D80 pictures ain't sharp

[Madfos]

Why the pictures I shot with my D80 with 18-55 3.5-5.6 G II ED are not sharp enough?

Well guys, as you guys suggested, here's the sample:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/madfos/614144966/

And here's the specifications when I took the photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_exif.gne?id=614144966

 

[Andreal]

Are you using a tripod? It could be that you are leaving the shutter open too long for handheld photographs.

 

[JIP]

Is your camera set to "fine" otherwise this may lower your resolution. You might show some samples that would help.

 

[newrmdmike]

indeed it would help, and that lens may have something not right, or just not be that sharp, i havn't seen any charts for that.

 

[Don Simon]

Focus? Camera shake? Low sharpening settings? Faulty lens? Or just expecting too much from a kit lens wide open?

I don't know what you consider sharp enough, and can't tell whether I would consider the images from your D80 sharp enough... some samples please

 

[Garbz]

http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/nikkor_1855_3556_II/index.htm the lens is fine sharpness wise. Sharper than mine, and I get what I say are sharp images.

Set sharpening in the menu to +1 or +2 and see if that helps. I always found nikon's software to be pretty lax in the sharpening department. Note this doesn't apply if you shoot in raw.

 

[Madfos]

I've added a sample, hope hat helps. It's on the top.

 

[Don Simon]

Ah... that certainly does help. At least I can probably tell you why that image is not sharp... Firstly you're shooting at the maximum aperture which with many lenses and certainly with that lens is going to be produce relatively soft images. Secondly you're shooting at ISO 3200; in producing the JPEG the camera will almost certainly be applying noise reduction which again is likely to result in a softer image. Finally and probably most importantly you are shooting at 1 second. If you did not use a tripod or rest the camera against something then the image is actually surprisingly sharp, because normally I would expect the effects of the camera's motion to be more pronounced (in other words I'm surprised the image isn't more blurred). Try choosing your shutter speed based on the focal length of the lens and avoid going below that number, for example there you are shooting at 18mm so I would try to avoid a shutter speed slower than say 1/20. Similarly if 28mm I would go no slower than 1/30, if 50mm then 1/60, etc. Introduce more light (e.g. with flash) to use a faster shutter speed, or use a tripod and then you can have a long exposure and won't need to use max aperture or ISO 3200.

 

[Nikon Norm]

I agree to using shutter speeds that match your focal length, even add a bit for the 1.6 multiplier that the Nikon sensor "adds" to your focal length. Having said that in the "old days", you never attempted to hand hold below 1/30th of a second, even if you are shooting at 25mm.

I find Nikon images to be soft, if you are shooting jpeg, add some in camera sharpening, you might also try using colour mode lll which will give a bit more contrast and saturation.

Some of Nikon lenses can be soft, I returned a 12-24 because I could not get a sharp photo with a D200, I got a replacement 12-24 and it's amazingly sharp, so maybe get someone to try your lens on their camera.

Lastly always try and choose an aperture that is in the mid range for the lens say f8 or f11, as the mid range apertures tend to be sharper than the very small or large apertures.

 

[Garbz]

Lastly always try and choose an aperture that is in the mid range for the lens say f8 or f11, as the mid range apertures tend to be sharper than the very small or large apertures.

Not the case with this lens. Look at the LW/PH charts I linked. The lens is almost diffraction limited and is sharpest wide open in the centre, and sharpest overall on the entire image at f/5.6.

 

[PhotoPhoenix]

3200 images never look sharp. shoot at 100 and your problem will be solved. oh, and don't shoot aperture wide open anymore, c'mon...what happened to people using tripods??

 

[Madfos]

Damn, U guys really2 helped me a lot, thanx a lot guys. My deepest gratitude!

 

[newrmdmike]

yay superfriends win again! (i was wonderdog on this one, got there too late)

 

[Nikon Norm]

Not the case with this lens. Look at the LW/PH charts I linked. The lens is almost diffraction limited and is sharpest wide open in the centre, and sharpest overall on the entire image at f/5.6.

Depth of field will reduce sharpness