Originally posted by Fritzvds Image detail 180@f19, ISO 200, spot metering and spot focus shot wis a istDL.
1/180 is *very* borderline for shooting at a focal length of 125mm. It's barely good enough when you're standing on solid ground, aiming directly at the subject, taking your time, and pressing the shutter very carefully. But you were on a moving boat (!), and I *know* that whale didn't sit there and poe for you long enough to carefully frame the shutter and gently press the shutter button with your arms properly braced against your body. Between the motion of the boat and your own motion in attempting to take a picture of an object that appeared only for a moment, you really didn't stand much of a chance of getting a sharp picture. Plus, as others have mention, the lens probably isn't verygood stopped down that far.
Had you been at f/8, you would have had a *much* better chance. As it is, you cannot blame the lens or the camera.
Quote: It should have just focused on infinity because the whale was a fair distance away.
From the looks of it, though, not even close to all the way to the horizon. That's probably a little less than infinity as far as the camera is concerned.
But more to the point, there is absolutely *no way* the camera could have been relied on to actually focus on the whale and not, for instance, on the horizon line, or on some wave in the foreground. Just because you and I know the whale was the point of interest, the camera is not that smart. Again, given how hurried the shot must have been, there is no real reason to expect the camera would focus well. In situations like this, it is probably better to pre-focus manually on the spot where you expect the whale to surface (assuming you can predict that).