I have had my D5100 for about 6 months, have a Panny GH1 as well. Ever since I got the Nikon, I have not been overly whelmed by the images I got handheld. Every now and again I'd get something that looked real good, and then get some that look like crap. Being 58 I chalked it up to lack of steadiness in my grip and started using a tripod almost exclusively. Still with the tripod, I'd still get some images showing camera shake. The other day I wanted to have one image printed that I thought was perfect, but when I blew it up to 100% in Photoshop, there was a hint of shake there too. Last night trying to take some images of the moon, in the viewfinder I can see some detail, what I get SOOC is a round ball of white. So I went to using the wireless remote, they still sucked for the most part.
I did some reading and investigating and more experimenting until I got to the point of using the tripod, the wireless remote AND Live View, and only THEN could I get some consistently sharp images. ANYTHING less than that combination, gave me camera shake in the images.
Now I don't suck this bad with my Panny GH1, can handhold that and pull off some nice images, far more than I can with the Nikon.
So I am wondering if I don't have some internal "looseness" issue going on, as a tripod, live view and a remote seems an awful lot to have to do, in order to use what is basically a consumer camera.
Do you have any thoughts, experiences or ideas because right now I am not a thrilled Nikon owner.
The 5100, like the D7K, requires good technique and some say better lenses as well. I have a D7K and I did have to focus a little on my technique as well. And I have always prided myself as having very good, steady hands. But with those tiny pixels, camera shake is going to be obvious. I found that some cheaper tripods won't cut it either.
As for the "round ball of white". What were your camera settings. The full moon is way too bright compared to it's surroundings. As a result, on almost any auto settings you will get that round ball of white. I always use manual settings only for moon shots.
I had the same problem with the D7000. Up the shutter speed to twice your focal length 50mm 1/100. 200mm 1/400. That sensor is really sensitive to shake.
Hey Chip, got ya by a few years (don't blame your age...it's a slippery slope) I shoot the D5100 in da pubs
with fast glass. Nothin' fancy 35 f1.8G/50 f1.8G and found I have to keep my SS speeds up if I want a good
percentage of keepers. Had a few D7K's for rodeos last year and the same story. For BIF with the D5100 I'll go
4x or even 5x effective FL if I want to nail 'em with the 70-300 VR. My D3 is much more forgiving in this regard
and I'm often at 1X FL or less With the newer technology...adjustments need to be made to keep up, I guess.
Well, 1/3 and 1/6th are REALLY slow shutter speeds. Even on a tripod if it's not a solid setup you might not have perfection. Try dialing your ISO up in the daylight, handheld, and shooting at something like 1/1000th of a second or even faster - and see if you still have handholding issues. If you don't have enough light to get nice high shutter speeds, set your drive mode to high speed and fire off bursts instead of singles when handheld - chances are you'll get one in every burst that's simply sharper than the others.
I am assuming the top photo you posted was auto focused. If so that is way to soft. It may be a body issue or it could be the lens. Do you have other lenses to test the camera with? If o I wold recommend trying another lens to see if you get similar results.
Thanks for all the input guys..... everyone's help is really appreciated !!!
Here's the set up:
Manfrotto legs and Manfrotto video head. I picked the head with no quick release plate as it has a wide deck and camera is secured via screw. IMO it is far more sturdy than either my pistol grip or other video heads.
Camera is the D5100, lens is the 55-200VR cheapie. Camera is set to P and the only other setting is ISO at 400 as I was getting some noise issues at the much higher ISO I had tried before this. I let the camera pick all the other settings, and auto focus itself, to take me as far out of the loop as I could. Now why Live View would have it pick 1/3 as of against 1/6 of the non Live View shot, I have no idea. I also can't explain soft focus, as again, as I had nothing to do with it. I'm not 100% convinced though that it's soft focus, and not remnants of camera or mirror shake, maybe
1/6th of a second is just really slow using hand held and a 200mm lens -- even with VR.
Options when it is that dark:
-Use flash
-Switch modes to S, A, or M and make sure your shutter speed is fast enough, increase ISO if necessary (Auto ISO might be helpful for you). If it is dark and I don't have a tripod handy, I prefer a bit of noise over the alternate of a soft blurred image from camera shake.
-Use a tripod like you did.
