Am I Doing Something Wrong ?!

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Professor1991

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Hi All,

I've very recently managed to complete my trio of desired lens. The lenses include Nikon 18 - 300mm (f3.5-6.3), Nikon 35mm F1.8 & a Sigma 105mm F2.8 Macro HSM. I've wanted the first lens due to a desire of wanting an all purpose lens. I also possess a compact camera with a 30x optical zoom reach so having a zoom lens with a generous telephoto reach allows me to somewhat leave this behind plus it's wide angle is also very generous. Since I've bought this, this lens has become I keep by my side. People may knock these types of lenses but I spent a long time learning on my kit lens which has it's limitations but it proved to be valuable.

I managed to acquire the Nikon 35mm F1.8G for a very reasonable price and it's condition was excellent. I've wanted a good prime for a while so I patted myself on the back (Metaphorically speaking) when I acquired it. However, I've noticed many of the photos I take on it, don't seem to come out sharp at the widest apertures. At first, I put it in aperture priority in 1.8 and while the background had good "bokeh" and the foreground was in "focus", it wasn't what you call in sharp in any respect. I started shooting in manual mode and while it improved somewhat, I wasn't getting any sharp images that primes are renowned for. A similar tale of events also applied for the Sigma 105mm.

I honestly reckon the loose nut is in my head as opposed to my camera (Nikon D5500) or any of the lenses. I am aware of lens sweet spots but even then I still expect to get some good decently sharp photos wide open plus I reckon the focusing mode on my DSLR may be on a different setting.

... So am I doing something wrong ?
 
Probably :)
It may be down to the focusing mode you are using or the focus area or shutter speed or technique :0 :)

Can you post some pics?
 
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I don't think the D5500 offers the AF fine tune function that is often needed for lenses with fast apertures. My wife has a D300 and the brand new 35/1.8 she bought needed quite a bit of correction to get it sharp i.e. not hazy wide open. Have you tried shooting using liveview to rule this out?

Could be technique as well though, so samples (full size or crops) would be needed for us to work it out :)
 
To help understand the issue we could do with seeing some examples tbh. However, there's a couple of potential issues that spring to mind. Firstly user error. The shallow depth of field offered by fast (wide aperture) lenses mean that any slight movement after acquiring focus can make the image soft. Secondly the lenses may be front or back focussing and therefore need fine tuning. To rule this out take a shot using live view and see if it's sharp. Live view uses contrast detect auto focus instead of phase detect and so will not have any front or back focus.

Also, shooting between manual mode and aperture priority will not make any difference to sharpness (assuming fast enough shutter and same aperture).

Finally to rule out user error I would try a shot with the lenses shooting wide open on a static subject, min shutter 1/250 to rule out camera shake, in good light so that ISO is kept low so there's little to no noise and make sure you stay absolutely still. Also use single point AF-S focus mode.
 
User error aside it may be back/front focus but I see this as a combination of the camera and lens as the very same lens may be perfect on a different camera.

After having frustrations on my old Sony a65 I wouldn’t tolerate a camera without this function but yearn to go back to mirrorless where it’s irrelevant!!
 
I don't have the photos I took as I deleted them sadly upon see their state. I reckon it may be due to focusing. I'll be attempting to conduct more testing via a tripod and a static subect as thus far, lighting has been poor when doing my testing which might be part of the problem. My view was just that, I've acquired lenses which are of good calibre so are the resulting images, well not so sharp ? I honestly think its a setting issue but I guess, we'll have to see I suppose. Apart of me reckons, because I'm shooting at F1.8, I'm not at the lenses sweet spot so that may be the issue ? I also purchased this lenses due to having a decently wide field of view and a wide aperture, this will be good for the Christmas period when their will be good low light opportunities.

A friend of mine used to have a D3300, coupled with a 50mm F1.8 which used to yield really good results so I have faith in my glass.

A similar tale of events are also going on with my Sigma 105mm HSM macro.

Being someone who enjoys photography as a recreational hobby, I don't really intend to invest in any other glass from here on in. I kind of wish, I didn't buy them so close apart as my bank balance has taken a hit but whose to say when I would have gotten them for these prices.
 
A LOT of missed focus is user error, and I can tell you even with centre point focus, tripod with good light with a Canon 5D4 and a L lens can miss focus by a fraction. Nothing is ever 100%.

Take it off a tripod, hand hold at a wide aperture, even breathing or your heart beat will affect it.
 
Raymond Lin said:
A LOT of missed focus is user error, and I can tell you even with centre point focus, tripod with good light with a Canon 5D4 and a L lens can miss focus by a fraction. Nothing is ever 100%.

