Any tips on shooting through double glazing?

[jaybie]

I took some shots through the window today with Nikon D5000 and Sigma 150-500mm OS but they all seem to be soft.



Any ideas/tips?

Thanks, JohnB

[triops]

Remember the glass in your lenses is fairly (!) good quality, and you are shooting through several mm of comparatively rubbish dirty glass, however new or clean are your windows! Plus there may well be air distortion due to temperature differences.

[nightshade]

Put a coat on, use a tripod, avoid double glazing

[big bill]

Other than what has been mentioned above ,another way is something that I do is open the window and sit the camera on a bean bag keep nice and warm as window is right next to radiator wife not happy though keeps asking if trying to heat up the garden

[the naturelover]

Unless you are desperate for "grab" shots of an unusual subject just forget taking pictures through glass. even so called high quality horticultural glass used in greenhouses contains hundreds of imperfections. Add to this reflection/refraction of the 2 pains of glass and the gass in between plus the reflected light from sources behind you, its very difficult to get a good picture. Take a close look at your'e windows on a bright sunny day and you will see what i mean.
regards tn.

[jaybie]

Pretty much as I thought.

Originally Posted by nightshade

Put a coat on, use a tripod, avoid double glazing

Yeah. looks like I might as well bite the bullet if I want decent shots

Thanks all.

JohnB

[Geoff F]

If you have a really good lens try to get as close as possible to the glass, and reasonably square with the glass. And of course, use a tripod etc. Manual focus might also help; although most birds appear to flit around faster than I can focus.

A patch of snow on the ground behind the bird appears to be sharper so false auto focus problems could be part of the explanation.

The Sigma 150-500 can produce good results but within some limitations. I don't like to open up the aperture wider than F 8 at 500 mm so it does require good light, and exposure can be erratic through glass.

When the weather is this cold I sometimes retire to the garden shed with my 150-500 and shoot through an open window. Still cold but it doesn't feel quite so bad out of the wind!

[david156]

Shooting through a double glazed window has lots of variables that can affect an image. But the good thing about digital is it doesn't cost if the images are rubbish and they have to be deleted. You never know when an image might just be ok.
i took this yesturday through my mums kitchen window.



not too bad a picture although the Greenfinch was a bit unhappy about the whole situation!


have just seen Geoff's post before mine and must agree. I was square on and almost touching the glass.

[Geoff F]

I had a similar idea as you, David, and did a little bit of experimentation with my 150-500 shooting through double glazing at 500 mm; but my subjects were a bit on the tame side!



Tripod and manual focus. I was shooting across the light which didn't help and the ISO was 800 but I haven't done any background noise adjustments here.

Obviously not as good as ideal outside conditions but I thought it was reasonable for such a large lens; and dirty windows.

[willing to learn]

Originally Posted by Geoff F

.

A patch of snow on the ground behind the bird appears to be sharper so false auto focus problems could be part of the explanation.

Thats what I see, its picked out detail in the snow which is tricky. Other than that I have never tried to shoot through glass. Some say even going through a filter will effect detail.
Regards
Colin