A77 really soft

Stevepwns · Jul 23, 2013

So I have had my A77 for about a week now. Every picture I take seems to be really soft. If not completely missing focus. The pictures I take with my A33 were better.

I know there is a micro adjustment in the menu, would this be where I correct this? My issue seems to be on all my lenses, so I know its not a lens issue... well I am pretty sure it is.

Anyone have any suggestions or insight into what my issue might be? I would greatly appreciate any advise or help in fixing this. If the micro adjustment is the answer, some insight into the an efficient way about getting this done would be appreciated as well.

Kolia · Jul 23, 2013

What lenses and what settings ?

If you are zooming 1:1 pixels on the A77's 24MP image, you will probably think its softer than with the lower res of the A33 (16 MP ? Don't remember).

Kolia · Jul 23, 2013

Also, at f16 and above, the circle of confusion will cover nearly 3 pixels wide, making a sharp looking image impossible when zoomed in.

Tinderbox (UK) · Jul 23, 2013

A good read.

?This Lens is Soft??. « Canon Rumors

John.

Stevepwns · Jul 23, 2013

Tinderbox (UK) said:
A good read.

?This Lens is Soft??. « Canon Rumors

John.

Thanks, that answered some questions. I think Ill just keep doing what I am doing and see how things go. Only a week into this with a new body isnt that long...

Stevepwns · Jul 23, 2013

Kolia said:
What lenses and what settings ?

If you are zooming 1:1 pixels on the A77's 24MP image, you will probably think its softer than with the lower res of the A33 (16 MP ? Don't remember).

With my Tamron, Sony and the Minolta lenses I have had this experience. All ranges of settings. I went to Great falls Virginia and took a bunch of pictures of the Falls and then walked down the trail about 2 miles talking pictures of whatever I could find. So I have a pretty good sample to go off of... BUT Im not working tomorrow so I think Im going to charge my batteries and go take a **** rack of pictures and see if I can see a pattern. It might just be me not know the body yet. I may be jumping the gun on this complaint.

goodguy · Jul 24, 2013

While not owning the A77 I had same issues with my own camera the D7000.
Pictures came soft and for a while I thought its a user problem but eventually I decided its not my fault but the camera.

If you feel your camera is not working properly I would first ask Sony to fix it, thats what I did with my D7000.
I got the camera back and it worked much better but not perfect.
I had to fine tune the camera to each and every lens I own to get better results.

Good luck.

Derrel · Jul 24, 2013

The camera "might" be messed up Steve...manufacturing and shipping/transit damage is a possibility. The lensmount might be loose. The focusing system might be mis-behaving due to a faulty part or bad installation/calibration, and so on. If the issue persists across multiple lenses, well, then the likelihood of a faulty or misadjusted camera grows, I would say.

It could also be that the output the camera is delivering looks softer than what you were used to with the A33 because maybe the A77 uses a different anti-aliasing filter array, or the A33 applied in-camera sharpening more-aggressively, or something like that.

Can you post a photo, showing the typical problem? Maybe we could get a better idea. If it's just "a little bit soft", then maybe it's a matter of needing to apply more unsharp masking to the files coming out of the A77.

DiskoJoe · Jul 25, 2013

I shot some pics with my friends a77 and was not happy with the output. It seemed soft to me as well. He has since sold said camera and moved up to a a99. He told me to go with a a58 over the a77 if that means anything to you. He is my go to guy on sony gear since he has bought a lot of different motors from them.

DiskoJoe · Jul 25, 2013

Derrel said:
The camera "might" be messed up Steve...manufacturing and shipping/transit damage is a possibility. The lensmount might be loose. The focusing system might be mis-behaving due to a faulty part or bad installation/calibration, and so on. If the issue persists across multiple lenses, well, then the likelihood of a faulty or misadjusted camera grows, I would say.

It could also be that the output the camera is delivering looks softer than what you were used to with the A33 because maybe the A77 uses a different anti-aliasing filter array, or the A33 applied in-camera sharpening more-aggressively, or something like that.

Can you post a photo, showing the typical problem? Maybe we could get a better idea. If it's just "a little bit soft", then maybe it's a matter of needing to apply more unsharp masking to the files coming out of the A77.

This is probably the exact case. The pics wont be horrible but not tack sharp. My friends had the a77 strapped with a sony 35mm f1.4 g. So the lens was good quality and super clean.

Stevepwns · Jul 26, 2013

I have taken a lot of pictures over the past couple days, I have found its hit or miss. I think I may have jumped the gun on my complaint. Im going to keep shooting for a couple weeks and see if its me. Iver checked the mount, it seems to be tight. Ive checked with several of my lenses and the outcomes have been too inconsistent to say one way or the other. Im also planning on taking the time to micro adjust my 70-200mm this weekend and see what comes from that. I have to keep in mind I am still very new to this hobby in the grand scheme of things. So I dont want to jump the gun and say there really is a problem. THere is a very good possibility that its me and not the camera. I may have just had higher expectations that I should have going to the A77 from the A33.....

cosmonaut · Jul 27, 2013

Post some pictures with the EXIF and less see what's going on. When on tripod remember to turn Steady Shot off.

Stevepwns · Jul 27, 2013

cosmonaut said:
Post some pictures with the EXIF and less see what's going on. When on tripod remember to turn Steady Shot off.

Interesting, what does turning the steady shot off do while on a tripod?

Tedski · Jul 27, 2013

Stevepwns said:
cosmonaut said:

Post some pictures with the EXIF and less see what's going on. When on tripod remember to turn Steady Shot off.

Click to expand...

Interesting, what does turning the steady shot off do while on a tripod?

Image Stabilization on Tripods

Scroll down a little to where it says, Canon's Chuck Westfall explains it well.

Tedski

ConradM · Jul 29, 2013

Tedski said:
Stevepwns said:

cosmonaut said:

Post some pictures with the EXIF and less see what's going on. When on tripod remember to turn Steady Shot off.

Click to expand...

Interesting, what does turning the steady shot off do while on a tripod?

Click to expand...

Image Stabilization on Tripods

Scroll down a little to where it says, Canon's Chuck Westfall explains it well.

Tedski

Just a shot in the dark but does that really apply to Steady Shot? I have mine on all of the time and haven't noticed an issue when using the tripod...