How do i tell if my camrea is soft???

[Jxay]

I've been messing around with my camera for about a month now and a lot of times it's a little soft. I would like to know if there's a way or a good test to indicate rather or not the camera or lens need calibrating?


Thanks

 

[reg]

If you're shooting in RAW, it will always be soft.

If you give more info, we might be able to figure out the problem.

 

[Jxay]

If you're shooting in RAW, it will always be soft.

If you give more info, we might be able to figure out the problem.

Well i'm not sure if it is or not. Or maybe i'm just paranoid. I'll take a stationary shot of some letterings ... say a calendar about 10 feet away with a 50mm lens and when i zoom in at 100% it's not the sharp as a tack.

 

[Joves]

What camera and what are you using for f-stop?

 

[Jxay]

What camera and what are you using for f-stop?

xsi f/6 iso200 and 1/100 s.s.

 

[reg]

SO are you shooting in RAW or not??

 

[Jxay]

SO are you shooting in RAW or not??

No, I'm not shooting raw. Why is raw always soft?

 

[Josh66]

No, I'm not shooting raw. Why is raw always soft?

It doesn't have sharpening applied to it like the JPGs processed in-camera do. You have to adjust the sharpening when you convert.

 

[manaheim]

^^^ Most cameras will be soft even regardless of JPEG vs. RAW. Granted, if you crank up the sharpness this won't be as noticable, but most cameras do not have sharpness turned up by default, and it's generally ill advised to do so.

What the hell are you talking about, manaheim?! Explain yourself!

1. Softness is caused by a physical amti-aliasing filter placed over the sensor that "blurs" the light coming into it somewhat to smooth out the colors on the sensor. Otherwise you would have stepping and moire effects. Some cameras have softer filters than others.

2. You can crank up the in-camera sharpening to counteract this, but it's best to do this post-processing where you can see the results on a (hopefully) far better screen than on the back of your camera. It's also relatively easy to sharpen a soft image, but nearly impossible to repair the damage caused by over-sharpening.

 

[prodigy2k7]

Nobody really stated yet that at 100%, if im not mistaken, always soft...

 

[manaheim]

Oh, btw... if you're concerned your camera isn't working properly you can take it to an authorized service place and have them check it. I've also heard of focusing charts you can use to check but I have no experience with them.