Wireless Remote for Nikon

[yukithesnowman]

I recently got the ML-L3 for taking wireless snaps and I met with a few problems. Hopefully this can be resolve quickly.

-At night and Bright City View (from MBS Skypark to City)
-Poor Lighting on my subject
-Activated the AF Assist Illuminator (after the 3rd try)
-Mount on Tripod
-All shots with in-built Flash

The Problem:

1. I took the first shot with remote and using the view-finder to get the focus on my subject. Snap and the focus was on the city building behind her.
2. I took the second shot with remote again, this time with LCD. Same result.
3. I took with view finder and remote again, focus on the subject and switch auto-focusing off. Same result.
4. I took with view finder and remote again and turn on AF Assist Illuminator and switch on auto-focusing. Same result.
5. Last attempt. Took with phone flash function and manage to get a little better focus, but still not the sharp focus I wanted.

I did not have such problem without the remote and I think the problem lies with remote.Any advice for this problem?

 

[one eye jack]

I recently got the ML-L3 for taking wireless snaps and I met with a few problems. Hopefully this can be resolve quickly.

-At night and Bright City View (from MBS Skypark to City)
-Poor Lighting on my subject
-Activated the AF Assist Illuminator (after the 3rd try)
-Mount on Tripod
-All shots with in-built Flash

The Problem:

1. I took the first shot with remote and using the view-finder to get the focus on my subject. Snap and the focus was on the city building behind her.
2. I took the second shot with remote again, this time with LCD. Same result.
3. I took with view finder and remote again, focus on the subject and switch auto-focusing off. Same result.
4. I took with view finder and remote again and turn on AF Assist Illuminator and switch on auto-focusing. Same result.
5. Last attempt. Took with phone flash function and manage to get a little better focus, but still not the sharp focus I wanted.

I did not have such problem without the remote and I think the problem lies with remote.Any advice for this problem?

Hi,This is because of not understanding camera limitations and flash performance.

1. Autofocus: some cameras or should we say majority don't focus well in low light situation,some will hunt continuously or fail in some cases.The fact that you focus your subject and then turn out that the building behind her is in focus after snapping could be that it is brighter than subject.Solution is to lock focus at subject and shoot.

2. Builtin /on camera flash does have enough power to light subjects far away from it's effective working distance since it is autofocusing
behind the subject.Battery power may be low so can't charge up the flash.All this is guessing as I don't know the details.
Hope this helps.
EDit: One more thing subject is outdoors and not indoors so cannot benefit from flashlight bouncing or reflecting in a room with nearby walls or ceiling plus room lighting..

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

I recently got the ML-L3 for taking wireless snaps and I met with a few problems. Hopefully this can be resolve quickly.

-At night and Bright City View (from MBS Skypark to City)
-Poor Lighting on my subject
-Activated the AF Assist Illuminator (after the 3rd try)
-Mount on Tripod
-All shots with in-built Flash

The Problem:

1. I took the first shot with remote and using the view-finder to get the focus on my subject. Snap and the focus was on the city building behind her.
2. I took the second shot with remote again, this time with LCD. Same result.
3. I took with view finder and remote again, focus on the subject and switch auto-focusing off. Same result.
4. I took with view finder and remote again and turn on AF Assist Illuminator and switch on auto-focusing. Same result.
5. Last attempt. Took with phone flash function and manage to get a little better focus, but still not the sharp focus I wanted.

I did not have such problem without the remote and I think the problem lies with remote.Any advice for this problem?

If not for Point #3, I would've assumed that your camera decided that the background was the subject, and focused accordingly.
If you pre-focus such that your subject is sharp, then lock the focus by switching off AF, subject should remain in focus unless she moved away from the focal plane (either forward or backward). Subject not sharp could also be due to movement (perhaps shutter speed quite slow at night).

Perhaps you can post the picture up for a better understanding? Feel free to block out the facial details if you wish to protect privacy.

 

[yukithesnowman]

Hi,This is because of not understanding camera limitations and flash performance.

1. Autofocus: some cameras or should we say majority don't focus well in low light situation,some will hunt continuously or fail in some cases.The fact that you focus your subject and then turn out that the building behind her is in focus after snapping could be that it is brighter than subject.Solution is to lock focus at subject and shoot.

2. Builtin /on camera flash does have enough power to light subjects far away from it's effective working distance since it is autofocusing
behind the subject.Battery power may be low so can't charge up the flash.All this is guessing as I don't know the details.
Hope this helps.
EDit: One more thing subject is outdoors and not indoors so cannot benefit from flashlight bouncing or reflecting in a room with nearby walls or ceiling plus room lighting..

I agree with the first point. It should be the brighter buildings behind which confuse the camera's sensing. Btw, is the rear switch with a L meant to focus lock?

For the second point, I am concern whether the flash will be taken into consideration during that split second fire to auto-focus on the subject.

 

[yukithesnowman]

If not for Point #3, I would've assumed that your camera decided that the background was the subject, and focused accordingly.
If you pre-focus such that your subject is sharp, then lock the focus by switching off AF, subject should remain in focus unless she moved away from the focal plane (either forward or backward). Subject not sharp could also be due to movement (perhaps shutter speed quite slow at night).

Perhaps you can post the picture up for a better understanding? Feel free to block out the facial details if you wish to protect privacy.

