difficulty in understanding purpose Qual button on back of nikon d90

[yusuf]

Hi all

own a nikon d90 for little over a year. according to manual qual button at back of camera is to check for focus. whenever i press this for the 2nd or 3rd time the phots are out of focus. i have a 18 to 200mm nikon vr lens. does this mean that there is a fault with the camera or lens. comments and advise will be appreciated

[Leo Theron]

Mr Y,

Before I refer you back to the manual...

That button is a multifunction button:

- Viewing. When you press THAT button, the image will be enlarged so that you can check the focus. (Multiple presses, increase in magnification)

- Shooting Mode. When you press that button AND you spin the control wheel, the camera will step through the various modes in which the camera will save the image - and here I refer you back to your manual.

Notes:

1. That ISO button above, same thing - you must press it AND spin the wheel... and your ISO will change.

2. And now that you have had your camera for more that a year, sit down with the camera AGAIN, take out the manual and check out what the various functions are... it WILL be a revelation, trust me.

[yusuf]

thanks Leo, are the enlarged photos suppose to be out of focus? will definitely read manual again

[Leo Theron]

Mr Y

It is like a piece of string - seen from afar it is thin, but the closer you look, the thicker the string seems... the enlarging action of the button is very much the same. You will have to understand what you are looking at... and that is a bit difficult to explain it here!

You will have to 'calibrate' your eye/camera/image - look at the screen at the back and then look at a 100% section on your computer. The question is still - do you understand what you see? It might LOOK unsharp, while it still needs processing and is in actual fact part of potentially an excellent image.

[Forgiss - Sean Nel]

Simple answer is "yes", they might well be... best bet, download the images to your computer, zoom in to the same level on the computer screen as the LCD (preferably 100%) if the computer version is sharp... but the LCD seems out of focus, then no problems, you just need to 'learn' when out of focus on the LCD is really OOF (after all, it's only a small and basic LCD display, not an iPhone!)

on the Canon side, I have found that max enlargement on preview, ALL the shots seem out of focus, but actual pixels on the computer shows perfect... so now I now, a certain level of "softness" on the LCD is actually acceptable, but past that point, I screwed up.

[Rahul]

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d90...trols-back.htm

Scroll down to Magnifier (+) QUAL

This is a good introduction if you do not have patience to go through manual