Beginner and frustrated

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soliberus

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Hi all

I have recently purchased a D40 and last week I went on holiday to Toronto and took the D40 with to "try it out".

I've got to say, I'm extremely frustrated. I know the D40 is a good camera, so the problem is definitely with me. I'm unable to take sharp photos...even when I mount the camera on a tripod I can't manage to take sharp photos. I didn't expect to take amazing photos on my first "go", but I still hoped to get some nice pics.

I'm using the default colour settings etc and only change things like shutter speed, aperture and ISO...oh, and I changed the focus area to "single" in order to force the camera to focus on what I want it to focus on.

Are there any guru's out there who can explain to me why I'm getting rubbish results?
 
Any chance you can publish some of the pics with the exif data embedded.
Oh and Welcome:)
 
Is the d40 manual focus...? could that be the problem...?

Do you know someone else with a nikon that you can test the lens with...?
 
It would help if you could post some of the images so someone on here can actually see the problem.
 
What lens are you using?

Unfortunately not all lens' are auto focus on the D40.

As others have said, can you post some pics?

Most importantly, don't panic:) You'll get there!
 
I'm using the 18-55mm kit lens. Auto-focus is definitely working, but the photos aren't nearly as sharp as I would like it to be.

I'll post some examples tonight...
 
Only the AF-S lenses will auto-focus on the D40 (& D40x and D60) as they've got AF motor fitted inside them.

As above, bung a piccie typical of the issue and if you can, post up the settings it was taken with... :)
 
Everyone goes through this when first starting out so don't let it get to you. Just focus on finding a solution and improving. Posting a photo up as people have already requested is definately the way to get the right help. You'll be taking sharp photo's in no time!
 
First thing I`d say is they`re not that bad. When I looked at the exif data, I see the shutter speed was 1/40 and the focal length was 30mm

Whilst this should be ok if your technique is up to scratch, it might be worth upping the shutterspeed a bit to overcome any camera shake.

All the pictures I post have some sharpening via software applied before they get posted. They`re always a fraction soft out of the camera.
 
:shrug: must be me but im not seeing a problem.... :thinking:

the only thing i can suggest is to make sure you have the point of interest in focus and the lightings good (pretty much what you allready know) and lastly ist all a case of getting used to the camera and its settings.

i also add a touch of unsharp mask to give my images a bit of ohhmmf if it needs it ;)

keep on goning my friend, i look forward to seeing what you get :thumbs:
 
I agree they are not so bad (you should see the ones from my new 24-70 f2.8L if you wanna see BAD) I think at 1/40th shutter Minky is right, you may be getting very slight movement so please remember THERE IS NO SHAME IN 'P' MODE

bung the D40 into P mode until you get a bit more used to it
 
I had the same problem when I got my new 1000D...

I find that on average one out of every 4 images I take is slightly out of focus so I tend to click 4 or 5 times for each image to make sure I get a good one (SD is cheaper than film!)

I then pick the best one and sharpen a little in DPP software that came with the camera...

I also find the cameras RAW images are really really soft... much softer than the JPEG version but in DPP you can adjust the exposure on the RAWs... Not sure if this is just on my camera or all cameras....

I hope this helps... I too am a DSLR novice!
 
I think the sharpness is fine for F4.2

If you have Photoshop, sharpen it with usm 30/70/0

Where did you focus? Whats isnt sharp enough for you?
 
ChrisGaskin said:
:shrug: must be me but im not seeing a problem.... :thinking:
Click to expand...

:cool:

they are better than mine...a lot going on in the shot...maybe your real point of focus is not in focus but i would be pleased with them
they are workable:thumbs:
 
The main issue with your images is the shutter speed and aperture. 1/40s is a little low to get sharp images handheld. The aperture is pretty wide at f/4.2. This will result in a smaller depth of field - less in the image actually in focus.

For most people until you get a bit more practice 1/50s is the minimum. Also remember you should use as a rough guide 1/focal length for greater than 50mm lens. Additionally if you want a sharp image front to back try and select as small an aperture as possible (large f stop), focus 1/3 into the image.

TBH they don't look that bad sharpness considering your settings. I expect where your focus point is not too bad for sharpness but the images will fall out of focus on objects in front and behind quite quickly due to the low f stop / large aperture.

In this instance I would have upped the ISO to at least 400 (this would give you 1/80s shutter speed) then selected a bigger aperture - f/5.6 or f/7.2 would have taken you back down to 1/50s shutter.

Sticking your camera in Auto won't help you learn how to control the settings. You need to understand the effects of Shutter Speed, Aperture and Depth of Field and ISO and their relationships if you are to control what you are doing.

