Shaper Images w/ T3i?

[Derrel]

Each, individual lens is its own entity. Zoom lenses have a habit of getting out of whack whenever they are dropped, struck, or impacted by something. What somebody else's lens can do has zero bearing on what your lens can do. You say you have a consistent problem getting really sharp images. Based on a couple of your sample images, I see a lens problem. A significant problem with the lens. I also used to own the same lens. At the shorter end, my 18-55 Canon kit lens was not good.

The worst zoom lens I have EVER owned was a mid-1980's Nikkor 35-135mm. It had basically the same issue as yours...it was a duff lens. Everything it shot lacked clarity, and it had a lot of chromatic aberration. No matter how carefully I shot with it, every image was just a little bit "soft". I bought it from a friend, who had bought it from a friend, who had bought it from the original owner. I sold it to a friend of a friend, not one of "my" friends.

CA can be eliminated to a degree in software like Lightroom. But it still impacts the images. The last shots I made with my 18-55 were during the snow of the winter of 2009. It snowed one day. I took some shots of a tree that had fallen over. They were riddled with CA.

 

[Dao]

OP, is this lens is the lens you use?
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS: Digital Photography Review

Most of the reviews regarding this lens are not bad at all. When you look at the sample images, none of them had the issue like yours especially on edge like what Derrel showed in his post. If you do not have any screw-on type filter nor *lens* in front of your kit lens, then something wrong with it.

 

[TheBromad]

OP, is this lens is the lens you use?
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS: Digital Photography Review

Most of the reviews regarding this lens are not bad at all. When you look at the sample images, none of them had the issue like yours especially on edge like what Derrel showed in his post. If you do not have any screw-on type filter nor *lens* in front of your kit lens, then something wrong with it.

Yes it is.... The first review I read said that a big problem the lens has is CA

 

[Dao]

According to the reviews site, the CA issue is there but it seems to be a little different from your photos. The corners of your photos are just too blur while the center is not bad. When I looked at the sample photos out there (i.e. those from dpreview) they are not bad.

Look at this sample
Canon EF-S 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 IS Review Samples

Let me ask you again just to be sure, you do not have anything added to the lens, right? Is all your photos behave the same?

Can you take a outdoor daylight photo and set the Camera to Aperture Priority (Av) mode with the aperture set at f/5.6? Also set the ISO to 100 and focal length between 18mm to 28mm.

 

[soufiej]

View attachment 109006 Your kit lens is riddled with chromatic aberration. Just like my Canon 18-55 was. See the colored fringing on the edges of everything that has a clearly-defined edge? The palm fronds...the water where it hits the plunge pool--see the coloration? In the lower right corner of this collection, see the bright, COLORED reflection edges on the highlight on the dark rock? This is the "aquarium glass at an angle" look of a lens that is riddled with serious chromatic aberration. The lens is substandard. Take a look...these clips are from all over the image, which was a SMALL, down-sized image. I don't see how people cannot see that this lens is dreadful...the tell-tale signs of a horrible lens are all over the images you've posted with it...it is SOFT all over the entire frame, due to high abberation levels.

Although the original shot was in-focus (look at the leaf in front of the waterfall, and also look to see that the palm fronds are very much IN-FOCUS), but everything in the scene is fringed by chromatic aberration--which is mostly hidden, until it falls on the edges of things, where it become apparent. See the colored fringing? Look at the edges of the small areas I have selected, and you can literally see the CA. This was **exactly the same** as the old 18-55 kit lens I had with my Canon 20D!!! The lens came from an earlier Canon Rebel. This is a bad lens.

We're not really getting a lot of information from the op, however, this would suggest you feel BOTH lenses are suffering from the same problem.

Right?

How likely is that to occur?

 

[TheBromad]

According to the reviews site, the CA issue is there but it seems to be a little different from your photos. The corners of your photos are just too blur while the center is not bad. When I looked at the sample photos out there (i.e. those from dpreview) they are not bad.

Look at this sample
Canon EF-S 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 IS Review Samples

Let me ask you again just to be sure, you do not have anything added to the lens, right? Is all your photos behave the same?

Can you take a outdoor daylight photo and set the Camera to Aperture Priority (Av) mode with the aperture set at f/5.6? Also set the ISO to 100 and focal length between 18mm to 28mm.

I do use a cheap ass altura wide angle lens attachment sometimes, but I didn't use it for these shots.