Nikon D80 Bracketing - Is it a Bug or a Feature?

Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-120 f/4 S

08/23/2007 09:51:01 PM · #1

I am having a problem with my D80. Perhaps a software bug. Perhaps operator error.

1) I set it to take two bracketed shots
2) I half press the shutter to lock the focus, recompose and press
3) The camera refocuses between shots!

Why is it doing this? My Canon didn't do this, and I queried a D200 user and she said hers doesn't do this. What am I doing wrong?

bassbone

Nikon Z8

08/23/2007 09:52:45 PM · #2

Do you have the focusing set for continuous (AF-C)?

wavelength

Nikon D300

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

08/23/2007 09:54:37 PM · #3

K, read twice, I dunno. Possibly continuous focus is set instead of single shot? If all else fails, on a landscape manual focus works better for me anyways.

Or upgrade to the D200, never had that problem here. ;)

mannytrillo

Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 24-85mm f2.8-4.0D

08/23/2007 09:56:04 PM · #4

You need to set it so that it will shoot regardless of if it's in focus or not. On the top of the camera by the shutter button, press the AF button until you have AF-C. It should then bracket without re-focusing in between. Also, Make sure that you are holding down the shutter all the way.

wavelength

Nikon D300

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

08/23/2007 09:57:38 PM · #5

Originally posted by mannytrillo:

That seems a bit counter-intuitive. Choosing AF-C for it not to do continuous? Weird.

bassbone

Nikon Z8

Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-120 f/4 S

08/23/2007 10:02:22 PM · #6

Having it set for AF-C seems to make no sense at all to me. I just tried the following on my D70 and it worked for bracketing without refocusing.

Set camera to AF-S, set exposure to multiple shutter, and bracket - I pushed the shutter half way down to focus, I recomposed the image and pushed the shutter down and held it so it fired three shots. All were shot with the original focus setting.

Message edited by author 2007-08-23 22:28:28.

krafty1

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

08/23/2007 10:26:52 PM · #7

bassbone is correct.

AF-C is continuous mode. It refocuses continuously to account for moving subjects and does not require focus lock to release the shutter. Great for sports and such but not good for what you are trying to do.

Edited for content

Message edited by author 2007-08-23 22:28:00.

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35 f/4 ED VR

08/23/2007 11:42:07 PM · #8

Thanks--sorry for posting and then walking away from my computer! :)

THIS IS PERPLEXING! I am not using AF-C; it refocuses between shots both on AF-S and AF-A.

I am focusing, locking, and recomposing. Holding the shutter, and it shoots multiple shots since rapid fire is on (or whatever that's called).

Try it, and make sure you move the center point way off the focused target when recomposing. If it's then on something in the background, you get a dramatic, easy to see shift at the second shot.

I can't find any setting to change this behavior! It does it for rapid fire whether bracketing is on or off. It just seems that the second shot is completely "independent" from the first, even though the shutter button is down. That's perhaps why it also takes so long between shots, when my Rebel XT was very quick?

Addendum: If I hold the AE-L button, then it locks and stays locked between exposures. But the shutter button is also supposed to do this! I read through the whole manual and I'm stumped.

HELP!! I think my camera is defective?

Message edited by author 2007-08-24 00:30:53.

darnok

Nikon D850

08/24/2007 05:48:03 AM · #9

Originally posted by nshapiro:

Addendum: If I hold the AE-L button, then it locks and stays locked between exposures. But the shutter button is also supposed to do this! I read through the whole manual and I'm stumped.

HELP!! I think my camera is defective?

On the D200 pressing the shutter button in halfway does not lock the exposure by default, only the AE-L button does that. You can change the custom functions to have the shutter button lock the exposure, might be the same on the D80.

Message edited by author 2007-08-24 05:48:54.

hsolakidis

Nikon D50

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED

08/24/2007 05:59:10 AM · #10

Half press the shutter, then move the AF/MF switch next to the lens. Fire away!

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED

08/24/2007 08:50:36 AM · #11

Originally posted by Raziel:

Originally posted by nshapiro:
Addendum: If I hold the AE-L button, then it locks and stays locked between exposures. But the shutter button is also supposed to do this! I read through the whole manual and I'm stumped.

HELP!! I think my camera is defective?

