Canon 24-104L and image sharpness.

DavePotter

DavePotter

Suspended / Banned
Messages
256
Edit My Images
Yes
Any user out there willing to help.... I have had this lens on my 400D for just over a week now. Ive taken about 200 pics with it and am not totally convinced of its ability to record sharp images. Maybe im expecting too much of a zoom lens.

Are there any volunteers who are prepared to have a look at some of my raw files and reasure me its ok or confirm my fears please.

thanks

Dave P.
 
I have the same lens and I'm quite happy with mine, feel free to send me some RAW's and I'll have a look.
 
Post a few of yr "best" (sharpest) images for us to have a gander at.
We'll soon let you know.
 
Go to http://www.yousendit.com/ and 'send' the files singly to yourself. You will get a URL link for each message (file). Post those links here and anyone can download them for the next week.
 
No joy, saying internal error??
 
doesn't work here

you sure that is the link it gave you after the file was uploaded? if you gave it a valid email address the link will be in that email too.
 
that one worked.

1/15th second 400 iso though. That means it is relying on the IS.

It is not sharp enough but that could be movement blur because the shutter is so slow.
 
RobertP said:
that one worked.

1/15th second 400 iso though. That means it is relying on the IS.

It is not sharp enough but that could be movement blur because the shutter is so slow.
Click to expand...

Sorry didnt mention... it was tripod mounted.

Dave P.
 
Welcome to the forums btw :)

Can we just establish how familiar you are with DSLR images and sharpening? You don't get 'sharp' images like you do from a point and shoot without some editing.

this is your boots shot just resized

boots1.jpg


This is sharpened

boots2.jpg


And this is a 100% crop from the original

bootscrop.jpg


So it is really not that bad?
 
Did you turn the IS off when you put it on a tripod ?

I'm with Robert the boots look nice and sharp to me.
 
Not familiar with DSLR`s at all really... traded in all my old Minolta 35mm stuff..
700si 24mm 28mm 50mm 70-210 and 400mm lenses... and bought the canon with a 50mm lens... then saved and bought the 24-105...

Is the sharpening thing a limitation of the digital imaging thing as a whole then?

I do love the colours and contrast this lens gives the images..

I have today though just used this lens on a friends eos5 film camera and burnt off a roll of FP4... just to see the results on film....


Robert.... What did you use for the sharpening on the boots pic.... and what settings did you use..... ( I have CS2)


Dave P.
 
Good rule of thumb is Unsharp mask 100-200% 1.0 radius. Give this a try, you will have to very for images, just look at the different results.
 
I hardly ever use Photoshop. That was just with an old version (4) of Acdsee - a basic viewing and editing program. So a very basic sharpen.

I'd forget worrying about sharpness settings in camera and just shoot RAW - then expect to edit them and do the sharpening at that stage.

Point and shoot digital cameras are all about instant gratification so they sharpen aggressively by default and not always too well. DSLR's can be set to do that to a jpeg too but really are about getting the best image quality....which means preserving the data (as a RAW file) so you can get the best from it by editing. Read up on some of the processing threads here for software suggestions and methods then ask questions. What you are seeing is just part of the learning process ;)
 
Your original RAW file download is working now but I can't do anything with it as I don't have anything that can read 400D raw files!
 
Thanks for the helpful advice everyone so yeah it sure looks like I`m at the bottom of a steep learning curve..... but ill get there.....

Dave P.
 
I love the 24-105 :) One of my sharpest lenses.
 
Hi

I just downloaded your first RAW file, and had a look at it, when its converted and sharpened it looks spot on.

I think your lens is sharp and not soft. Like has been said before Raw files need a degree of sharpening etc for them to look sharp. There are many opinions about sharpening on when to do it how to do it etc. Sharpening for screen and shaprpening for print etc.

Keep practicing with USM you will find the optimum for your like.

Keep practicing and reading you will get there.

Mark
 
Dave - to clarify a couple of things.

RAW files are not processed in camera and thus when you first open them the colour saturation & contrast will look neutral and sharpness will be low.
JPEG images are processed with the parameters set in camera but they are not as aggressive as those on point and shoot cameras.

The reason for the lack of in camera processing is that generally D-SLR's are used by people who want more control over their images and would prefer to apply adjustments themselves in an image editor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top