Nikon D80 and Tamron 18 - 200 Lens- Soft Pictures?

nichopoo

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Hi-

This is my first DSLR camera, and I am basically learning as I go. The photos I am taking seem to be just a bit soft/slightly out of focus. I asked the guy at the camera shop if it could be the particular lens/camera combo and he tells me "not likely". I am wondering if anyone else has heard of this, experienced this, or might otherwise have some insight for me. Do I sell the lens on eBay, and get something else? The salesman swears this is a great lens.

I should add that most everything I'm doing is done with the Autofocus settings...I haven't dabbled with much of the programable or manual focus settings yet. My thought is that when one spends $1200+ dollars on a decent camera outfit, the autofocus feature should be pretty darn crisp... :(

Thanks in advance for your feedback...
 
I'm not sure there is such a thing as a "great" 10X zoom but lens sharpness and focus are two different things. We view lens softness as softness in the corners of the frame. The center should always be sharp if the lens is properly focused.

Assuming your camera AF is working properly, it may just be focusing on the wrong part of the frame. Learn to use the focus lock (focus, recompose while holding the shutter button down halfway, and then shoot.)

The problem might be motion blur. Any number of issues. You need to isolate exactly what and where the problem is.
 
Sometimes if i shoot in Jpeg, ISO 1600 and at f/2.8 with my 80-200, it's sometimes hard to detrmine what's in and out of focus depending on how far away the subject is. If i shoot RAW and wide open, than it's not a problem beucase the software AA filter and noise reduction is turned off.
 
Welcome to the forum.

As mentioned, a lens with more than 10X zoom...is not going to be of the best optical quality.

What settings are you using? Particularity the shutter speed? When shooting hand held, your shutter speed when at 200mm should be 1/300. If it's not, then you will get blurry photos due to camera shake.
 
I've had this same problem.

I've read a great deal about it and now I understand why pro photographers carry around a camera bag with a dozen different lenses.

It's because zoom lenses sorta suck, and by that I mean that they are ok at all distances, but great at no distance.

and the more range of zoom, the more they "suck"

now I'm going to get a "prime" lens, which is one with no zoom capability.

From what I've read, the best first lens, is a "normal" lens.....50mm, it gives the closest perspective to what the human eye would see at a similar distance.

I'll be buying that one shortly.

Here is an in depth discussion of the prime v.s. zoom phenomena.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_lens
and here is an overall lens explanation resource
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-lenses.htm

P.S. I feel your pain about the bad advice you got from the camera store dude, It seems they are all very good at selling, but don't actually know much about photography, but isn't that the truth with most places these days?

There seems to be a lack of skilled and experienced salespeople at all types of stores now. Probably because none of these chain-stores pay more than minimum wage or even really care who they hire.
:soapbox:
 

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