Very Disappointed

[Johnboy2978]

Let me save you a few dollars and tell you the same applies to golf. My putting is just as bad w/ a Taylormade Rossa putter as it was w/ the $20 topflite putter. It does feel better in my hand though. Feel free to paypal me $500 for that tidbit of info.

I think we've all probably been there with photography as well though. The upside is down the road when your knowledge grows you will have the benefit of a really nice piece of glass and will be glad you spent the cash. Quality lenses only increase (or at least hold) their value. It's kind of like quality firearms....it's money in the bank, and these days probably a better investment than CDs.

 

[JimmyO]

Any new equipment for the first 1-2 years just makes things more complicated and stressful IMO. While new equipment now doesnt make my work any better, some of it inspired me to try new things.

 

[pbelarge]

Here is a shot from my EF 70-300mm IS USM
I have to go back to see the settings on the camera, but knowing me, it is probably 275mm, f/18 or f/16, exposure -.66, and I either had my tripod or was braced against a fence. The shot is of the Palisades on the Hudson River in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY - one of only 6 such types of land form in the world. The Palisades in this shot are about 1 mile from where I was standing. I shot this directly across the river from where I am standing, approximately 75ft above the level of the river.
1.

2.
A shot of a field while traveling to a frozen waterfall. I took out my EF 18-55mm IS kit lens.
I was probably set at 45mm with the exposure around -.33. I usually set the ISO at 100 or 200 - all of these shots are generally at manual. I have been forcing myself to do that for about 3 months now.

Here is a shot where I believe the focus is somewhat better.
again, 70-300mm - only I shot this mounted on a good Manfrotto tripod and ball head. I shot this aiming down river from me, I am guessing about 1 1/4 miles from where I am standing.
3.

Here is the same Hudson River, shot kneelingdown as low as I could and still see the viewfinder - it was too bright to see the LCD. I shot this with the 18-55 at -1 EV and I think around f/11-16. It was like -1 degree f that morning. The river is almost frozen solid. That does not happen too often anymore.
4.

I will load the shots I took yesterday with my new EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM and post them tomorrow.

I have thick skin, so do not be afraid to provide your thoughts about these 4 shots.
All of the shots have not had any PP applied, straight from my Canon T1i.

 

[Vinny]

The only shot that I really like is the last shot but to my eyes the focusing in not right, don't know what is supposed to be the focal point.

The second shot might have been more interesting IMO if you zoomed onto the tree in the center and cropped the sides out taking the photo in portrait (?- tall vs long) style.

Of course this is just my opinion and may be my style of photography. Then again I haven't posted any real pictures and for all I know I suck!

 

[Derrel]

You **definitely** need to avoid shooting at small apertures like f/16 or f/18 with a high-resolution d-slr like the T1i that you own. Shooting at such a small aperture will cause diffraction, and will also lead to slow shutter speeds which can cause unsharp results. I would not be surprised if the T1i suffers from diffraction beginning around f/8, and the use of any smaller aperture (f/9, f/10,f/11, f/13,etc) probably causes significant sharpness loss.

 

[gsgary]

Here is a shot from my EF 70-300mm IS USM
I have to go back to see the settings on the camera, but knowing me, it is probably 275mm, f/18 or f/16, exposure -.66, and I either had my tripod or was braced against a fence. The shot is of the Palisades on the Hudson River in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY - one of only 6 such types of land form in the world. The Palisades in this shot are about 1 mile from where I was standing. I shot this directly across the river from where I am standing, approximately 75ft above the level of the river.
1.

2.
A shot of a field while traveling to a frozen waterfall. I took out my EF 18-55mm IS kit lens.
I was probably set at 45mm with the exposure around -.33. I usually set the ISO at 100 or 200 - all of these shots are generally at manual. I have been forcing myself to do that for about 3 months now.

Here is a shot where I believe the focus is somewhat better.
again, 70-300mm - only I shot this mounted on a good Manfrotto tripod and ball head. I shot this aiming down river from me, I am guessing about 1 1/4 miles from where I am standing.
3.

Here is the same Hudson River, shot kneelingdown as low as I could and still see the viewfinder - it was too bright to see the LCD. I shot this with the 18-55 at -1 EV and I think around f/11-16. It was like -1 degree f that morning. The river is almost frozen solid. That does not happen too often anymore.
4.

I will load the shots I took yesterday with my new EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM and post them tomorrow.

I have thick skin, so do not be afraid to provide your thoughts about these 4 shots.
All of the shots have not had any PP applied, straight from my Canon T1i.

Not great, but they were taken at the worst time of day, and with a lens that isn't great, i thought these were with an L lens

 

[pbelarge]

You **definitely** need to avoid shooting at small apertures like f/16 or f/18 with a high-resolution d-slr like the T1i that you own. Shooting at such a small aperture will cause diffraction, and will also lead to slow shutter speeds which can cause unsharp results. I would not be surprised if the T1i suffers from diffraction beginning around f/8, and the use of any smaller aperture (f/9, f/10,f/11, f/13,etc) probably causes significant sharpness loss.

As I have learned here (and hopefully will continue to do so), when I took those shots, I thought the further away one focused for, the higher the aperture, hence the f/16-20 in so many of my shots.
I can take the river shots almost any day, I live on the river. I will go back and shoot some at different apertures and see what I get.


