Canon XSI question

[Wildforest]

Not sure if this is the right forum, so please feel free to move mods. Anyway I recently purchased a Canon XSI/450d (moved up from a Canon S2 IS PS) and I noticed that pictures right out of the camera aren't that clear even in full auto. Is this normal for this camera or did I possibly get a bad one. Just want to make sure. Thanks for any info.

 

[Overread19 7]

Its hard to say without seeing some examples of these photos. If you could please post a few online (use an online image hosting services like Photobucket) we would then have an idea of what the problem might be

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

There could be a few issues here. Firstly, most small digi-cams have the settings cranked up by default, so the images often look more 'finished' when right out of the camera. DSLR cameras might do less tweaking to the images, giving the photographer the chance to make their own choices.

Also, I think that DSLR cameras are more prone to camera shake blur because the focal lengths are longer than that of small digi-cams. So when the light isn't great (indoors) you need to watch your shutter speed...and if it's too low, you need to compensate in some way, maybe use a support or maybe turn up the ISO.

97% of the time, issues like this are the result of user error or a lack of information / understanding.

To really diagnose the problem, it would help if you could post some examples, along with the EXIF info (shutter speed, aperture, ISO etc)

 

[Wildforest]

Thanks! Not the greatest example since it started to snow in New York, but here is an example.

O.K the first photo below is straight out of the camera on full auto (1/125 - F8 - ISO 400) It just doesn't look that crisp.

Same photo after doing a quick fix and unsharpen mask in PS Elements.

 

[Big Mike]

Maybe the the DOF (depth of field)...because the umbrella looks nice and sharp.

Small Digi-cams have a very small sensor, which means that they have a deep DOF...which means that most of the image will be in sharp focus, much of the time.

A DSLR has a larger sensor, and so has a shallower DOF than a digi-cam would have. In your example, the umbrella is sharp but much of the rest of the image is slightly out of focus.

And yes, digi-cams usually apply sharpening in-camera. So you may find that you need to do it yourself with a DSLR...although you can probably set that in-camera as well.