I am doing something wrong

[More Cowbell]

I am shooting with a 50D, using a Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 in this case. I have less than a months experience with this camera, moving up from an Xti. With the Xti and the Tamron lense, I was able to produce sharp photos, whether the subject was stationary or moving. However I am really struggling to do the same with the 50D. I am not going to jump in and say it is the camera, because it has to be something that I am doing. I have attached a few photos, and have run them through DPP. I shoot in raw, and mostly handheld, but to me the photos all come out soft. My thoughts are that:

1. Not enough light. I have been shooting without flash, and most of my photos have been indoors or in a horsebarn with very little lighting, so I understand how these can come out soft. However the ones I have posted were taken outdoors in the afternoon, but it was very cloudy gloomy day. Could this be my issue?

2. I'm not choosing my settings properly. Am I setting my shutter speed/aperture wrong, am I metering the wrong area?

3. Nothing is wrong. I could just be used to my old camera and this is just how the 50D comes out.

I'm by no means giving up, like I said I have had very little time with this camera, so just looking to get some input to guide me in the right direction. I have set the camera up on the tripod as well, just to see the difference. The outcome was that the pictures were slightly better, but still appeared soft to me. All input welcome, just trying to learn as I go. Also, I took these pictures focusing on sharpness, so other areas have been ignored as you can tell.

 

[Early]

Perhaps you don't have follow focus with the 50D, or perhaps it is turned off. The exposure is perfect on my screen.

 

[More Cowbell]

By the way, here is the data for picture 1:

File Name IMG_0622.JPG
Camera Model Canon EOS 50D
Firmware Firmware Version 1.0.7
Shooting Date/Time 1/20/2010 6:51:28 AM
Owner's Name
Shooting Mode Shutter-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/320
Av( Aperture Value ) 2.8
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation +1/3
ISO Speed 200
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens 28-75mm
Focal Length 75.0mm
Image Size 933x1400
Image Quality Fine
Flash Off
FE lock OFF
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode AI Servo AF
Picture Style Standard
Sharpness 3
Contrast 0
Saturation 0
Color tone 0
Color Space sRGB v1.31 (Canon)
Long exposure noise reduction 0:Off
High ISO speed noise reduction 0:Standard
Highlight tone priority 0isable
Auto Lighting Optimizer 0:Standard
Peripheral illumination correction Disable
File Size 1030KB
Drive Mode Single shooting
Live View Shooting OFF
Date/Time(UTC)


And picture 2

File Name IMG_0630.JPG
Camera Model Canon EOS 50D
Shooting Date/Time 1/20/2010 6:55:45 AM
Owner's Name
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/250
Av( Aperture Value ) 2.8
ISO Speed 200
Image Size 989x1400
Flash Off
Color Space sRGB v1.31 (Canon)
File Size 915KB

And I have added another picture as well

File Name IMG_0617.JPG
Camera Model Canon EOS 50D
Firmware Firmware Version 1.0.7
Shooting Date/Time 1/20/2010 6:50:21 AM
Owner's Name
Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/160
Av( Aperture Value ) 3.2
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed 200
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens 28-75mm
Focal Length 75.0mm
Image Size 1232x1400
Image Quality Fine
Flash Off
FE lock OFF
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode AI Servo AF
Picture Style Standard
Sharpness 3
Contrast 0
Saturation 0
Color tone 0
Color Space sRGB v1.31 (Canon)
Long exposure noise reduction 0:Off
High ISO speed noise reduction 0:Standard
Highlight tone priority 0isable
Auto Lighting Optimizer 0:Standard
Peripheral illumination correction Disable
File Size 1301KB
Drive Mode Single shooting
Live View Shooting OFF

 

[Dao]

The 2 photos seems to be out of focus. How the photo was focus? Center point focus and then recompose? or you use the camera to determine the focus point?

