Nikon auto focussing question....

[steviejasp]

When the Nikon D300s came out I bought one and a Nikon 70-300mm VR lens.
I used it for airshow photography and it focussed very quickly.
I got rid of it all when I got bored with airshow photography!!
Fast forward a few years and I bought an entry level D3200 and Nikon 55-300mm VR lens.
It is too slow at focussing on aircraft really. It's better and quicker to focus manually but you don't get too many keepers!
If I bought another of the Nikon 70mm- 300mm VR lenses, would it focus quick enough on the D3200 or is the camera to blame?
My feeling is that the new lens would be fine but just asking if anybody can confirm.
Thanks in advance,
Steve

[jagracer]

Is the old lens one that doesn't have a motor in it, if it has one then there'll be no difference with a new one? Have you set the focus points in the viewfinder as when I bought a D7100 a few weeks back it took me a while to set it up how I like it, it seemed to have about 50 little focus squares and it could never make it's mind up which one to use.

[steviejasp]

No, Both lenses have motors but on the cheaper 55-300, it seems to want to go from one end of focus to the other and it's quite a lot slower than the 70-300 when it does this. By which time the plane is gone!

[jagracer]

Sorry, I misread your original post and thought you'd got two 70-300s. If It's hunting then it sounds like the focus square isn't in the right place although I have a D100 and an old non motorised 70-300 and the D7100 with a new 70-300 and the difference isn't that great in my opinion. Perhaps the D3200 isn't much of a match focus wise for the d300.

[Simpo Two]

Hunting sounds like the camera body. The higher the body, the better/faster/more accurate the AF tends to be. The 3200 might be newer than the 300s but you've gone from semi-pro to entry level.

[steviejasp]

Thanks chaps, I think you are right. Sounds like a D7100 for me then!

[jagracer]

steviejasp said:

Thanks chaps, I think you are right. Sounds like a D7100 for me then!

If you still have the D300 I wouldn't bother with the D7100, I'm not overly impressed at the difference between it and my D100. It is quicker focusing but I think that's down to the motor in the lens and not the body. It has lots of other things like multi point focusing and metering but I find I just use the single point in the middle of the view finder so a lot of it is a waste for me.

[steviejasp]

I'm afraid I sold the D300s a couple of years ago. I just found it too big and heavy to lug around. Hence the little D3200, it weighs next to nothing

[Simpo Two]

steviejasp said:

I'm afraid I sold the D300s a couple of years ago. I just found it too big and heavy to lug around. Hence the little D3200, it weighs next to nothing

Yes, and the trade-off is in performance...

Clearly you have girlie pipecleaner arms... grow some biceps and upgrade

[Elderly]

Simpo Two said:

steviejasp said:

I'm afraid I sold the D300s a couple of years ago. I just found it too big and heavy to lug around. Hence the little D3200, it weighs next to nothing

Yes, and the trade-off is in performance...

Clearly you have girlie pipecleaner arms... grow some biceps and upgrade

Performance of what? As a more modern camera albeit not a 'pro' camera, the sensor performance of the D3200 is rather better than the earlier D300s. See here: http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-sid...
Also autofocus modules have come a long way too but the D3200 still shares the old Multi-CAM 1000 module as used in the venerable D200.

BTW Simpo, did you ever find an electric piano that was light enough in weight for your requirements?

[SheriffAds]

Before you write off your camera body the 70-300 VR is a superior lens than the 55-70 so I'd expect it to be faster focussing although it is a little soft at the 300 end. If you can afford it check out the 300mm F4 Nikkor lens... I don't own one but it is meant to be excellent for wildlife (i.e. fast in every way) as well as being sharp wide open. I'd like to own one myself.

[steviejasp]

Well, I've ordered the 70-300mm to try it on my D3200. If it doesn't work very well, (at least I'll know it's the camera) and sell the D3200 and 50-300mm and get a D7100

[eltawater]

The 70-300 AF-S VR focuses really, really quickly and gave me some brilliant shots at Waddington last year when attached to my D7000, so I would expect similar performance on the D3200. It was so much faster than the 55-200 and the Tamron 18-270 which I used to have attached to both a D3100 and the D7000.

One thing to check is whether you have spot focusing and AF-C mode turned on to avoid the camera trying to make the decision for you, by which time the plane has gone.

[Simpo Two]

Elderly said:

Performance of what? As a more modern camera albeit not a 'pro' camera, the sensor performance of the D3200 is rather better than the earlier D300s.

The AF system. There is more to a camera than just the sensor.

Elderly said:

BTW Simpo, did you ever find an electric piano that was light enough in weight for your requirements?

They are all heavier than a D300! I chose a Yamaha P105 but it had to go back due to a fault whereby after 15 secs on some of the voices it turned into a stylophone!