Take it off a tripod, hand hold at a wide aperture, even breathing or your heart beat will affect it.
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There are focus tolerances when using phase detect auto focus which is why there can be discrepancies even when using a tripod. Using live view (and therefore contrast detect) should yield accurate results when using a tripod on a static subject. Of course, for belt and braces a remote shutter/shutter release cable should be used ;)
 
Professor1991 said:
I don't have the photos I took as I deleted them sadly upon see their state. I reckon it may be due to focusing. I'll be attempting to conduct more testing via a tripod and a static subect as thus far, lighting has been poor when doing my testing which might be part of the problem. My view was just that, I've acquired lenses which are of good calibre so are the resulting images, well not so sharp ? I honestly think its a setting issue but I guess, we'll have to see I suppose. Apart of me reckons, because I'm shooting at F1.8, I'm not at the lenses sweet spot so that may be the issue ? I also purchased this lenses due to having a decently wide field of view and a wide aperture, this will be good for the Christmas period when their will be good low light opportunities.

A friend of mine used to have a D3300, coupled with a 50mm F1.8 which used to yield really good results so I have faith in my glass.

A similar tale of events are also going on with my Sigma 105mm HSM macro.

Being someone who enjoys photography as a recreational hobby, I don't really intend to invest in any other glass from here on in. I kind of wish, I didn't buy them so close apart as my bank balance has taken a hit but whose to say when I would have gotten them for these prices.
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Shooting at f1.8 should still be sharp, it's just that the depth of field could be so shallow it's difficult to spot the area of critical sharpness.
 
The 35mm was acquired at a very good price said the original poster. Could it have been a bad example?
 
snerkler said:
Shooting at f1.8 should still be sharp, it's just that the depth of field could be so shallow it's difficult to spot the area of critical sharpness.
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Without seeing samples, he could be shooting at 1/10th of a second and expecting sharp photos.

We simply don't know.
 
snerkler said:
Shooting at f1.8 should still be sharp, it's just that the depth of field could be so shallow it's difficult to spot the area of critical sharpness.
Click to expand...

Thats what I was thinking. I stopped it down to around F2.8 and it seemed to be the sweet spot for the lens. F4 also yielded really good results as well although I bought this lens for low light photography as well so is it not counter intuitive to be using comparatively smaller apertures. If I'm having to stop down to F4 and beyond, should I just not use my Nikon 18-300mm ?

As I originally suspected, the error is on my part as I shot static subjects using a tripod. Since the light was challenging (I was in my bedroom), I increased the shutter speed) and I found the results to be quite appealing. I'm beginning to conclude, a relatively slow shutter speed coupled with non complaint focus mode (As in something else is better suited) is probably the root cause of my blurred photos. I intend to apply this newly found philosophical view onto my Sigma 105mm.

TLR-330 said:
The 35mm was acquired at a very good price said the original poster. Could it have been a bad example?
Click to expand...

After some further testing, I can confirm the lens is performing well although I reckon it might further shine when I attempt to do some candid portraits. The lens was packaged in original box packaging and the lens itself was immaculate. When I say I got a good price, it was like £80 compared to £100 - £150 I found to be the average.[/QUOTE]
 
It's either your camera need micro adjustment or you need to work on your technique at handholding or increase the shutter speed.

Or all 3.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Without seeing samples, he could be shooting at 1/10th of a second and expecting sharp photos.

We simply don't know.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I mentioned the shutter speed earlier and now from the OP's latest post it appears he was using a slow shutter speed which is probably the reason, he says that when he increased the shutter speed the results were "quite appealing" (y)
 
When I converted myself from film SLR to digital around 2007 I quickly found that the skills I'd developed for taking sharp photos were no longer up to the increased resolution of the gear I was using, and my ability to scrutinise and print files much larger than I'd ever done in my film days, where A4 prints were my maximum. It took me months to learn how to get the sharpest photos from my new digital gear.

Then when I upgraded my camera to 24MP I found I'd made another big jump in possible detail resolution, and my newly learned skills just weren't up to it. I had to be a lot more careful, use higher shutter speeds, use remote shutter releases, use lower ISOs, etc.. It took quite a while to polish up my sharp photo skills to get up to what my best lenses were now capable of at 24MP. And as often happens when sharpening my skills, I found that some of what I thought were the well known defects of some of my poorer lenses turned out to have been in part due to my own inadequate skills.

One of the important lessons I learnt was how important it was to search widely on the web for good advice from authoritative sources. And then to go out with my own camera and my own lenses and carefully test the advice, because some of it is b*****ks which is widely believed, "well known" as they say, only because so many people read (and write) far more than they experiment, if indeed they ever experiment.
 
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