To help with AF, you can make sure the AF-assist light turns on. If you disabled it, enable it again. Use the center focus point, or the mode that uses all focus points. If you are in single focus point, and you are using one off center it won't turn on(at least with my D300S).
You don't mention if the drapes are at the same distance as the main subject, or if the drapes were where the focus points were at. At 200mm and F/5.6 your depth of field might not be large enough, if the main subject was a bit in front of the drapes.
It seems counter-intuitive, but speeds in the range of 1/3 and 1/6 are the hardest for tripod shots because there is enough time for tripods to resonate. If the shot is two seconds, then a good tripod will have damped out very quickly and 95% of the time will be rock steady.
The mirror slap can jiggle a telephoto in a handheld shot too.
That said, the shot looks more like focus error rather than shake.
It seems counter-intuitive, but speeds in the range of 1/3 and 1/6 are the hardest for tripod shots because there is enough time for tripods to resonate. If the shot is two seconds, then a good tripod will have damped out very quickly and 95% of the time will be rock steady.
The mirror slap can jiggle a telephoto in a handheld shot too.
That said, the shot looks more like focus error rather than shake.
It's always possible but my tests on the D5100 show it has hardly any mirror vibration (vs the D7000 which has the worse vibration of any camera I've ever tested). You can see the results here (look for posts from "horshack", that's my handle on dpreview): http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=38866094&changemode=1
those samples dont show camera shake. thats AF error on the first shot. i too find my d5100 VERY accurate using AF in live view, albeit its molasses slow. regular AF is accurate as well, but isnt as good accuracy wise as live view, and is nowhere near close to the precision and speed of my d700.
my next piece of advice would be to start performing some focus testing...
AF problem my friend, as already stated. 1/3 second!! Huh!! Get outside when it's bright, get your camera out of P mode and put some sensible settings on the thing. Stick Aperture priority mode on, select the largest aperture you can for your lens (smallest f number possible) and make sure you're getting a decent shutter speed. This will illuminate any blur from camera shake but if you are getting sharp results when using live view it's almost certainly that your AF needs fine tuning for the camera and lens combo you are using.
When I had my D5100 (and D5000) I ended up putting it on AF-area mode "single point AF" focus so I could see what it was selecting, otherwise it would pick closest point and the subject I wanted ended up out of focus. That happened a lot. Try that for your shots. Set aperture priority, f/whatever, single point AF, and aim for the eyes or a good contrast point in the image. Make sure it locks focus on the focus point before you finish pressing the shutter (think the point turns green from red). Try that and do several test shots with a few other AF-area modes first before thinking it's the camera, because it probably isn't.
as stated...those are af issues.
I have a d5100 and since there is no af fine tuning available I oft times need to manually adjust the focus. I compared shots taken with nikon 17-55 2,8 and a light weight sigma 17-70 2.8~4.0.
The nikon always back focuses by a touch (in af) and the only way I can get it 'better' is to up the f stop which slows things down which brings in the motion blur. If I slap the sigma on the focus is right on spot. I compared the focus (d5100) with some other lenses and only a 14-24 seems to be spot on, all the others are off a touch. AF fine tune (lack of) was one of the reasons I left the Canon camp years back.....if the d5100 was going to be my main camera body I'd suggest getting your glass and camera adjusted by Niokon.
D5000/5100 does not have mirror lockup mode for tripod shooting and I can tell the mirror vibration IS an issue for tripod use of these bodies. When you liveview (tripod mode), the mirror is locked so it cause less vibration.
D5000/5100 does not have mirror lockup mode for tripod shooting and I can tell the mirror vibration IS an issue for tripod use of these bodies. When you liveview (tripod mode), the mirror is locked so it cause less vibration.
Sorry I wasn't able to keep up with you all last night. My bed was calling and for the first time in weeks, got some serious sleep !!!
Seeing how I can not duplicate the above shots until tonight, I will get out today in daylight and see what examples I can get from this lens and my others.
I will go along with the consensus on what I have shown is an AF issue. From my days doing diagnosis for my day job, you isolate one issue, repair it, remove it from contention and then move on to any others.
I must say though, I find it extremely odd the camera would have a soft focus unless live view is enabled, when it becomes what I see here as tack sharp. I don't understand why one should have any bearing on the other.
With the newer technology...adjustments need to be made to keep up, I guess. 