BTW: If any have noticed when I critique, I usually say something with "angle" in it. I have most of my shots from many different angles and in portrait/landscape.



Derrel
I have noticed that the 'sweet' spot for this camera with the 18-55 lens seems to be f/7.1-8.0. Lately when I shoot a smaller aperture, it is usually f/11 or f/14.

* Are you sure about the diffraction for the T1i starting at approximately f/8???:er: That is not too comforting.

 

[pbelarge]

1. The only shot that I really like is the last shot but to my eyes the focusing in not right, don't know what is supposed to be the focal point.

2. The second shot might have been more interesting IMO if you zoomed onto the tree in the center and cropped the sides out taking the photo in portrait (?- tall vs long) style.

Of course this is just my opinion and may be my style of photography. Then again I haven't posted any real pictures and for all I know I suck!

Vinny
Shots 1 &2 are more focused towards the cliffs.
Shots 3 & 4 are landscape shots with the whole shot being the focal point. The trees you mention are a long way from me and I was not interested in just one tree. Maybe next time I will try though, I plan on driving by that field (about 90 miles from my house) soon.


Here is another shot of the ice, with a tighter focal point.

 

[gsgary]

If the sweet spot is F11-F14 i would get rid because you will need a lot of light to shoot at 300mm

 

[bazooka]

Only one way to find out... mount to tripod and take a contrasty shot at different apertures, adjusting the shutter speed in equal amounts and leaving everything else exactly the same. Compare side-by-side.

 

[mwcfarms]

It takes a humble person to admit he is the problem not his gear. You have just won half the battle. Keep practising. If you have seen improvement in yourself in the last year then dont worry. Have fun and keep working at it.

 

[Dellhan]

Just keep shooting more and more photos, the more you do the more experience you will get and the better your shots will get. Also you will learn how to better use your equiptment and that will also help your shots, just keep at it.

 

[Dao]

As I have learned here (and hopefully will continue to do so), when I took those shots, I thought the further away one focused for, the higher the aperture, hence the f/16-20 in so many of my shots.

You can focus a distance object even with wide aperture. In some case, F16 and F5.6 make no difference for taking a photo of a subject which is far away from you (in terms of in focus or not)
You may need to read more about DoF as well as Hyperfocal distance.

The sweet spot of the lens "usually" is few stops down from the max aperture.
i.e. max aperture is f/2.8, then f/5.6 could be the sweet spot.

i.e. your kit lens.

AT 28mm, the sweet spot, according from photozone, f/5.6 for center or f/8 for overall.

 

[manaheim]

There are five very important things to understand about photography equipment.

1. You almost always get what you pay for. More money tends to mean higher quality.
2. Every piece of equipment has limitations.
3. Buying something that is better ONLY reduces limitations.
4. Reducing limitations does not improve your photography, it only means that you have more "room to grow".
5. There is a STEEP curve in cost/quality. To get the last 20% of the quality you want is 80% of the cost of the better stuff. Example... my 28-100 3.5/5.6 is a "fine" lens which can be had for $100. My 24-70 F2.8 is quite a bit better, but not 18x better... and yet it's 18x the cost.

Thinking that buying expensive gear will improve your pictures is somewhat akin to saying that because the defending army is going the other way, we automatically now own the land they vacated... but you still have to advance your army to actually hold the land.

Mind you, I'm not picking on you... just giving you some things to think about that may help you approach this differently.

Don't be dissapointed in the glass, just know that you have a lot of room to grow into and that it will be a lot longer before you hit the limitations of that new lens.

BTW, in general I tell people not to buy expensive gear until they know they have done all they can with the gear they have... otherwise it's somewhat akin to handing a Stradivarius to a novice. Can they use it? Sure. Will they be able to appreciate what they have? No, not really.

Again, not picking on you or calling anyone a novice. It's just another way to look at the problem.

 

[Vinny]

1. The only shot that I really like is the last shot but to my eyes the focusing in not right, don't know what is supposed to be the focal point.

2. The second shot might have been more interesting IMO if you zoomed onto the tree in the center and cropped the sides out taking the photo in portrait (?- tall vs long) style.

Of course this is just my opinion and may be my style of photography. Then again I haven't posted any real pictures and for all I know I suck!

Vinny
Shots 1 &2 are more focused towards the cliffs.
Shots 3 & 4 are landscape shots with the whole shot being the focal point. The trees you mention are a long way from me and I was not interested in just one tree. Maybe next time I will try though, I plan on driving by that field (about 90 miles from my house) soon.


Here is another shot of the ice, with a tighter focal point.

Since you saw something that made you take the shots on 1 & 2 - what is missing or what didn't you capture? It is possible that your eye saw something and the camera didn't pick it up or your settings were wrong.

For # 4, my eye is drawn to the ice but the picture seems to have too much in the foreground with it being slightly unfocused and the background being slightly unfocused as well.

Here's a shot that I just took playing around with my new camera. My critique of it is that the face isn't in 100% focus, the fix for that is to go up another 1 or 2 clicks of the aperture wheel (camera seems to not go up by full f stops) to get it into focus.

Here's another. My opinion, I need to start all over. But what I saw was the yellow flowers being illuminated by the sun. I was too far away, used my 300mm zoom and didn't get the exposure and/or angle correct ... but it is a starting point.