On the D200 pressing the shutter button in halfway does not lock the exposure by default, only the AE-L button does that. You can change the custom functions to have the shutter button lock the exposure, might be the same on the D80.

It locks it on mine--but just for one exposure. The manual says otherwise. It says that holding the shutter button down should keep the focus locked (and the exposure if it's set that way.

D80 USERS: Can you please try this and tell me if yours does that? Perhaps mine is defective?

eqsite

Nikon D7100

08/24/2007 08:55:24 AM · #12

Hey, Neil. I'll give this a try when I get home this evening. I will say that I've had trouble with this as well, although not necessarily in the exact same situation. I generally keep mine set to AF-S, and it will refocus with the shutter button half depressed from time to time. I chalked it up to not keeping enough pressure on the button, but maybe it's a problem with the D80. As a result, I tend to always use the AE-L button, even though it's a little uncomfortable.

Message edited by author 2007-08-24 08:55:50.

David Ey

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f2.8D

08/24/2007 10:24:55 AM · #13

Originally posted by nshapiro:

Thanks for posting this thread.
As I understand it, bracketing is to vary your exposure value OR your white balance. (page 90 of the D80 manual) If you don't want auto focus, you must set to manual. (page 28-), otherwise the autofocus will re-activate with each shot (unless shutter release is held halfway down in AF-S)

Now, I've only had a D80 8 days and did the first shutter release 2 days ago so I could be all wrong......David

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 16-85 f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

08/24/2007 10:39:14 AM · #14

Originally posted by David Ey:

Originally posted by nshapiro:
I am having a problem with my D80. Perhaps a software bug. Perhaps operator error.

1) I set it to take two bracketed shots
2) I half press the shutter to lock the focus, recompose and press
3) The camera refocuses between shots!

Why is it doing this? My Canon didn't do this, and I queried a D200 user and she said hers doesn't do this. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for posting this thread.
As I understand it, bracketing is to vary your exposure value OR your white balance. (page 90 of the D80 manual) If you don't want auto focus, you must set to manual. (page 28-), otherwise the autofocus will re-activate with each shot (unless shutter release is held halfway down in AF-S)

Now, I've only had a D80 8 days and did the first shutter release 2 days ago so I could be all wrong......David

You don't need to try it with bracketing. Page 31 of the manual says:

"Focus will remain locked between shots as long as the shutter release button is kept pressed halfway, allowing several photographs in succession to be taken at the same focus setting."

So just set the shooting mode to "Continuous" (p.36), press the shutter half way with a near object in the center focus point, hold the shutter, recompose so something far is in the center, and let it shoot.

The $1,000,000 question: Does it change focus then after the first shot, even though you are still pressing the shutter all the way? Mine does. :(

talmy

Nikon D300s

08/24/2007 11:44:18 AM · #15

I don't have a D80. If it has a AF-ON button then you can have the camera focus only when the AF-ON button is pressed. This works very well on my D200. Another solution is to focus and then switch to Manual Focus.

However I am surprised that in AF-S mode that it refocuses between shots if the shutter button is held down. Seems to me something is wrong.

MonicaJames

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

08/24/2007 12:03:31 PM · #16

Are you using your Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF VR lens? Can you make sure that the slider is on M/A? If it's on A, the lens automatically refocuses based on my experience. ^_^

08/24/2007 01:06:01 PM · #17

Originally posted by MonicaJames:

Are you using your Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF VR lens? Can you make sure that the slider is on M/A? If it's on A, the lens automatically refocuses based on my experience. ^_^

Yes, but the slider is on M/A. There's no "A", the other choice is "M" (and then I presume it wouldn't refocus because it would be on manual!)

nikolaos

Carl Zeiss 50mm ZF f/1.4 Planar T

08/24/2007 01:37:56 PM · #18

Are you shooting in continuous burst mode?

I tried this is my D50 with burst mode enabled (without noticing at first) and the same results with you, the camera is refocusing in each shot, not necessary with bracketing on... just multiple shots in burst mode.

With burst mode disabled i get multiple shots without refocusing in bracketing mode (Autofocus in AF-S mode).

-N.

08/24/2007 01:47:04 PM · #19

Originally posted by nikolaos:

I don't know what "Continuous Burst" mode is on the D80. I presume you mean "Continuous" mode, where it shoots up to three frames per second. There's nothing called "Continuous Burst" in the manual. Maybe they call it that on the D50.

