Blurry Noses

[Atamvir Multani]

Hi guys ,
Off lately , I have noticed that many times , the nose of the aircraft in particular gets blurry , dont know why , but its been happenening with a few of my other friends and it just started happening with me also , Only and only the nose suffers this problem ....
Any idea why??

Thanks for any help!

[Alex - Spot-This !]

Could you show us an example ?

[Bjorn1979]

Do you have those blurry noses only with moving airplanes ? What camera do you have ? Witch AF-points are you using ?

Bjorn

[Atamvir Multani]

Yes the Nose only gets blurred when the aircraft is in motion.
I am using a Canon Powershot A495 Digital Camera , I really dont know what are AF points.

Omar - I have attached these two pics , Hope you can see what i mean , the nose comes out blurred..!

[kukkudrill]

Yes the Nose only gets blurred when the aircraft is in motion.
I am using a Canon Powershot A495 Digital Camera , I really dont know what are AF points.

Omar - I have attached these two pics , Hope you can see what i mean , the nose comes out blurred..!

Two possibilities:

(a) your lens is soft on the right side, or

(b) since the aircraft is changing shape rapidly in the viewfinder as you pan with it, the camera finds it hard to focus on front and rear simultaneously and picks one end at the expense of the other.

To test for (a), tack up a sheet from a newspaper on a wall and take some shots of it from a tripod using different aperture settings and focal lengths. The camera should be set up so it is facing the centre of the page, a good distance away and directly perpendicular to it. Look at the photos up close to see whether part of the image looks softer than the rest.

If it's (b), then the best I can say is if your camera has a focusing mode for moving objects, make sure you're set to that. Also, try faster shutter-speeds or try shooting at a greater distance from the flight-path, even if it means using more zoom.

[brianw999]

This diagram and text should help to explain....

[Shanwick]

A picture/diagram speaks a thousand words and I had to try and get my head around the principles outlined especially for shooting at SXM.
Your a fountain of Knowledge Brian ...I bet you sketched them up during your tea break

[Richard M. A. Wood]

I believe he sketched it with one hand, and was giving cardio-pulmonary resuscitation with the other hand so he was really working hard.


Thanks for all your great advice, explained simply so it is easily understood.

[Atamvir Multani]

A picture/diagram speaks a thousand words and I had to try and get my head around the principles outlined especially for shooting at SXM.
Your a fountain of Knowledge Brian ...I bet you sketched them up during your tea break

Serious agreement to what has been said above , Thanks a lot for your advice Brian and kukudrill. Will follow them as much as possible.

[seahawk]

And the problem gets worse with those compact cameras, as they often do not allow you to manually select a AF point. With a DSLR make sure that you have manual control of the AF point used and that you do not put it on the winglet instead of the fuselage.

[brianw999]

And the problem gets worse with those compact cameras, as they often do not allow you to manually select a AF point. With a DSLR make sure that you have manual control of the AF point used and that you do not put it on the winglet instead of the fuselage.

Thanks Stefan, you beat me to it.

[Simpleboy]

And the problem gets worse with those compact cameras, as they often do not allow you to manually select a AF point. With a DSLR make sure that you have manual control of the AF point used and that you do not put it on the winglet instead of the fuselage.

To be fair though, compact camera's have a much smaller sensor and therefore the lenses are smaller and therefore you get a much bigger depth of field for the same f number.

[seahawk]

On the other hand they have more noise (also due to the smaller sensor) so that you have to use a lower ISO setting, which counteracts this at least to some extent.

I personally have used a Coolpix 5700 in the past and getting good results with it was way harder, than with an early generation DSLR like the D100.

[kukkudrill]

To be fair though, compact camera's have a much smaller sensor and therefore the lenses are smaller and therefore you get a much bigger depth of field for the same f number.

Correct. The Powershot A495 has a maximum focal length of just 21.6mm, which is why I am inclined to think that the problem is not depth of field but simply the camera struggling to focus on a rapidly-moving aircraft. Going for a faster shutter speed may be more helpful to the OP than a narrower aperture. Standing further back from the flightpath should also help because as you get further away, the distance between you and the aircraft will change less rapidly as it passes by, so a slow-focussing compact camera would better able to cope.

[rmk2112]

Once again Brian I'm in your debt mate. I had a lot of blurry noses or tails but not anymore, F8 resolved that annoyance. A lot of my shots may still be god awful but atleast they're in focus now
Regards
Rene