How far away are you from the subject? Since you took the photos at 70mm with F/2.8, the DoF is pretty narrow. If you are about 10 feet away from her, the DoF is only about 0.65 ft. So if the focus landed on the bicycle, then her eyes maybe out of focus.

Also, if she was riding the bicycle while you were taking the photo (Photo1), there maybe a chance that the focus was correct in the beginning, but since she was moving towards you, so at the time the camera captured the photo, she was out of focus.

Maybe try to close the aperture a little bit and see. And make sure you lock focus on her eyes.

 

[Big Mike]

Photos are loading really slowly, or not at all (for me anyway).

It's hard to really judge something like this by viewing web sized photos. Have you viewed images from both cameras, side by side and at 100%?

It's certainly possible that your new 50D slightly out of calibration with your lens. Consider that every camera and lens is made with tolerances. For simplicity, lets say it's plus or minus 5. You might have a plus three on your camera, but a minus 4 on the lens, giving you a net error of -1, which would be pretty close to perfect.
But then you switch to a camera that is -4, now your net error is -8, which might be enough to notice.

I'm not saying that this is your problem, just pointing out that if there is a difference, it could well be your camera....because the basic operation should be the same as an XTi.

The good news is that the 50D does have a Micro adjust feature. You can adjust the focus on the camera in tiny increments...and it will actually remember that adjustment for each lens.
You will need to find a method for reliable testing and then follow the owner's manual on how to set the micro adjustment.

 

[Overread]

Another thing to consider is that even with AI Servo (continous AF) mode a subject moving towards or away from the camera is one of the hardest things for it to focus on. Chances are that the rider and bike moved too fast for the camera to get a repetative lock - which is why you get one or two shots that work and the rest missfocus.

 

[pbisfun]

It looks to me that you have the Focusing set up for evaluated and it is not focusing on the face the right hand and handlebars seem to be more in focus and the further back you go the more blur, this is caused by depth of field.. Try setting the camera to focus to the center point hold the button half way to get focus and then reframe your shoot. Adjust your f stop on the camera to f/8 or f/11 so you have a greater depth of field. Your lens is constant at 2.8 so your back ground is going to be blurred if you don’t step it down

 

[Big Mike]

Adjust your f stop on the camera to f/8 or f/11 so you have a greater depth of field. Your lens is constant at 2.8 so your back ground is going to be blurred if you don’t step it down

The problem with that, is that when you stop the lens down, you have to slow down the shutter speed, which would kill these shots because it's a fast moving subject.
Of course, he could increase the ISO to compensate for that.

 

[gsgary]

Try centre focus point only

 

[More Cowbell]

Big Mike- Thanks for the input, I will check that out. I also noticed my wife has been using the lens on her camera, and it needs a good cleaning. I'll check both out.

Overread- This may very well contribute to the blur, didn't really take that into consideration.

Pb- I actually went back into DPP and checked to see where the focus was when the shot was taken. I was trying to keep the focus on her and not the background, which was why I stayed with a larger aperture. I did find however that in a few of the pictures I missed her face, but it wasn't by much. Usually if I missed it fell around the neck to high chest, but I suppose, given the aperture, this could indeed throw the eyes out of focus. Thanks for the input.

 

[KmH]

Did your Tamron lens come out before the 50D did? Maybe the Tamron and the 50D aren't talking the same language and the lens needs to be rechipped?

 

[syphlix]

the second photo is clearly focused on the hands and it's at a wide aperture so the face is soft.

you can try focusing on the face first then recompose, but not sure how well that works when subject is moving

 

[More Cowbell]

KmH- That I don't know. I will compare images from on a tripod from the 50D and Xti and see if there is any difference. My guess it is user error

syphlix- Believe it or not, when I looked at the AF point on DPP, the point was dead on the chest. I know that is not where I wanted it, but she's fast for a 3 year old...lol

 

[Vicelord John]

the background is so creamy. Did you do that in post?

 

[More Cowbell]

the background is so creamy. Did you do that in post?

No, its product of the lens