Advice on camera upgrade

Bkg529 · Jan 1, 2013

I have been doing some WOM on location portrait photography on the side of my main career. I currently shoot with a nikon d7000. I'm never quite thrilled with the results of my pictures in terms of sharpness. Everything seems so soft, not crisp with fine detail. The lenses I have that are not kit lenses are Nikon: 35mm dx afs 1.8g, AF-S 50mm f/1.4G SIC SW Prime and 85mm f/1.8D AF. My flash when needed is the sb-600.

I spend a great deal of time blaming the performance of my camera for the lack of quality in my images and keep debating the upgrade to the d800.

My funds are low as this is a very part time thing, my prices are low and I'm raising a family. If I were to make an upgrade I would be financing it. I'm not sure if this is worth it but I feel in a rutt and need the confidence in my work to keep going forward and I feel that I don't have that with my current equipment.

Any advice on the best way to proceed would be much appreciated.

Bkg529 · Jan 1, 2013

I have been doing some WOM on location portrait photography on the side of my main career. I currently shoot with a nikon d7000. I'm never quite thrilled with the results of my pictures in terms of sharpness. Everything seems so soft, not crisp with fine detail. The lenses I have that are not kit lenses are Nikon: 35mm dx afs 1.8g, AF-S 50mm f/1.4G SIC SW Prime and 85mm f/1.8D AF. My flash when needed is the sb-600.

I spend a great deal of time blaming the performance of my camera for the lack of quality in my images and keep debating the upgrade to the d800.

My funds are low as this is a very part time thing, my prices are low and I'm raising a family. If I were to make an upgrade I would be financing it. I'm not sure if this is worth it but I feel in a rutt and need the confidence in my work to keep going forward and I feel that I don't have that with my current equipment.

Any advice on the best way to proceed would be much appreciated.

Mully · Jan 1, 2013

Something is not set up right the D7000 should be tack sharp ..... look at you settings in camera, check setup in the manual. Before going into hock I would get the 7000 working. May also need a repair.

Trever1t · Jan 1, 2013

DO not blame the poor quality on your gear, an amateurish error. If you are unable to achieve sharp images with a D7000 surely you will be MOST DISSATISFIED with a camera of higher resolution.

You are operating a professional photography business?

Trever1t · Jan 1, 2013

Sounds like operator error, there's no need to upgrade to a higher resolution body if you can't manage the one you have, it will only become more difficult to get a sharp image. A professional photographer?

cgipson1 · Jan 1, 2013

I have a D7000.. and have owned the 35.18 dx, a Sigma 50 1.4.. and the 85g 1.4. All gave great images (although the 35 is terrible on CA). Even out of box, everything was sharp... but with some careful fine tuning, it was even better. I agree with the other posters... sounds like something odd in your settings, or your setup.

Do you have any filters on the lenses? Take them OFF! lol! Cheap UV filters are one of the biggest killer of Image Quality that we see!

Use SPOT (Single Point) focus.. and focus on the eyes!

Don't go for the killer bokeh until you know how.. don't shoot wide open (Another BIG mistake we see often)... make sure you have adequate DOF to cover the subject!

Keep your shutter speed high... people move. Even a tripod won't help if your subject moves even the slightest bit.

Try these things.. reshoot, and let use know the results. (and I highly recommend not using that 35 for portraits... the 50, and especially the 85 will give much more attractive images!)

Please post some current images with the issues you are talking about.... we need to see them!

1hawaii50 · Jan 1, 2013

Are you shooting RAW, or JPEG? The default sharpening values on the D7000 are VERY conservative. What picture control mode are you shooting in?

The_Traveler · Jan 1, 2013

and post a picture that illustrates the problem

Specifically post a 100% crop

sekhar · Jan 1, 2013

You might want to compare results too. E.g., try the advanced search on Flickr where you can look up images for your gear, like "d7000 35mm." You will also be able to see what you can expect should you upgrade to D800 or whatever.

KmH · Jan 1, 2013

If you'll take a few moments and click on the FAQ tab near the top of each forum page, you'll discover cross-posting in multiple forums is not allowed.

The 2 identical threads you have started have been merged, and moved to a more appropriate forum (Nikon).

Bkg529 · Jan 1, 2013

I apologize for cross posting- I realized after my initial post that I posted on the wrong board.

As for shooting, I am using filters on all lenses which may be the culprit. It sounds like I may be guilty of shooting too wide open as well to compensate for low light situations, since I really try to avoid using flash.

I shoot RAW, and go back and forth between aperture and manual. I do spot focus on the eyes.

I am really very much still learning, but feel a great deal of pressure due to people liking my work of my own daughter and asking me to do shoots for them and then asking to purchase sessions for gifts etc.

I will post some of my work. I will have to sit down and upload some SOOC shots since right now I'm on my smartphone and only have edited work accessible.

Tee · Jan 1, 2013

If you remove the filters and stop down your aperture, see what results you get. It's definitely not your gear unless you got that 1 in a million defective lens/ body.

Bkg529 · Jan 1, 2013

Removing the filters and not shooting so wide open has already made a huge difference. I guess I have read so many negative reviews since I got the camera that I thought perhaps it was its performance.

cgipson1 · Jan 1, 2013

Bkg529 said:
Removing the filters and not shooting so wide open has already made a huge difference. I guess I have read so many negative reviews since I got the camera that I thought perhaps it was its performance.

We have seen SO many people on here.. with filters, shooting wide open, shooting handheld at low shutter speeds, etc.. ALL getting low IQ, and they were ALL convinced it was the camera or the lens! lol! Glad to hear that helped! Post some shots....

mommy-medic · Jan 1, 2013

One thing that you may also consider is fine tuning your lens. In your camera settings is an option called "AF fine tune" and allows you to adjust the focal distance slightly closer or further to make sure what you focus on is what the camera focuses on (if images are soft or focus is too far/close for where you were shooting).

This helps illustrate what I mean.