Softt pictures

hashcake

hashcake

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What is the cause of pictures that seem soft?
I know the 400D's kit lens was criticised for soft pictures and I am begining to think this is also the issue of the the 450D's 18-50mm IS kit lens when used at max focal length.
I've been looking at the Canon EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM lens and wondering if this would solve the problem?
 
Mostly camera shake and user error. Sometimes faulty lens or camera.

This was taken with 400D and 50 f/1.4 @ f/1.4

2811760623_6e5d55744c_o.jpg
 
it's better to post pictures with the exif details before you splash out

poor technique will still show through even with IS
 
they don't look too bad on the screen I'm using at the mo (iPhone ), I'll take a look on a decent screen a little later :)

Remember that flowers move with the breeze, sometimes even without you noticing at the time. For a shot like that..... A tripod and a faster shutter might have helped...... The only thing is...... The insects rarely want to hang around when you set it up.

I would suggest downloading and shooting a focus test chart, or finding a nice scene with good changes of colour. Having the lens on or around f8 is usually a better option too as lenses can perfom a little better when stopped down a tad and the DoF will be increased slightly too.

At close range with a wide aperture your DoF can be mm's and make the image appear soft over all.

Hope that helps
 
why iso 400?
 
Hi the settings in the EXIF look alright to me- are the butterfly pictures crops ? also have you sharpened the pictures after resizing for the web ? the only other thing i can see is the focus point is not on the head / eye of the butterfly

but.jpg


I find trying to focus on the eye helps improve the overall look of an image.
 
who? said:
why iso 400?
Click to expand...

When I took the pic im manual mode, I couldn't get the exposure level set to the middle (seems the best setting for me) with a lower ISO setting
 
Dogfish_magnet said:
Hi the settings in the EXIF look alright to me- are the butterfly pictures crops ? also have you sharpened the pictures after resizing for the web ? the only other thing i can see is the focus point is not on the head / eye of the butterfly

but.jpg


I find trying to focus on the eye helps improve the overall look of an image.
Click to expand...

Yes they are cropped and resized.
I didn't try sharpening them, it's something I've never thought about doing (newbie still learning), I'll have a play with CS3 later, thanks for the suggestion.
 
images look fine to me, maybe just a little USM in photoshop.

Most images benefit from a small amount of sharpening.
 
hashcake said:
Yes they are cropped and resized.
I didn't try sharpening them, it's something I've never thought about doing (newbie still learning), I'll have a play with CS3 later, thanks for the suggestion.
Click to expand...


Sharpening if the last step i do as i find resizing for the web usually will reduce the sharpness of an image, a large crop will also introduce softness into an image. Also if you shoot raw there isn't any sharpening applied in camera and depending on you editing software settings there may not be any applied by default.
 
What focus mode are you using? are you using all af points? if you are switch it over to just one focus point and use that point to focus on the subject.
 
Hawker said:
What focus mode are you using? are you using all af points? if you are switch it over to just one focus point and use that point to focus on the subject.
Click to expand...

Hmm, just checked the camera, all the AF points were set.
Normally I would check this but I think I got a bit over excited about finding the butterfly house and didn't think about it.

This is certainly food for thought in the future.
I perhaps need to take my time a little bit more, think about the subject and adjust the settings to better match the type of picture I am taking.

You've all given my some very good pointers and it never ceases to amaze me how helpful the people are on this forum.
Thanks guys.
 
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