I may not be sure on this point, but when I look into the viewfinder, my subject seems to be in focus (it is dark) and the background is distinctively defocused before I took the shot. I took the that shot in assumption that my subject is more or less in focus. But the result is the back is the focused one. I might need to create another similar set up to reconfirm this point whether it is my human error, or the system's error.

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

I may not be sure on this point, but when I look into the viewfinder, my subject seems to be in focus (it is dark) and the background is distinctively defocused before I took the shot. I took the that shot in assumption that my subject is more or less in focus. But the result is the back is the focused one. I might need to create another similar set up to reconfirm this point whether it is my human error, or the system's error.

I'm perplexed by what you wrote below. If this is what you did to "lock focus", then I'm sorry to say it wasn't correct.

.....Btw, is the rear switch with a L meant to focus lock?....

The switch to 'L' just prevents you from accidentally selecting other focus points, eg. when your face presses against the back of the camera.
If your background was distinctly out of focus when you composed, and you switched off the auto-focus, it should not then become in focus when you set the timer mode.
Hmmmm... can't quite explain. Perhaps experiment again with a still object at home and distant background.

 

[yukithesnowman]

I'm perplexed by what you wrote below. If this is what you did to "lock focus", then I'm sorry to say it wasn't correct.


The switch to 'L' just prevents you from accidentally selecting other focus points, eg. when your face presses against the back of the camera.
If your background was distinctly out of focus when you composed, and you switched off the auto-focus, it should not then become in focus when you set the timer mode.
Hmmmm... can't quite explain. Perhaps experiment again with a still object at home and distant background.

I did not use that switch to lock. I simply turned to manual focus. I was curious because when I search on the net, some answers came with this function and I'm not sure of it but it is cleared now.
Thanks!

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

I did not use that switch to lock. I simply turned to manual focus. I was curious because when I search on the net, some answers came with this function and I'm not sure of it but it is cleared now.
Thanks!

any luck with your experiment?

 

[yukithesnowman]

any luck with your experiment?

Well I went to test it out on a dark frame of my window in the dark, focus manually and it was more or less in focus.

I also went to try out the AF-Assist on a separate experiment. It just don't light up like it should to. Might need a bit of help in resolving this section as well.

 

[edutilos-]

I recently got the ML-L3 for taking wireless snaps and I met with a few problems. Hopefully this can be resolve quickly.

-At night and Bright City View (from MBS Skypark to City)
-Poor Lighting on my subject
-Activated the AF Assist Illuminator (after the 3rd try)
-Mount on Tripod
-All shots with in-built Flash

The Problem:

1. I took the first shot with remote and using the view-finder to get the focus on my subject. Snap and the focus was on the city building behind her.
2. I took the second shot with remote again, this time with LCD. Same result.
3. I took with view finder and remote again, focus on the subject and switch auto-focusing off. Same result.
4. I took with view finder and remote again and turn on AF Assist Illuminator and switch on auto-focusing. Same result.
5. Last attempt. Took with phone flash function and manage to get a little better focus, but still not the sharp focus I wanted.

I did not have such problem without the remote and I think the problem lies with remote.Any advice for this problem?

This has nothing to do with remote for sure. Could be:

1) misfocus by camera, which is entirely forgiveable given that you mention there is poor lighting
2) since you are prefocusing in some situation, it could be that your subject moved

How come you are using phone flash, don't get what is going on?

 

[SkimMilk]

My thoughts: scene is too dark, so even when pre-focused, camera will hunt ( re-focus) again when u try to take pic.

 

[Cowseye]

My thoughts: scene is too dark, so even when pre-focused, camera will hunt ( re-focus) again when u try to take pic.

Pre focus, off AF, take picture

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

My thoughts: scene is too dark, so even when pre-focused, camera will hunt ( re-focus) again when u try to take pic.

TS already said that he switched off the AF, so how will the camera refocus? :dunno:

 

[yukithesnowman]

This has nothing to do with remote for sure. Could be:

1) misfocus by camera, which is entirely forgiveable given that you mention there is poor lighting
2) since you are prefocusing in some situation, it could be that your subject moved

How come you are using phone flash, don't get what is going on?

Hmm my subject at that time was hardly moving out of that spot. The reason why I used the phone flash is to create some light on the face of my subject. For some reason, my AF-Assist Illuminator isnt working.

 

[SkimMilk]

TS already said that he switched off the AF, so how will the camera refocus? :dunno:

Oops! Didn't read properly!

 

[technoglitz87]

Hmm my subject at that time was hardly moving out of that spot. The reason why I used the phone flash is to create some light on the face of my subject. For some reason, my AF-Assist Illuminator isnt working.

hmm i believe u use phone flash on face of subject for illumination purposes and not for af purposes i hope? as u mentioned u turned off af and was on mf, everything shld work fine. hmm strange case indeed.

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

Hmm my subject at that time was hardly moving out of that spot. The reason why I used the phone flash is to create some light on the face of my subject. For some reason, my AF-Assist Illuminator isnt working.

I found that AF Assist Illuminator does not light up in AF mode, when selected AF point is not at the center.

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

hmm i believe u use phone flash on face of subject for illumination purposes and not for af purposes i hope? as u mentioned u turned off af and was on mf, everything shld work fine. hmm strange case indeed.

Still waiting for more thorough testing, or example photo from 1st reported "problem" case in this thread