Canon lens help, frustrated

[Overread]

There is a 90% chance that this is user error not camera error - switching to another brand won't solve anything and will likely make things a whole lot worse!

Do the test as others have suggested and we can see if the focus is erroring - the next part is to present some 100% crops for us to see to see if its case of the lens and camera being soft or you expecting unrealistic results from the setup.

Test 1 - focus testing:
1) Set down a newspaper, ruler - anything that has regular marked lines on it.

2) Angle the camera at around 45 degrees to the newspaper/subject (if you have a tripod to mount it to use the tripod).

3) Start at wide open (f1.8) and take a shot - focusing on a specific point (use single spot AF on the middle AF point).

4) Repeat from f1.8 up to around f8 - use whole stop increments to save time (typically aperture is set to move in 1/3rd stop divisions - so three clicks on the selection dial should move you in whole aperture steps).

Then upload these to the net resized for us to see.

100% crops:
1) Take those same shots you have above of the newspaper/subject and don't resize them

2) Take a crop of the in-focus part (ie the sharp bit) from each photo. Don't apply any sharpening in your process - just present as from the camera.

3) Again repeat from wide open to around f8 in whole stop increments.

The idea here is that you can then upload without resizing the cropped part - letting us see the infocus sharpness quality without you having to upload the whole photo (which isn't always possible with most free uploading services).

 

[o hey tyler]

Until you post images, I'm betting it's user error... and even then, it's probably still user error.

We'd benefit from seeing the focus mode, shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

 

[luvmyfamily]

I told you yesterday to check back focus issues.

How are you focusing ? Are you using manual or auto focus?

PS i EXPECT A BIKINI PIC OUT OF THIS.

LOL, I am using auto focus. Back focus issues? These test shots with my new lens I took outside, not in my studio.

Meaning you might try tuning your lens.
There is an option in your cameras settings that allow you to tune the auto focus of a lens.
Check the cameras manual. It's in there.
Like Phoenix said..............use a newspaper and focus on a certain point to see what it's doing.
Then make the needed micro adjustments.
I'm betting that's what the problem is.
I mentioned this to you the other day...............and of course I was ignored.

Now where's my bikini pic?

i didn't ignore you....thread was 9 pages long and hard to keep up, sorry.

 

[luvmyfamily]

I will post some, hang on.....

 

[luvmyfamily]

The brick is not blurring. I was about 4 feet away.

Here is the exif:
Aperture (F): 5.60ISO speed rating: 100
Lens focal length, mm:Flash: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Shutter speed (APEX): 0.0110 (1/91)
Exposure mode: Manual exposure

 

[o hey tyler]

A. Your image isn't showing

B. What focus mode are you in?

 

[analog.universe]

It is blurred slightly, but you, the subject, and the background are all quite close in this scene. As well, f/5.6 gets the car nice and sharp, but isn't as shallow a DOF as I'd prefer for blurring backgrounds.

Try setting up this shot again, keep the 4 feet between you and the subject, but make sure the background is like 20ft or more behind the subject, and shoot at f/4.

I think it's KmH that keeps posting this cool DOF diagram, lemme see if I can dig it up for you.... really helps with making sense of all this.

 

[luvmyfamily]

here is the other one, but still background not as blurred as i would like. I was closer on this one....

Aperture (F): 5.60
ISO speed rating: 100
Lens focal length, mm: 50.0
Flash: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Shutter speed (APEX): 0.0110 (1/91)
Exposure mode: Manual exposure

 

[luvmyfamily]

A. Your image isn't showing

B. What focus mode are you in?

Sorry, I just got flickr last night, it's different than photobucket, so i had to resort to photo bucket until I know how to post an img from flickr

 

[o hey tyler]

We'd benefit from seeing the focus mode, shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

B. What focus mode are you in?

.

 

[memento]

but still background not as blurred as i would like... Aperture (F): 5.60

stop it down to 2.8 and move the car away from the wall.

 

[luvmyfamily]

Do you have focus issue even shooting f/8 in day time outdoor? Or only have issue when shooting at f/1.8 aperture?

I haven't used f/1.8 yet.....

 

[luvmyfamily]

There is a 90% chance that this is user error not camera error - switching to another brand won't solve anything and will likely make things a whole lot worse!

Do the test as others have suggested and we can see if the focus is erroring - the next part is to present some 100% crops for us to see to see if its case of the lens and camera being soft or you expecting unrealistic results from the setup.

Test 1 - focus testing:
1) Set down a newspaper, ruler - anything that has regular marked lines on it.

2) Angle the camera at around 45 degrees to the newspaper/subject (if you have a tripod to mount it to use the tripod).

3) Start at wide open (f1.8) and take a shot - focusing on a specific point (use single spot AF on the middle AF point).

4) Repeat from f1.8 up to around f8 - use whole stop increments to save time (typically aperture is set to move in 1/3rd stop divisions - so three clicks on the selection dial should move you in whole aperture steps).

Then upload these to the net resized for us to see.

100% crops:
1) Take those same shots you have above of the newspaper/subject and don't resize them

2) Take a crop of the in-focus part (ie the sharp bit) from each photo. Don't apply any sharpening in your process - just present as from the camera.

3) Again repeat from wide open to around f8 in whole stop increments.

The idea here is that you can then upload without resizing the cropped part - letting us see the infocus sharpness quality without you having to upload the whole photo (which isn't always possible with most free uploading services).

Thank you, I have been working on DOF, very helpful, but I have gotten a lot of helpful info that I have tried as well. I am determined to get this down pat.

 

[analog.universe]

Do you have focus issue even shooting f/8 in day time outdoor? Or only have issue when shooting at f/1.8 aperture?

I haven't used f/1.8 yet.....

My suggestion, if you really want to learn your way around this stuff, is to go shoot A LOT.

Take hundreds of test shots at every shutter/aperture/iso/subject distance/background distance combination you can possibly think of, and observe your results carefully.

There are reasons not to shoot at 1.8 in a lot of situations.... But if you own a lens that opens to 1.8, shoot it at 1.8 so you know what it does. You can't really assess "what went wrong" until you fully understand how and why your gear does what it does. And for me that means thousands of shots and hours and hours of time spent with the gear. Reading theory is important, and having questions answered is important, but they're both useless without lots of experience and messing around.


(Situations like this are why I hate blanket advice to "never shoot wide open" or "n00bs shouldn't shoot wide open"... You should put your gear through it's paces, wide open or otherwise, especially if you're new.)

 

[LightSpeed]

lol
This was what you were complaining about not blurring enough?

Ok you know me and you are buddies. I'm gonna sock it to you right here.
There's nothing wrong with your lens or camera.
This is user error. As much as I hate to admit it, Tyler was right.



Leave the car in the same place in front of the brick wall.
Then get really close to the car and focus in, then see what happens.