Noise/Underexposed?

[aburrus08]

I am new to my Nikon D300 and everytime I take a picture it is not crisp at all. it's like its ALMOST in focus. If I zoom in on the eyes in playback they just look like there is a haze/noise over them. They are not clear and in focus. They also look very grainey....what am I doing wrong? I'm shooting outdoors a lot with ISO at 400...I've played with the aperture and shutter modes but I can't get anything to work. HELP!

[Overfocused]

Noise comes from underexposure/high ISO, and if the camera is metering is wrong, or accidentally has been set to negative EV, you could be adding unnecessary noise to your photos. As for focusing you may need to set to a spot focus point or manually focus on the eyes. Also, check to make sure you're not too close under the minimum focusing distance of your lens. If that still doesn't work, your camera may be front or back focusing. This may all sound like Chinese since you're new to it.

Whether it is or isn't jibberish, I'd recommend to always go through the instruction manual with any newly purchased camera step by step to learn what things do. I've used my current camera extensively for about 19 months, and I just learned the very last feature about it a few days ago (obviously one I never used, but opens up some options. lol)



As for front/back focus, if you have it, you'd have to have your camera calibrated. This would be covered under your warranty since your camera is new. Here's a good explanatory article:

http://focustestchart.com/focus10.pdf

Oh, and there is a lot of stuff on youtube relating to the D300 you can look up as well

I.E. : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_LAhXpHKds&feature=related

[Sam]

I am new to my Nikon D300 and everytime I take a picture it is not crisp at all. it's like its ALMOST in focus. If I zoom in on the eyes in playback they just look like there is a haze/noise over them. They are not clear and in focus. They also look very grainey....what am I doing wrong? I'm shooting outdoors a lot with ISO at 400...I've played with the aperture and shutter modes but I can't get anything to work. HELP!

Please post an example with EXIF data.

Sam

[ivar]

I've moved this to the 'technique' forum :thumb

[Foques]

I had exactly the same question when I just got my d300s.
Apparently, noise levels at 100% crop are a standard, especially if image is a bit underexposed.

[pathfinder]

Please post a few representative images along with EXIF data so the readers can evaluate the image quality themselves/

ISO 400 is not routinely needed in bright sunlight for many images. Have you tried lower ISOs?