Not quite sharp photos through a double-paned window.

[Flyboy]

Some House Sparrows are nesting in a tree just outside of our living room; maybe 15 feet from where I tried photographing. I used the sharpest lens I own, a Nikon 70-200 f/4. The pictures were taken from a stool I set up so not to disturb the birds. ISO and shutter speed sufficient...or so I thought. Can photographing diagonally through two panes of reasonably clean window glass make that remarkable a difference in sharpness? Thanx!

 

[EricBowles]

Diagonally is going to really increase the amount of glass in the way and is very likely to cause blurring. Shooting straight through the glass might still have challenges, but diagonally is probably a bad idea.

You might run into the same thing through a car windshield. You have both the slant of windshield glass and curves toward the sides. It's very difficult to get a sharp image.

The funny thing is you can shoot through a chain link fence without much of a problem.

 

[Viathelens]

Shoot flat against very clean glass and you might get a sharper shot, or set camera up outside and control it from inside.

 

[AlexY]

It has to do with refraction...the greater the angle, the more the refraction and since you are shooting through two panes of glass, at an angle, you will get images slightly displaced creating a blurred image. Shooting through a chain link fence doesn't cause refraction as the fence is opaque.
cheers,
A.

 

[DRwyoming]

Can photographing diagonally through two panes of reasonably clean window glass make that remarkable a difference in sharpness?

Absolutely. I've shot through glass in a pinch and sometimes it works out all right but shooting at an angle and shooting through double pane glass makes it tougher. Remember window glass isn't optical quality glass to start with and often isn't crystal clean which all works against getting sharp images.

Even when talking about high quality optical glass used in lens designs a major limiting factor is glass to air transitions as each one creates potential for reflections and refraction. In the case of a double paned window you're adding 4 more glass to air transitions and they lack the fancy optical coatings lens designers use to minimize problems from those transitions.

As posted above, your best bet is to use a long lens, placed as perpendicular as possible right up against the glass with the filter ring touching the glass if possible. Wider angle lenses or lens/aperture combos that yield more DoF, a gap between the lens and glass that might allow reflections or shooting at an angle all make things harder.

 

[NikonAIS]

Or you can do what I do. I open the den door to the deck, sit on the couch with a drink and wait for the critters to come. You can do the same with that window. Get everything set up, slowly and quietly open the window, go back to the camera and sit on a stool and let things calm down. Try to stay as far away from the window as possible so you will not be distracting to them.

 

[Fishboy1952]

You can get acceptable images through double paned glass. I’ve gotten pretty good shots of a Cooper’s hawk sitting on our backyard birdbath. It was from my wife’s sewing room. I have not tried to do an A/B comparison.

 

[Woody Meristem]

I've shot through several of our double -paned windows and gotten good images through one and not good photos through the others. Surprisingly, the best is the largest, our living room picture window which is six feet by four and a half feet. There's quite a difference in the quality of the glass from window to window even from the same window manufacturer. I always hold the lens perpendicular to the window; as others have said, shooting at an angle will yield poor results.

 

[Rollamok]

I have not had good results through our double pane windows. Fortunately, for some reason, our back door is single pane, and I’ve done okay through this when holding the lens right against the glass. This photo was taken that way recently, D500/200-500:

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[AlexY]

This photo was taken through my double paned back window from about a 90 degree angle to the glass. It was drizzling out and the the catbird is about 25 feet away. The original photo is cropped to around 50%....it seems sharp enough to me.

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[dabhand16]

I've had some good results through my back bedroom double glazed window. Shooting as close as possible to 90 degrees to the glass although not always, but never at more than about 45 degrees. My range is from about 10 to 18 metres using both my D850 and Fuji XT-4 with my 150-600 Sport. I've also used my Nikkor 300mm f4 with both a 1.4x and 1.7x TC -with both cameras and the Sigma and 1.4x TC with the D850.

Sun, or lightest sky 'behind' the plane of the glass to prevent reflections and accentuating any marks on the glass. The front of the lens hood in my case about 1 metre from the glass. I can't get closer.

 

[Flyboy]

Thanks for the replies! Unfortunately, shooting at anything but an angle is impossible, due to the placement of the windows and nesting tree, and the windows aren't the double-hung kind. This will take some thought, but thank you all for putting me on the right path! I have a bird feeder I can put up outside my bedroom window...the closest I can get to 90 degrees. I'll clean the dickens out out both sides of the window, and then take some trips to the local Aviary Nature Walk site. Adapt and overcome!

 

[Flyboy]

Shoot flat against very clean glass and you might get a sharper shot, or set camera up outside and control it from inside.

Good idea, but NOT in our neighborhood, thank you very much!