HOWEVER: I can't use bracket mode to shoot off the entire bracket without releasing the shutter button unless I use continuous mode, since it only shoots one picture at a time without it.

Maybe with a remote, it would work ok; but according to the manual, when I'm in continuous mode, the focus should be locked as long as I hold the shutter button down in AF-S mode.

I'm just wondering if there's some setting that's messing it up. Or maybe it's related to the 18-200 lens. (It's the only nikon lens I have.)

David Ey

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f2.8D

08/24/2007 02:29:35 PM · #20

Exactly what was you expecting the two bracketed shots to be like?
ie: what did you want the cam to do for you?

nikolaos

Carl Zeiss 50mm ZF f/1.4 Planar T

08/24/2007 02:44:41 PM · #21

Originally posted by nshapiro:

Originally posted by nikolaos:
Are you shooting in continuous burst mode?

I tried this is my D50 with burst mode enabled (without noticing at first) and the same results with you, the camera is refocusing in each shot, not necessary with bracketing on... just multiple shots in burst mode.

With burst mode disabled i get multiple shots without refocusing in bracketing mode (Autofocus in AF-S mode).

-N.

I don't know what "Continuous Burst" mode is on the D80. I presume you mean "Continuous" mode, where it shoots up to three frames per second. There's nothing called "Continuous Burst" in the manual. Maybe they call it that on the D50.

Put a comma there, continuous, burst mode that is.

Originally posted by nshapiro:

HOWEVER: I can't use bracket mode to shoot off the entire bracket without releasing the shutter button unless I use continuous mode, since it only shoots one picture at a time without it.

You release the shutter button half-way, at least that is how it works in D50.

Originally posted by nshapiro:

Maybe with a remote, it would work ok; but according to the manual, when I'm in continuous mode, the focus should be locked as long as I hold the shutter button down in AF-S mode.

I'm just wondering if there's some setting that's messing it up. Or maybe it's related to the 18-200 lens. (It's the only nikon lens I have.)

It might, I haven't read the D80 manual... I was just playing around with mine and notice the same thing you where saying... the only way to work as you want, in the D50, you must have Single Shot ([S] thing in display) AF-S, and you have to press the shutter button half way at first to focus where you want and then shoot... you keep the shutter button half pressed all the time and you only release it full when you're done.

-N.

levyj413

Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max

Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) for Nikon

08/24/2007 02:54:42 PM · #22

Originally posted by nshapiro:

HOWEVER: I can't use bracket mode to shoot off the entire bracket without releasing the shutter button unless I use continuous mode, since it only shoots one picture at a time without it.

Neil, I'm missing why you wouldn't do that. It seems to me you want to capture everything exactly the same except for the shutter speed or aperture, right? When I've done bracketed shots, I've put it in continuous mode and just held down the shutter until it was done.

So why not use that mode?

08/24/2007 03:08:40 PM · #23

Originally posted by levyj413:

Originally posted by nshapiro:

HOWEVER: I can't use bracket mode to shoot off the entire bracket without releasing the shutter button unless I use continuous mode, since it only shoots one picture at a time without it.

Neil, I'm missing why you wouldn't do that. It seems to me you want to capture everything exactly the same except for the shutter speed or aperture, right? When I've done bracketed shots, I've put it in continuous mode and just held down the shutter until it was done.

So why not use that mode?

Jeffrey, I normally would use continuous mode. But it doesn't work. It refocuses after the first shot. It's not supposed to. Something is amiss. A setting, a camera, a lens. That's the purpose of this thread. To see if it does that for others.

I don't think the problem will show up on your D200 though; since I already asked Ursula, and she said it didn't!

MonicaJames

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

08/24/2007 03:14:58 PM · #24

Originally posted by nshapiro:

Originally posted by MonicaJames:
Are you using your Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF VR lens? Can you make sure that the slider is on M/A? If it's on A, the lens automatically refocuses based on my experience. ^_^

Yes, but the slider is on M/A. There's no "A", the other choice is "M" (and then I presume it wouldn't refocus because it would be on manual!)

Sorry about my post. I meant, put it on M instead of 'm/a'. I don't have that lens with me right now so i have to look at a diagram to confirm what I was talking about. Also, are you shooting pointing downwards with that lens? It is known to have lens creep.