Once you get this sussed a tad of sharpening post processing won't hurt.

If shooting with a tripod you won't gain much unless you are using a remote shutter release or automatic timer as the camera will still vibrate if you manually operate the shutter with the camera on the tripod.

Hope this helps a little bit.
 
Thank you everyone for your comments. You've made me feel slightly better now :)

I'll post a few more photos (less "busy" ones) and would like to hear your comments.
 
Right, I've added a few more pics.

Please give your comments and critism

img3 http://www.flickr.com/photos/41599634@N06/3836436828/

img4 http://www.flickr.com/photos/41599634@N06/3836436976/

img5 http://www.flickr.com/photos/41599634@N06/3836437030/

img6 http://www.flickr.com/photos/41599634@N06/3835646531/

img7 http://www.flickr.com/photos/41599634@N06/3835646359/

I'm struggling a bit to get the composition right...

The photo of the CN Tower was taking using a tripod and the self timer. I feel the result should have been sharper.

Your honesty will be appreciated.
 
Frankly they look fine.

Are you using RAW or Jpeg?

I know that pics taken on Jpeg in my camera look less sharp than RAW.

Composition is something you learn about as you go on. - and looking at the best shots from other photographers.

For a beginner they're not bad.
 
I'm using JPEG

I've yet to experiment with RAW

I use Photoshop Elements 7 and I believe it has a RAW viewer/editor.
 
i shoot raw and jpeg together, that way i can use the jpeg to view as i shoot but the raw to actually use as it has more editable properties, that and jpeg always seem softer in focus on my a350
 
On my D90 the RAW is always way softer than my JPG settings, I set the in camera PP sharpness to 5.

soliberus, I was looking at your CN tower shot, I think you could have gone with a tighter aperture than f4.5 for that picture, may be f8? That would sharpen things up a bit (shutter time would increase accordingly). Have you got a circular polarizer yet?

If you're planning on any other lenses it might be worth getting a step up ring for the CPL to something bigger than your kit lens so you can use it on other lenses you buy.
 
As it hasn't been mentioned read Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson.

I got a Canon 40D a couple of weeks ago and was disapointed with my results, reading that book as really helped me understand what the camera is trying to do :thumbs:
 
Img 5's horizon would be better if it was not slap bang in the centre of the shot and img 7 has a slightly wonky horizon but apart from that I can see very little wrong with any of your shots. The compositional side of things will be picked up with time and experience.

The lack of sharpness in a few of them is purely down to the choice of f-stop and nothing else really.

As has been suggested above, the book understanding exposure is a good read for begginers, well worth purchasing in my opinion :)
 
@IronHammer

should I have included more sky or more land in number 5?

I've tried to straighten out the horizon in number 7, but obviously I wasn't very successful :bonk:
 
Hi I think they all look fine and actually very good. I had the same concerns about all my pictures recently and most of it was down to me looking to closely at the images in processing everyone else thought they were fine.
 
I think the problem here is the lack of auto ISO - all the shots seem to be at ISO 200.

IIRC, auto ISO is disabled in the D40 by default (why?).

The first shot does look a bit soft possibly due to camera shake. I wouldn't expect the D40 to go down to 1/40 with auto ISO activated, would usually bump up the ISO first to keep things sharp (depending on auto ISO settings of course).

Check out uncle Ken on this...

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40/users-guide/menus-custom.htm#10

He'll explain how to set things up, IMHO auto ISO is essential unless you're in full manual mode.
 
In my opinion as the sky is not really the main feature of the shot so I'd lose a bit of the sky so the horizon is a little higher in the frame. This is just my personal taste of course, it's just I'm not a fan of horizons in the middle unless it can't be helped.
 
Sharpness is not a problem in any of the shots. As said before do not ases sharpnes as a 100% crop, assess the whole image.

Are you shooting JPEG? If so the camera will apply sharpening before the image is saved, you may be able to ask for more or less (not sure on that model).

On the pic of the tower, you used shutter priority, possibly because it was a 3s exposure. I would have used aperture priority and applied exposure compensation if necessary, or used full manual mode. Mainly because this gives greater control over depth of field to ensure image is sharp.
 
Greg K said:
On my D90 the RAW is always way softer than my JPG settings, I set the in camera PP sharpness to 5.
Click to expand...

Hi Greg K,

raw shots will always appear softer than jpegs as they are unprocessed (i.e. no pp has been applied).

Steve
 
early days...
concentrate on composition and lighting
your sharpness isnt really needed throughout the whole shot...
imho fully sharp tends to flatten perspectives
use 1/3'ds and horizontal format as much as possible...those shots 'read' better
you have done well...makes me want a dslr after all..;)
 
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