Lens help

Psychotic · Jan 9, 2013

I bought a Canon Rebel T4i for myself for Christmas. I debated which kit lens to get with it. Everyone told me to get the 18-55. Now I'm not so sure if that was a good choice. I think I might should have just bought the camera body and lens separate. I love micro photography and the 18-55 seems to take bad close up pictures (I know it's not a macro lens so I refuse to call pictures taken in macro setting anything but close ups). However my Canon PowerShot took very good crisp and sharp pictures in the macro setting (even thought is not a true macro lens either). It has a 5.0-70mm lens built in. It takes ok pictures of my furry critters. But the true test for me is my reptiles because they have shiny scales and are very hard to take pictures of! I will post some examples of what I mean.

To be honest in every mode I've tried on the T4i I haven't got anything that that amazing. I've played around with manual mode too and haven't been successful. I haven't really gotten anything that my point and shoot camera couldn't do. Why upgrade if I can't get better pictures than the other camera?

I need some advice on how to get sharper images with this lens if possible or what lens I might buy that would give me better results if it is indeed the lens and not the settings.

I indent to buy a macro lens just for macro photography (that's my main interest). I've been looking at the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro Lens. I'm a little torn between if I should get the L series or not. I intend to do freehand stuff a lot. Though I do usually try to find things to prop my camera on lol.

I love taking pictures of my reptiles and amphibians too. They tend to look much better in macro too. It helps each scale stand out instead of looking all blurred together.

Here are a few samples of what I have gotten with my new camera and the 18-55mm lens. I also have a 50mm lens. Which everyone I asked on a different forum told me I should get. But after I got it they turned around and said, "Why did you buy that if you already have a lens with that range?" So I don't know if I should return it or not. Main reason I joined a photography forum before those people talked me into wasting more money and then telling me it was stupid.

Anyway here are some samples. On auto settings I haven't really messed with manual yet:

Straight out of box. First thing I seen outside and took a picture. 18-55mm lens.

F-stop: f/4.5
Exposure time: 1/60 sec.
ISO speed: ISO-1250
Focal length: 34mm
Max aperture
Metering mode: Pattern
Flash mode: No flash, compulsory
Flash energy: 35mm focal length

My cat, Blossom. Taken with 50mm lens inside in dim light:

F-stop: f/2.8
Exposure time: 1/60 sec.
ISO speed: ISO-400
Focal length: 50mm
Max aperture
Metering mode: Pattern
Flash mode: Flash, compulsory
Flash energy: 35mm focal length

Hermione, my 12yr old cat. Had eye removed in May 2012 due to cancer. Taken with 18-55 lens. Well lit room. Later I did darken this picture slightly.

F-stop: f/5
Exposure time: 1/60 sec.
ISO speed: ISO-400
Focal length: 44mm
Max aperture
Metering mode: Pattern
Flash mode: Flash, compulsory
Flash energy: 35mm focal length

I'm not sure why the T4i pictures don't give me aperture but the PowerShot does.

Psychotic · Jan 10, 2013

Now here are the examples of my snakes. I think you can see where my annoyance lies. It may be the a combo of no macro lens and using the built in flash (it's bad about washing things out and making things too bright). No flash and everything is blurry. You can see why snakes are hard to take pictures of compared to the furry animals above.

Taken in macro mode (I think) with 50mm lens. Flash back too bright on shiny scales:

F-stop: f/3.5
Exposure time: 1/60 sec.
ISO speed: ISO-400
Focal length: 7mm
Max aperture: 3.625
Metering mode: Pattern
Flash mode: Flash, compulsory
Flash energy: 35mm focal length

Macro Mode (I think) with 50mm lens. Still a little too bright from flash and this is as much detail as I could get:

F-stop: f/4.5
Exposure time: 1/60 sec.
ISO speed: ISO-400
Focal length: 16mm
Max aperture: 4.34375
Metering mode: Pattern
Flash mode: Flash, compulsory
Flash energy: 35mm focal length

Not macro mode (don't remember which mode) 50mm and no flash. Turned out blurry even though camera sitting on floor. Colors are correct this time though:

F-stop: f/4
Exposure time: 1/60 sec.
ISO speed: ISO-6400
Focal length: 50mm
Max aperture:
Metering mode: Pattern
Flash mode: Flash, compulsory
Flash energy: 35mm focal length

I think I used program mode but didn't adjust anything. Cropped picture of face doesn't show a lot of detail in face, though I tried focusing on it:

F-stop: f/4
Exposure time: 1/60 sec.
ISO speed: ISO-400
Focal length: 50mm
Max aperture:
Metering mode: Pattern
Flash mode: Flash, compulsory
Flash energy: 35mm focal length

It appears I got aperture reading on some settings and not others.

Psychotic · Jan 10, 2013

Here are some of my favorite PowerShot pictures. All taken in macro mode. As you can see they are detailed. I have to have detailed pictures because I breed these animals and sell them. People want to know exactly what they are getting!

