Low hit rate - birds in flight (or dog in this case) Nikon D610

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Some (older) shots with my D610 and the 200-500 - no problems with sharpness, so I guess the D610 and moving "targets" is not a good combination :-(
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The Nikon autofocus system in the D610 that was developed in 2012, a decade ago, is going to have problems with a fast approaching subject and do much better if the subject is going across the film plane of the camera, i.e. left to right or vice versa. A dog is a low contrast subject which is also more of a challenge for the camera's autofocus system.

Lots of good suggestions about changing your approach and with no cost to shoot and experiment your best bet is to try different modes and learn which ones work best in different situations. The autofocus depends on contrast to verify focus so low light or a slow lens will reduce its performance. A f/5.6 zoom lens provides only 25% of the light to the AF sensors of a f/2.8 lens so faster lenses are important. With the 70-200mm f/2.8 I would expect better autofocus performance by shutting the VR off completely. With fast shutter speeds it is not needed and it will slow the AF system considerably as the VR cycle needs to finish before the AF actually begins.
 
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JohnChristensenDK said:
Hi,
I'm new to the forum, but have been following Steve for some time and do also have most e-books about Nikon AF etc.
I own a Nikon D610 and a 200-500/5.6 - and just upgraded with an "old" Nikkor 400 mm/2.8 (non VR)
To the problem: My hit rate is too low!
I have set up (I hope) my camera with all Steve's good advise and the camera and lenses should be OK. Unfortunately this allow only one more cause: ME!
Trying to find the fault I took my 70-200mm/2.8 (VR) and my son's dog for a run - the result is not good.
I have the camera set with BBAF - I point at the head/eye and press focus/BBAF - and then the release - after 5-7 shots none of the photos are real sharp - attached the best one?
I shoot in RAW (Large)
In my opimion part of the shot IS sharp - but aiming at the head why isen't the head sharp? Will the AF take a focus point somewhere else or how does it work - I have been through all +500 pages in the book, but what is wrong!?
BTW If the dog (or birds) is sitting still I have no problem with sharp images :)

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Make sure your aperture is small enough to give a descent depth of field and your shutter is fast enough.
Try bracing or a tripod and dont worry about ISO until you find the problem.
It could be something as simple as the way you hold the camera...🦘
 
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I also have a D610 and recently went to a Motocross track to take some pictures with a 70-200 F4 lens. and a polarizing filter. It was a sunny clear day. I was disappointed that only about 15% of the shots were sharp, so I bought Steve's book and started to practice. I set up an experiment to shoot moving cars on a freeway near my house from 150 ft away, standing at a right angle to the freeway. I had a fairly clean background and no distractions in the foreground. I used BBF and tracked the cars With my focus point locked in the center of the frame, starting my horizontal pan at about 45 degrees off the perpendicular and shooting when the cars were close to perpendicular. I took 10 shots for every focusing option available in AF-C AF-A and AF-S. I was hand holding the camera, lens at 200mm shooting at 1/200 and f 6.3 with auto ISO.

First with lens VR set to Normal, my keeper rate was 57% across all modes Best rate was achieved with AF-C in Single point with 10 of 10 shots in focus, next best was AF-C, D21 at 90%, Third was AF-A, D9 with 80 %.

Then I tried VR set to Active. Best was AF-C single point at 90%, Second was AF-A single point at 82% Third was a tie between AFC, D9 and AF-A, D21 at 80%.

With VR off, Best I could do was 60 % using single point focusing AF-C or AF-A

I repeated the experiment again the next day without a filter on the lens and got similar results.

For me, AF-C, D21, VR Normal gave the best results of all possible focus and VR settings over the 2 days.

To sum up, I was able to increase my keeper rate from about 15% to 92 % for objects moving perpendicular to the lens by
1. Practicing the techniques in Steve's book covering panning tracking and shutter release (over 700 shots in my experiments) , that took me from 15% to 73% keepers (all focus modes)
2. Using the Right VR and Focus settings for my Camera and Lens combination: Normal VR, AF-C, D 21 which took me from 73% to 92 %

I don't expect to do that well on birds or dogs because they are not as predictable and consistent as cars in their motion, and cars do not have body parts like wings, paws, heads, or tails with relative motion. to their main body.
 
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People used to shoot moving objects with D600/D610 because, apart from the pro bodies, that was as good as it got. Each subsequent model improved things. It’s not that the D600/610 were terrible, just that the later ones made it easier and were less dependent on good technique.

Enjoy your D500, it will serve you well for a long time.
 
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