been edited by Andy214: Feb 1 2011, 06:43 PM

The filter part, in the end, it's up to your own decision, is the price worth to pay for; If you want to get, just make sure you get a good quality ones; If you check out reviews/etc, you will see the comparison on each/some filters and how it will effect the outcome of the picture... even the well known brands.

For video, Sandisk has a new type of card specially for Video.
If you're going to shoot video a lot, you will need to consider getting a zoom lens and WITH VR (Vibration Reduction aka Image Stabilization); which the kit lens should fulfill your requirements.
Prime lens has no VR, so if you're shooting videos handheld with prime lens, you will suffer from shaky video AND without zoom you will need to zoom with your legs, thus again shake shake...
BUT with prime lens offering wider apertures, you can get very nice shallow Depth of Field on your videos.

Yes, that's the lens I'm referring to, it was recommended by many others too, especially KTCY
Basically, prime lens usually have better image quality, sharpness than zoom lens, not to mention kit lens...
Kit Lens have non-fix aperture and the aperture is not big enough, max only 3.5 at 18mm, and 5.6 at 105mm. In lowlight situation, it will not let in enough light, and if you want to blow out the background making the subject stand out, kit lens doesn't do well. But for general photography, it does well as well as provides good sharpness.

By the way, if you're new to DSLR and have been using digital camera, you will need to know about VR is built into lens (Nikon & Canon), compared to digital camera which have Image Stablization built into body.

I'm not sure for those lens with built-in motor will depend on the camera body or not.

But for those lens without built-in motor, which is screw driven, it will depend on the body motor. This, you will greatly see the difference when you mount the lens on lower end body compared to higher end body.

As for lens with built-in motor, what I know is, there might no be difference at all.
Example:
50mm f/1.4G is kind of slow, but 70-200mm f/2.8 is crazy fast.

Anyway, if you really want to see the AF speed of the Tammy.... check out YouTube.... there're many videos posted on the focusing speed of the Tammy, and you will come across some videos on the problems with the Tammy lens.
It's also mentioned the VC version focus slower than the non-VC version, it's also mentioned in the review by shashinki.

You can always test at the shop and compare; Will it be a problem for you? I'm not sure, depend what you're shooting. You can test the focus speed to and from infinity, then test of the AF-C speed as you change the focus subject, see how fast the lens re-focus and lock on, then do it manual way in AF-S, change subject and re-compose/focus. This might be important if you're shooting events or capturing moments. BUT, more importantly is the accuracy here.

It's fast but slower than the 1.4D; Mansurov have D700 and have done comparison between all the 50mm.

Not sure about microseconds; From what I can tell, the D is noticeable faster than the G for 50mm.
but for the 80-200mm AF-D vs 80-200 AF-S or 70-200 AF-S, there is notable differences.

True, the focusing speed depends on situations; for capturing moments, it's quite important, but more important is the accuracy of the focus. No point being fast then HUNT, LoL! or fast, but didn't lock on accurately.
The fast focusing is also useful for moving subject, especially shooting events like Weddings, kids at parties, etc. For those using AF-C mode, it's also quite important that the lens can focus fast enough continuously AND accurately.

Anyway, not saying the focusing speed is slow as in really slow, but comparing with much faster of the same version. There're those that is really slow focus, like the 55-200/55-300.

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Added on February 2, 2011, 1:19 amYeah, it's not a problem, even for moving subjects, kids, etc. It's fast enough; just the AFS was slower than the AFD counterpart for the 50mm or certain AFS lens.
But 70-200, that is blazing fast.

Nonetheless, it's really not a problem and it does it's job well.


This post has been edited by Andy214: Feb 2 2011, 01:19 AM

You can watch YouTube or reviews comparison on the difference between without VR and with VR when video recording... the difference is... A LOT! And that is just handholding, NOT EVEN moving... imagine if you walk/moved...

If you want cheaper alternative and you don't need to extra reach, you can buy 2nd hand 18-55mm VR kit lens for around RM300++, then spend the rest of the money on a prime or Flash Gun.
But make sure what range you need for your videography and photography needs. 55mm might not be enough, but actually 105mm might also not be enough; A good pair for low budget would be... 18-55 + 55-200 or 18-55 + 55-300, but you need to change lens which might not be a good option for video. So, if you do need the extra reach, the 18-105 should be good enough.

After your kit, depend on your photography needs and what you shoot more. A flash will be a good choice to pair with your kit lens and do wonders to your photography. You can get excellent result with proper and creative lightings.
If you want to shoot portraiture more and be creative on your shooting style, the prime will serve your needs. Nonetheless, if you shoot indoors, parties, events, Flash will help you out a lot and make wonders to your photos. Even with primes, you most probably still find the need of the flash, especially if you have experience with it.

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Added on February 2, 2011, 12:10 pmYou are not reading


This post has been edited by Andy214: Feb 2 2011, 12:10 PM

Not sure how much difference in terms of IQ or how noticeable, but the distortion is better controlled at 18mm for the 18-55mm. The 18-55mm VR kit lens is consider one of the good kit lens, producing nice sharp images and it's cheap (2nd hand).

It all depends on your needs; I have seen nice pictures taken with 18-105 as well. In the end, it's up to your decision, do you need to extra reach. If not, you can save a lot by getting 2nd hand 18-5mm VR kit lens, and invest on a prime or flash gun. But, I think you might want the extra reach

If you're viewing the image so small, even digital camera quality looks good....

When you bump up the ISO, definitely you will notice noise/grain, just how acceptable it is at which ISO; hence, the acceptable ISO for each camera.
Noise/Grain will affect the detail of the picture, as well as the sharpness.
If you're viewing on the computer, try zoom larger and you will see all the ugly details. Maybe later as you have seen more, you will be able to see the loss of details without the need to zoom larger.

Proper exposure is also important, wrongly expose will generate more noise/grain even you shoot at lower ISO compared to picture shot at higher ISO properly exposed. Hence, why some people complain about the poor ISO performance VS the rated performance.

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Added on February 3, 2011, 1:24 am35mm f/1.8G DX, you can get around RM760+/-

SB700, RM950~RM980?



This post has been edited by Andy214: Feb 3 2011, 01:24 AM

SB700 below 1K, around RM980, can try bargain lower.
I read in Penang, someone got it for RM900...

Yes, it's a known issue for live focusing (the lens). I think you can send to Tamron HQ (Futuromic in BTS?) for update? Or you can call them first and check.

This post has been edited by Andy214: Feb 7 2011, 04:53 PM

minus one zero
60D.

Mainly, it's the BODY. If want small, lightweight body, might as well get EVIL cameras.
For your sister, can consider the Sony NEX.

This post has been edited by Andy214: Feb 8 2011, 01:01 PM

For the budget, you can get NEX-3 Kit + Pancake. It's APS-C size sensor same as DSLR. You can check dpreview, the ISO capability is very good.

Plus, it has good burst rate, nice features (e.g. Panorama), also have photography tutorial built-in. It also have good video recording function, better than DSLR?

Finally, the size and looks; I think girls will prefer it; plus it's easier to use than DSLR.

For Nikon upcoming one, hope it can mount Nikkor lens directly.... Then will encourage Nikon DSLR users to invest on it

Hehe, just hoping only; or maybe provide the converter
And make sure after mount, all function still works