Partially to support Jim Fenton (and others) who are experiencing focus problems with their D2x cameras, and also because this particular set of pictures seemed to really show the problem I'm having, I thought I'd post these pics.
This past weekend I went out shooting and for a while decided to try the 300 f/4 + TC-14 combo with the D2x again. I've yet to get any reasonable shots on the D2x with that combination, though I never had any problems with those same two on my D100.
There wasn't much activity on the lake, but at a certain point I noticed this otter swimming by -- when he saw me, he turned and started coming right for me (not exactly directly, but you'll get the idea). Took a series of shots, and this was the result:
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Now, I'll grant you that motion blur contributed a certain amount to some of these shots, but if you look at the water I think you'll see that every one of these shots was back-focused. This is the most drastic example of this problem that I've seen yet on my camera, but it was very consistent with this series and for some reason is much worse with this lens combination (although it does occur with my other lenses as well to a lesser degree).
There are many people who don't seem to have any issues with their D2x's -- I'm not trying to say that all of them have a flaw, but there are some (and I think mine is one) that seem to have great difficulty with focus in certain situations. I just wish I could find the pattern to what seems to make it worse in order to better troubleshoot the problem, but so far I haven't been able to. I do intend to return the camera for service, but not until I have a better feeling that Nikon knows what is going on.
This past weekend I went out shooting and for a while decided to try the 300 f/4 + TC-14 combo with the D2x again. I've yet to get any reasonable shots on the D2x with that combination, though I never had any problems with those same two on my D100.
There wasn't much activity on the lake, but at a certain point I noticed this otter swimming by -- when he saw me, he turned and started coming right for me (not exactly directly, but you'll get the idea). Took a series of shots, and this was the result:
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
View attachment 7594
View attachment 7595
View attachment 7596
View attachment 7597
Now, I'll grant you that motion blur contributed a certain amount to some of these shots, but if you look at the water I think you'll see that every one of these shots was back-focused. This is the most drastic example of this problem that I've seen yet on my camera, but it was very consistent with this series and for some reason is much worse with this lens combination (although it does occur with my other lenses as well to a lesser degree).
There are many people who don't seem to have any issues with their D2x's -- I'm not trying to say that all of them have a flaw, but there are some (and I think mine is one) that seem to have great difficulty with focus in certain situations. I just wish I could find the pattern to what seems to make it worse in order to better troubleshoot the problem, but so far I haven't been able to. I do intend to return the camera for service, but not until I have a better feeling that Nikon knows what is going on.