I am restless and discontented at this stage

[mindfulness]

can give 100% crops of 1) the whiskers, 2) the eye, 3) the paw (where the claws are) and 4) the leaf of the bird nest fern?

hi Mod Clown
Here are the specs and settings of this pic:

Camera Canon 500D with EFS 55-250mm F4 -5.6
Shutter Priority AE
shutter speed: 1/125
aperture: 5.6
exposure compensation: - 1/3
ISO speed: 500
Auto ISO speed: ON
focal length: 154.0mm
white balance mode: cloudy

I downloaded the full image size to photobucket

 

[Alex chong]

Looked out of focus to me. Maybe your system need calibration. I would have used a lower ISO in a daylight shot to reduce grain.

 

[jeremyteocx]

well i know we shud not alwayz stick to the rules, but 1/125 at 154mm is susceptible to handshake if we really go by 1/focal length rule. it may not be the actual cause, but definitely possible. is IS on?

 

[Alex chong]

I agree, I sometime do get blurry pictures taken with my lens when not careful even with IS on. If all of TS's shots are OOF then something may be up with the camera system. Otherwise could be handshake issue. Has TS tried to shoot with higher shutter speed?

I always test my lens sharpness or focus accuracy by shooting at some texts.

 

[icelava]

Camera Canon 500D with EFS 55-250mm F4 -5.6
Shutter Priority AE
shutter speed: 1/125
aperture: 5.6
exposure compensation: - 1/3
ISO speed: 500
Auto ISO speed: ON
focal length: 154.0mm
white balance mode: cloudy

Also consider Picture Style. Not all picture styles sharpen to the max. You may wish to experiment with the User defined slots for picture styles, define variable levels of sharpening and constrast and observe the differences in output.

 

[mindfulness]

I agree, I sometime do get blurry pictures taken with my lens when not careful even with IS on. If all of TS's shots are OOF then something may be up with the camera system. Otherwise could be handshake issue. Has TS tried to shoot with higher shutter speed?

I always test my lens sharpness or focus accuracy by shooting at some texts.

Here is a sample of a higher speed photo:

tv - 1/1250
Av - 4.0
ISO - 1600
focal length: 55.0mm
Time of day - around 6.00pm
Handheld taken

 

[JW73]

Its either handshake or out of focus. The picture is not easy to take also as the white tiger on the dark green shady Background is not easy to get a good meter also. Everything counts from ur breathing, holding position and pressing the shutter when it's blur.

It is quite noisy too on the photo that may "create" the additional blur. Did u adjust exposure in the post process?

Since you already have a DSLR, try to play with the ISO too instead of let it "auto".
Try a series of shots playing with the speed, iso and aperture. U bet u will get a sharp one soon.
Sugguest you try again in better lighting and condition.

As a newbie, try to shoot subjects that are in the open, try to avoid shoot in the mid-day and shoot where the sun is behind u. U will get a generous speed due to good lighting and u can play with aperture to have the feel. Good luck

 

[grainpixel]

Why dont send your camera to CSC and end up your worries at once?

I believe you barely had your camera for 2 months, and you felt you are good enough for a FF camer- 5DMkII ?
Sorry to pour cold water, but learn the basics..compositions, and many more stuffs before upgrading.
With such mentality, you will find that 5DMk II will not be good enough for you soon, and 1Ds MkIII will have to come next?

A good camera does not make anyone a good photographer.

 

[Fotophilic]

to ur original post

if u think there is nothing wrong with ur handling and camera body, go and rent the lens u wanna buy. Bring ur lenses out to shoot. Compare them urself, use ur own eyes to judge for urself. If it still sucks, then i suggest u go back to the basics.

Things to shoot includes but not restricted to: texts, lamp-post, fabrics, statues. Tripod and bean bags are recommended. Pls do not attempt moving objects as it adds variables to ur experimentation.

 

[lightning]

Why not meet up with another experience photographer and ask him to try out your system to see if it is a user problem or equipment problem. I have been using the 500D but with 85F1.2 / 70-200F2.8IS. It is able to give very good images sharp sharp sharp.

 

[Dream Merchant]

I took the original JPEG file and processed it.



Here are the results.

Apologies, these files are large.

Files were cropped to 8" x 12" in CS3 at 350ppi, curves and colour adjusted, and high-pass applied.

Remember, these are 8" x 12" files even though I'm posting them smaller here for everyone's convenience.




1) Cropped, curves, colour, NO sharpening.

 

[Dream Merchant]

2) Cropped, curves, colour, High-Pass 1.9 Soft Light

 

[Dream Merchant]

3) Cropped, curves, colour, High-Pass 1.9 Overlay

 

[Dream Merchant]

3) Cropped, curves, colour, High-Pass 2.5 Soft-Light

 

[Dream Merchant]

5) Cropped, curves, colour, High-Pass 2.5 Overlay

I suspect using a higher shutter speed and smaller aperture will help and especially if the files are exposed carefully with a 'towards the right' RAW shooting style. Some may complain about noise - it's one of the maladays of tech expectations. Noise can always be managed in post-processing if it's well-controlled at the beginning.

TS, as discussed in PM, digital DSLR files need to be post-processed with some sort of procedural workflow. It's a very different route than that when using a point and shoot camera, or cameras with CCD sensors.

Hope this helps some.

 

[mindfulness]

5)
I suspect using a higher shutter speed and smaller aperture will help and especially if the files are exposed carefully with a 'towards the right' RAW shooting style. Some may complain about noise - it's one of the maladays of tech expectations. Noise can always be managed in post-processing if it's well-controlled at the beginning.

TS, as discussed in PM, digital DSLR files need to be post-processed with some sort of procedural workflow. It's a very different route than that when using a point and shoot camera, or cameras with CCD sensors.

Hope this helps some.

hi Dream Merchant
Thanks for the postproduction work. I use the supplied Canon software ez-zoom browser to do any post production work. I do not have any of the software you mentioned. Is the canon software sufficient?

 

[eow]

If based on what DM said....that canon is inherently soft
Threadstarter.....u will be better off with nikon or olympus
u will never need to do those fanciful high pass thingy with these two systems.

 

[mindfulness]

If based on what DM said....that canon is inherently soft
Threadstarter.....u will be better off with nikon or olympus
u will never need to do those fanciful high pass thingy with these two systems.

thanks but to suggest a diferent system is quite a radical solution :what:

 

[Dream Merchant]

Here is a sample of a higher speed photo:

tv - 1/1250
Av - 4.0
ISO - 1600
focal length: 55.0mm
Time of day - around 6.00pm
Handheld taken

I'll be honest - shooting subjects with moving water is one of the worst ways to test lens sharpness because there's no clear and clean lines of definition.

Shoot newspaper pages glued very, very flat to a wall, Favourite subjects are soft toys, product packaging with clear, solid words - anything that is super defined would work.

 

[mindfulness]

I'll be honest - shooting subjects with moving water is one of the worst ways to test lens sharpness because there's no clear and clean lines of definition.

Shoot newspaper pages glued very, very flat to a wall, Favourite subjects are soft toys, product packaging with clear, solid words - anything that is super defined would work.

thanks for the tip .. so u think it is not so much of the lens' sharpness but more of my techniques?