Help......My Camera and I Don't See "Eye to Eye"

Deke in Ak

I pulled the trigger about a week ago and bought a Nikon D200. I already have several D lenses which work great on the N90s that I've been using for quite a while.

I've now shot almost 1000 pics and I think I have a grand total of 2 that are sharp focus. I really don't know what the problem is, but the only way i got the two sharp that I did was by using a tripod and stopping down to f16. Hand held is out of the question even at over 1/1250. The images are just plain soft.

I know this camera has more menus than a multi-cultural restaurant (you have to have been in an Alaska bush village to understand). I've been reading the factory manual and the Magic Lantern guide.

The nuts and bolts:
D200
17-35 2.8D Af IS2.8
35-70 2.8D
80-200 2.8D ED AF IS

Mac Powerbook
2megs ram
Aperture
IPhoto

Granted, my knowledge of Aperture is limited to opening an image, enlarging it, and looking at it with the loop tool, but they are pretty ugly.

I am wondering about lens compatability, even though the books say they are compatable. I also know that to get really tack sharp images, a tripod is required. I am pretty sure that I am steady enough to get a reasonably sharp image at shutter speeds over 1/1000.

Anyone have any suggestions for this knothead?

Thanks, Dennis

gmonkeh

Let me borrow your gear and I'll see if anything's wrong with it wink

All kidding aside why dont you post some samples of what you've shot so far. And we'll try to help and get you to shoot more keepers.

Deke in Ak

Honestly, I can't figure out how to extract a single image from Iphoto or Aperture to post.......but I will.

Thanks, Dennis

wxwax

Yeah, some examples with EXIF would help a lot.

wxwax

Deke in Ak wrote:

Honestly, I can't figure out how to extract a single image from Iphoto or Aperture to post.......but I will.

Thanks, Dennis

You can't save an image as a jpeg?

dancorder

You could try this (disclaimer I've not used it myself but it seems to make sense) to check that your camera and lens combination(s) are focusing correctly.

CookieS

Yes the D200 Is known to be a very nice and capable camera, So it should produce sharp images without problems, Borrow a new lens and do a test. maybe your lenses will need to be calibrated to your camera, i had to do that with my 20D and 80-200mm once.