D90 autofocus at infinity is fuzzy

[IronWing]

I have a D90 with a Nikkor 16-85mm VR and a Nikkor 105mm macro VR.

When using auto-focus with landscape pics, the camera consistently focuses at slightly closer than infinity, leading to slightly out of focus photos. The problem occurs with both lenses listed above.

Here are a pair of 100% crops to show the problem.

This image was taken with autofocus:
http://www.mineralarts.com/images/autofocus.jpg

This image was taken from the same spot using manual focus:
http://www.mineralarts.com/images/manual_focus.jpg

Both were taken at f11, 1/200, ISO 200, focal length 50mm, aperture priority mode. Neither image was modified except for cropping and resaving with original jpeg quality.

Has anyone else encountered this problem with the D90? Did I get a lemon or is there some trick I'm missing. Thanks for looking.

 

[ElFenix]

i could focus past jupiter when i was taking pictures of it last week. might just be that my lens is worn a bit.

 

[corkyg]

See what you get with P mode.

 

[soydios]

well, it's not supposed to do that. I haven't really tested for it with my D90, but I will verify that it's focusing at infinity the next time I pull it out.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

You're sure you have all the right focus points on the places you want to be in focus?

 

[Deleted member 4644]

hmm are you using LiveView mode? It *could* be that the autofocus in LiveView isnt very good?

 

[IronWing]

I was using the viewfinder with multiple focus points and single point focus. The example above was taken with single point focus. I took a bunch of pictures with different setting, comparing autofocus to manual focus. Autofocus is fuzzy for anything beyond about 20ft. Since it happens with two different lenses, I've decided to RMA the camera.

 

[Deleted member 4644]

Hmm, yea I have not played with my D90 that much yet, but I think it sounds like you have some problem with yours. :-/

 

[GrJohnso]

Yep, sounds like an issue. Doesn't take much of a difference in the lens mount to throw off infinity focus. I was going to ask if you could get a good focus manually, to confirm it's an AF issue rather than lens or body setup. Hope it works out quickly for you!

 

[IronWing]

The replacement D90 arrived today. Based on a few test shots it looks like the autofocus is working well on this one.