HELP - my new lens is driving me mad!

sarahgolding@photographer · Sep 25, 2008

Hey i've just got a new lens - canon ef-s 55-250mm with an image stabiliser for my canon 400d but the photos end up very pixelated when i zoom in on photoshop.

What am i doing wrong?

Thanks
Sarah

Big Mike · Sep 25, 2008

Welcome to the forum.

How close are you zooming in? All digital images will look 'pixelated' when you zoom in far enough.

Is it different from any other lens that you use?

It would really help if you could post an example for us. Preferably the whole shot (resized to 800 pixels) and then a 100% crop (not resized).

sarahgolding@photographer · Sep 25, 2008

I always zoom in 100%. This lens has an image stabilizer and none of the other lens have that.
But i dont know how to put my photo on here
Thanks
Sarah

Big Mike · Sep 25, 2008

Image Stabilization usually helps you to get sharper shots, while shooting hand held. It can, however, make your shots blurrier if you don't turn it off while shooting on a tripod etc. We really can't diagnose the problem without seeing the image and knowing the settings on the camera.

To display images, you need to 'host' them somewhere. THIS thread should show you how to do that.

sarahgolding@photographer · Sep 25, 2008

hope that works

otherwise i put it in my website: www.sarahgoldingphotography.co.uk then type in photo in the box

sarah

sarahgolding@photographer · Sep 25, 2008

http://www.sarahgoldingphotography.co.uk/gallery_176775.html

Overread · Sep 25, 2008

I can't see the photo here - but in your site I can see a small one with 4 women sitting round a table - correct?
We really need to see a 100% crop though since the resize is way too small - setup a quick free photobucket account or upload it to your site -- ps a 100% crop is a cutout of a section of a photo whislt at full size - so we can see the fullsized quality without having to have the whole photo uploaded

ps something appears to have broken on your site - all your gallery photos are sending me to that upper link - and also the link won't open the photo anymore

Big Mike · Sep 25, 2008

To display an image directly, you need to use the url of the image itself, ending in .jpg

I tried going to your site, but when I click on the thumbnail 'advice', it doesn't take me anywhere or show me the image. :scratch:

sarahgolding@photographer · Sep 25, 2008

Big Mike · Sep 25, 2008

Ah...now I can see the image.
It looks out of focus...what where you trying to focus on for this shot?
It looks like the wall behind them is the sharpest thing, so maybe you focused on that...or maybe the lens is back-focusing.

sarahgolding@photographer · Sep 25, 2008

this may seen a dump question but whats back-focusing? I've never heard that term.

sarahgolding@photographer · Sep 25, 2008

all the images have are pixelated:

Big Mike · Sep 25, 2008

Front or back focusing is when the lens (and/or the camera's AF) are out of alignment enough to cause the image to be out of focus (where it should be sharp). Depending on the alignment, the actual point of focus might be closer or farther than it should be.

Lenses and cameras are built with tolerances. It wouldn't be uncommon for most cameras and lenses to be slightly off, but still within the acceptable tolerance. However, if you pair up a lens and camera that are both a little bit off, in the same direction, then you might have a bigger problem on your hands.

Although, if your other lenses are find, it's more likely that it's this particular lens.

Keep in mind that most of the time, issues like this are user error, so I'd suggest that you do some careful testing before you completely blame the lens.

The first thing I'd suggest, would be to perform a focus test. You can use a chart (google lens test chart) or just use a page with lines of text on it. You place the paper on a flat surface and shoot it with the camera from a 45 degree angle. The camera should be on a tripod and focused on a specific line on the page. Make sure to use the widest aperture (and also make sure that the paper is past the minimum focus distance of the lens).

You can then upload the shot and examine if the line that you focused on, is the sharpest line.

Make sure to turn the IS off, when using a tripod.