Newbei bought a 35mm without VR

Ron Evers · Sep 1, 2011

subscuck said:
Ron Evers said:

My shots were treated the same way & are not so bad as the OPs.

Click to expand...

That's why I'm starting to think defective lens. While you would expect them to be softer at 100% crop, you wouldn't expect them to be that bad.

But his zoom was not good as well.

I too am thinking equipment but which. The Op seems to me as being competent to conduct the trials. New camera & new lenses.

I would love to have hands on to make a determination.

analog.universe · Sep 1, 2011

In a perfect situation (Perfect the way physics sees it, meaning impossible in the real world, you can only get close), you can get a 100% crop with a blur between the black and white of a barcode only 1 pixel wide. meaning: black pixel, grey pixel, white pixel. So.. given that the lens isn't perfect, and the anti-alias filter isn't perfect, and the photographer isn't perfect, in the real world you can expect maybe 2 ambiguous pixels if you've done as best you can. The OPs images demonstrate blur consistently in the 4 to 5 pixel range, so something else at work. Either the lens isn't focusing correctly, or the camera is moving around, etc...

Another thing I just thought of that I'm not sure was covered was noise reduction. It doesn't look to me like that's what it is, but it will still reduce sharpness if it's enabled, so you should turn it all off and shoot at base ISO for these tests if possible.

analog.universe · Sep 1, 2011

Ron Evers said:
subscuck said:

Ron Evers said:

My shots were treated the same way & are not so bad as the OPs.

Click to expand...

That's why I'm starting to think defective lens. While you would expect them to be softer at 100% crop, you wouldn't expect them to be that bad.

Click to expand...

But his zoom was not good as well.

I too am thinking equipment but which. The Op seems to me as being competent to conduct the trials. New camera & new lenses.

I would love to have hands on to make a determination.

The zoom was not perfect, true, but that particular zoom doesn't have a reputation for being very sharp. The 35 does, and the zoom outperforms it....

subscuck · Sep 1, 2011

It's definitely tough troubleshooting over the net. I'd like a hands on as well, but I agree, the OP seems more than competent enough to work through our suggestions. The comment about same results hand held, at 1/4000th, is what's leading me to believe equipment issue. But not being there, I don't know.

Sonoma · Sep 1, 2011

RichardsTPF said:
Thank you for all your advice and help. I am really glad to see so many people help me out.
Sorry I forgot about my tripod. It is a BENRO A150EXU.
I bought my D90 and 18-200mm over a month ago. After seeing so review/thread about sharpness of the 35mm, 50mm prime lens, I bought this 35mm f1.8G a week ago. To get a idea of the decent sharpness, I took several pictures of bar-code with both lens. The result is disappointing. My first thought was the non-VR function and my setting could be wrong. Through previous discussion I learn a lot about DOF (I thought I knew it until yesterday) and front/back focus issue. Looks like it is not DOF problem. I am going outside to take couple more pics with my camera on the ground.
If it's my setting, I want to figure out what's wrong and avoid repeating mistake. If it is not my setting, could it be the equipment? I don't want to spend hundreds of $ on it.

Sonama, I can get sharp bar code image at 1ft and 3ft away. the blur appear when I try to shoot at 5' and 6'.
Analog, I shot at 1/4000s two days ago, still get the same result. I will do it again. tanks for your link, definitely will read it.

Ron Evers said:
subscuck said:

Ron Evers said:

My shots were treated the same way & are not so bad as the OPs.

Click to expand...

That's why I'm starting to think defective lens. While you would expect them to be softer at 100% crop, you wouldn't expect them to be that bad.

Click to expand...

But his zoom was not good as well.

I too am thinking equipment but which. The Op seems to me as being competent to conduct the trials. New camera & new lenses.

I would love to have hands on to make a determination.

I thought he said he had the trouble with both lenses also. And if they both focus at 3', but not at 5'-6' it sounds too me like a camera focus problem. It would be nice if he had access to another body to test

eccs19 · Sep 1, 2011

I had a quick read through the thread, so I hope someone didn't already suggest this, and if no one did, I can't believe it wasn't suggested. Do you per chance have some sort of a cheap UV filter on your lenses? A crappy filter can lead to soft images. If you do have a filter on either of these lenses, take it off, and try your test(s) again.

RichardsTPF · Sep 1, 2011

A crappy filter can lead to soft images.

I don't have any filter yet.

Another thing I just thought of that I'm not sure was covered was noise reduction. It doesn't look to me like that's what it is, but it will still reduce sharpness if it's enabled, so you should turn it all off and shoot at base ISO for these tests if possible.

Haven't finish read my manual yet. Let me check it.

The comment about same results hand held, at 1/4000th, is what's leading me to believe equipment issue.

Just look at the pic. This pic was taken at f1.8 before I knew large aperture will also blur the foreground. I will redo it tomorrow.

Josh66 · Sep 1, 2011

RichardsTPF said:
This pic was taken at f1.8 before I knew large aperture will also blur the foreground. I will redo it tomorrow.

Which picture are you referring to?

If you posted a new one in you last post, it isn't showing for me...

eccs19 · Sep 1, 2011

Are you letting the camera focus for you, or are you focusing manually? Also if your camera has Live View, try manually focusing using it to see if you can get accurate focus. I believe most camera's that have Live View, you can zoom in to ensure your focus is accurate. (Use a tripod when using Live View)

RichardsTPF · Sep 1, 2011

I didn't post that 1/4000s pic. It's really bad. I think the DOF is wrong.
I am really bad at manual focus through view finder. Liveview is a good idea.

I just tried shoot the bar code with liveview in both manual and AF. Got same softness. when I zoom all the way in and manual focusing by turning the focus ring , see the bar code on the LCD screen was very soft. (Not just soft, may be b/c of the LCD resolution, I can't see the barcode clear).

RichardsTPF · Sep 2, 2011

Reading the link provied by Anolog, I find out that I should not have use [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]extended center post[/FONT]. The light in my apartment is not enough to get fast speed. Shoot with tripod, hang a bag, mirror lock up and timer. The image got slightly sharper than yesterday. Still not good enough?

when I zoom all the way in and manual focusing by turning the focus ring , see the bar code on the LCD screen was very soft. (Not just soft, may be b/c of the LCD resolution, I can't see the barcode clear).

:

[/URL] DSC04048 by RichardsFlik, on Flickr[/IMG]

eccs19 · Sep 2, 2011

I don't know your camera / len line, but based on what I've read in this thread, I think you've done all the testing you can, and this leads me to believe you've either got a bad lens(es), something wrong with the camera, or this model of camera just isn't up to snuff with what your expecting out of it. I personally don't think there is much more you can test. If it is user error (and I don't think it is), see if you can find a more experienced photographer in your area that can try your camera out for you, or perhaps even have a Nikon so he can test your lenses, and you can test his lenses on your body.