Male American Toad. Picture taken outside with flash:

F-stop: f/4
Exposure time: 1/400 sec.
ISO speed: ISO-80
Focal length: 5mm
Max aperture: 3.25
Metering mode: Pattern
Flash mode: Flash, compulsory, red-eye
Flash energy: 35mm focal length

Female American Toad. Taken inside with flash:

F-stop: f/4
Exposure time: 1/60 sec.
ISO speed: ISO-400
Focal length: 9mm
Max aperture: 4
Metering mode: Pattern
Flash mode: Flash, compulsory, red-eye
Flash energy: 35mm focal length

Male Kingsnake. Taken outside with flash:

F-stop: f/4
Exposure time: 1/250 sec.
ISO speed: ISO-80
Focal length: 10mm
Max aperture: 4
Metering mode: Pattern
Flash mode: Flash, compulsory, red-eye
Flash energy: 35mm focal length

So in a nutshell, how can I make the new camera take better pictures than the old camera. What kind of lenses would you guys recommend. I really need a recommendation for a true macro lens.

jrizal · Jan 10, 2013

Consider these:

Amazon.com: Canon 40mm EF f/2.8 STM Lens: CANON: Camera & Photo

Amazon.com: Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras: CANON: Camera & Photo

Overread · Jan 10, 2013

Jrizal I'm not sure why you're suggesting either of those lenses as they have no use what so ever for the OP.

OP first things first I would suggest considering leaving the auto scene modes alone (macro, landscape etc...). The DSLR (in fact any camera) only has 3 core parameters for making a photographic exposure and that is aperture, shutter speed and ISO. The auto scene modes only try to select those 3 settings based upon a few pre-set concepts by design engineers. Instead I'd encourage you to continue to take some control of the camera - aperture priority and manual mode so that you can tame the camera to do what you want it to.

Another point is that many of the poorer quality photos you've shown show three clear elements that I think is affecting their quality in your eyes:

1) They are indoor photos in low light - when you compare them to your powershot photos which are often taken outside or with the support of flash. Low light is a challenge for any camera and even mighty DSLRs can be challenged in such an environment. That said the larger recording area and also image size can give increased editing options for noise removal and sharpening

2) DSLRs, by default apply smaller amounts of sharpening, noise reduction and contrast and saturation boosts. This means that straight out of camera JPEGs can appear "weaker" than those from point and shoot cameras. You can adjust the settings in the DSLR, but you get even more control if you leave then neutral and adjustin editing after (indeed the RAW shooting mode lets you take full control of this if you wish to).

3) Wide aperture use. Because of the low light you've pushed the camera to use a wider aperture to take the photo, this results in a much smaller depth of field (area of a photo in focus and sharp). Now the DSLR already has less depth of field compared to your smaller camera beacuse the larger DSLR sensor results in a change to the circle of confusion which affects the depth of field you get.
You can still get a good depth of field, but you'll want to reach for smaller apertures (larger f numbers). This, of course, is going to affect your lighting needs and quite commonly you'll find that, for macro, you'll want support lighting such as flash (esp so you can keep your ISO lower and your shutter speeds fast enough to freeze motion of the subjects).

A good solid lighting setup will be very important and you might well want to invest in this before investing in a lens for macro photography. It need not be too expensive, and as a starting point I would suggest a speedlite flash (430EX series - 580 or 600) as well as a softbox (a lumiquest softbox is a good small softbox for mobile macro shooting). You will also want to look into making a lightbox setup or even larger softboxes for indoor shooting of your reptiles.
The softboxes are important as increasing the area of the light source allows for increased diffusion of the light itself which removes that harsh effect that the small popup flash gives (because its such a small light source). Speedlite flash units also let you adjust the angle of the head so that you can aim the light up which, indoors, can let you bounce the light off the walls (which makes the walls the light source reletive to the subject - and thus again diffuses the light).

As for the lenses macro lenses (own and 3rd party) are generally all very high quality optics, even the old 100mm macro from canon has still got very good optics and the L version only makes a marginal gain over them. The IS is a good boon to have, not essential, but it is very nice to have if you can afford it.

Psychotic · Jan 11, 2013

Thanks for all the tips and breaking it down in a simple understandable way. I really appreciate it . I found a flash like you are talking about for about $100. But I'll hold of on buying it. My mom has an old one a lot like it. Her camera is as old as me (I'm 27) and her flashes fit and work on my camera! Too bad the lenses don't fit though...

I'll be reading my manual and fiddling with my camera until I learn were everything is. I've already went manual focus over auto even though it's supposed to be so great. It hunts and hunts and won't lock onto my frogs or snakes at all. I can touch the screen were I want it to focus and still can't figure it out. So, I turned auto focus off.

Do you think I should send the 50mm back since I have an 18-55mm?

Overread · Jan 11, 2013

Ahh careful with older flash units, when the camera bridges the gap in the flash circuit to fire a flash attached to the cameras hotshoe it sends a charge through the camera. Modern flash units all send a smaller charge, whilst some older flash units will send a very big spike of power which can damage the internals of your camera.

As for the 50mm remember that whilst it shares a similar focal length to what your zoom lens can do the 50mm prime can do things that your zoom cannot. For a start its optical quality should be a bit sharper and clearer than the zoom, there are some fantastic zooms on the market, but primes still tend to have the edge unless they are very old.
Secondly consider the maximum apertures, the prime lens will have a much wider maximum aperture, which allows you to experiment with even smaller depths of field; but also allows for a brighter viewfinder image, allowing for better AF and more exposure options in lower light conditions.

What you've found with focusing and especially close up photography is that the autofocus is generally not as good, in fact the vast majority of true macro photography done with macro lenses is done with manual focusing.

Psychotic · Jan 11, 2013

Thanks I'll remember that. My moms flash has batteries in it. So I can use it without attaching it to my camera. I'll play around with it for a while until I can buy my own. I found some flash kits that are pretty cheap but have good reviews.