Nikon Live View ...... Fault or Not???

bbg404

bbg404

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Morning all, I was out on Saturday trying my hand at the nightsky...

I was picking a star / planet or object to focus on then using live view to zoom in to make sure it was in focus...

Now I've got a Nikon D3200 only about 6 month old and I noticed when I was zooming in the picture was sort of distorting and getting really noisy and pixelated yet my friend who was doing exactly the same with his Canon 60d and he wasn't getting this problem.. Is my camera faulty or is it just the Nikon / Canon difference??

Thanks
 
Shooting raw or jpeg? Jpeg small/large? Comparing what images? On LCD or PC? Lens, aperture and FL used? Tripod?

Now I know next to nothing, but I'm fairly convinced Nikons are capable of taking both reasonable noise free and non-pixelated photos...
At least I've seen some photos from a D3200, that I easily could live with, so I would rule out gear problems.
 
Live view isnt affected by raw or jpeg as its not captured stills. Youll find the quality of the screens being the difference. The 3200nikon is a base level camera and the 60d canon is a semi pro body.

Zoom in on a hard edge take the shot and review it on the pc. See if its just the slr display or the focus is out
 
So... based on viewing a shot on the LCD screen, you're going to upgrade?

I'm sorry, but your D3200 is perfectly capable of taking just as good shots as the D5300, D7100 and the 60d...

There may or may not be some graphs somewhere showing you otherwise, but I'll still claim, it's more down to knowing your equipment and your technique.
 
bbg404 said:
Yeah I was afraid that would be someone's response suppose ill have to upgrade soon cause it does have an impact on your focused images!!

So which nikon is the equivalent to the 60d?

The 5300 or the 7100??

Thanks
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If the camera says it's in focus regardless of the lcd quality check on a large pc screen. Youll be hard pushed now days to find a poor nikon dslr. Upgrade when you outgrow your body not because a rival offers something different. Maybe post an image? We can take a look and see from there
 
the more I've thought about it today more it sounds as stupid as you put it.... Upgrading for a better LCD screen which isn't used that often! think I jus found it hard to get the focus right due to poor LCD quality once zoomed in.... I don't have a problem with the images it produces Im actually really impressed....

like I say the images come out fine Im happy over all its just on that night I was struggling to get the stars pin sharp using live view as the screen looked like it was blurry but if I get the focus looking best as possible on a blurry screen the final image comes out fine.

yeah I think ill have to accept that the canon screens and live view are better and live with it as Im not changing over to canon.
 
I don't think, you need to focus "anywhere", when shooting stars... set lens to manual and focus on infinity.

Or perheps close to infinity, you will probably need a little test to check this. Some lenses are sharper, when set to just before infinity mark.


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http://www.thenocturnes.com/resources.html

Shooting at night is some of the greatest fun! :)
 
In low light situations the Nikon's liveview is rubbish and not comparable with Canon's liveview.
 
Having not long since bought the Nikon D800 the live view is quite poorly implemented, for some reason they decided not to go to the trouble of producing a high quality live view image when viewed at 100% magnification, pity as whilst it's still usable it does make things difficult if wanting to use it for manual focusing.. I guess it's hardware related otherwise I'd like to think they'd have issued a firmware update to improve it

Simon
 
bbg404 said:
Thanks for the reply!! I was shorting in RAW but my niggle was just with how it looked on the LCD screen compaired to the Canon screen
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Canon seem to have live view sorted more than Nikon, and the camera's inherent low noise ability will also have a great impact on how noisy it is. Also... were you at the same ISO? The higher the ISO the noisier the image on live view. Ultimately however.... you're only using the live view to focus, so the noise doesn't really matter so long as you can attain focus. With a star it's even less important, as you just focus to get it as small as possible.
 
I crank the auto ISO on to get an image, focus, then set it back to the ISO I want. Usually works for me in low light with the D800. I don't know how much power live view uses, but the battery seems to go down quite quickly so I use it sparingly anyway.
 
I didn't see any reference to what lens you were using so I'll mention this at the risk of stating the bloody obvious/ missing a vital detail;).

My D7000's live view wouldn't focus when I used a 3rd party lens, in my case a Sigma 10-20. So, if you were using a non Nikon lens try one and see if that helps.

Apologies in advance if this is hopeless advice........
 
well just an update, Done some testing on my camera and went to Currys and tested a new d3200 and a d5200 and its definitely my camera. came home done some testing on my camera with different lenses, both genuine Nikon and still get the same results.

basically its down to only on the live view one you take an image it comes out fine on the lcd and the computer screen but until the shutter is pressed its almost hazy.;.. some my say it doesn't matter if the image is fine but it makes getting the image perfect harder when using live view. So im going to take it to the local Nikon shop tomorrow and see what they say then the little things going off to Nikon UK.. fingers crossed its a warranty fix...
 
Thanks for the update! Looking forward to hear the outcome!
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Gotta agree Nikon's Live View lags like hell and doesn't provide the best view as compared to Canon.
 
Nikon canon Fuji Pentax....it's not the camera(unless it's faulty) it's the guy or gal pressin the button that gets the desired image.....
 
Paul pminteriors said:
Nikon canon Fuji Pentax....it's not the camera(unless it's faulty) it's the guy or gal pressin the button that gets the desired image.....
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its not the fact of pressing a button to get the image itsthe fault with the image on the live view before the button is pressed!!

anyway ..... just thought id give a little update had it looked at by a Nikon specialist who agrees its not right so ive been on to Nikon UK and its getting sent back to them to be repaired......... in the mean time ive came across the D5200 I wanted to upgrade to..... (yes most will say its a waste of money but its what ive wanted for a while) so once its fixed the d3200 will be for sale
 
Nice job finding out the LCD is broke!
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And as you've found out in this thread
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- don't listen to others and enjoy your upcoming D5200.
It's a very fine, little camera! And for sure an upgrade to the D3200.

Congrats again!
 
barratt1988 said:
Ha id still rather be different and have a nikon. Seems like every man and his dog has a canon these days.
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I use a Nikon ... js


…........…....................................
Fellow of some photo club;Probably an exhibitor as well;Collected some stars & never gonna reach the galaxy-damn you inflation;
If I pressed an eject button on your photo in a comp, don't hate me. You can judge me but I'm still gonna eject you anyway :P
 
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