Sharpness Issue with Nikkor 50mm f1.8g

[Letaptim23]

I've been taking a lot of portraits ever since I picked up the nifty fifty, but I'm noticing some sharpness issues with it. Faces lose a lot of detail, and they almost look soft. Portraits with my kit lens look sharper which is really a shame in my eyes.

 

[KmH]

Don't use it wide open at f/1.8. Stop it down about 2 stops to f/3.5.

Few fast lenses deliver their sharpest focus when used near wide open.

 

[Letaptim23]

Don't use it wide open at f/1.8. Stop it down about 2 stops to f/3.5.

Few fast lenses deliver their sharpest focus when used near wide open.

I've heard about the sharpest spots of a lens are usually f8 or f11 but wouldn't that defeat the purpose of owning fast lenses? I went for an informal photo shoot with a friend of mine today at a lake nearby, and the weather was overcast. The entire scene was grey and not a single ray of sunlight! It was around 4:00-5:00ish (golden hours of photography) and it would have gotten dark outside soon. f2.8 and f3.5 are manageable but something like f8 and f11 just seem out of the picture! (no pun intended). I was shooting with a D3100, something that's not known for it's high ISO performance. Any tips??

 

[o hey tyler]

I've heard about the sharpest spots of a lens are usually f8 or f11 but wouldn't that defeat the purpose of owning fast lenses? I went for an informal photo shoot with a friend of mine today at a lake nearby, and the weather was overcast. The entire scene was grey and not a single ray of sunlight! It was around 4:00-5:00ish (golden hours of photography) and it would have gotten dark outside soon. f2.8 and f3.5 are manageable but something like f8 and f11 just seem out of the picture! (no pun intended). I was shooting with a D3100, something that's not known for it's high ISO performance. Any tips??

F/8 or f/11 would be the sweet spot of a consumer grade zoom lens, or thereabouts. A prime lens gets sharper much faster. I have found that the f/1.4 primes I use are adequately sharp by f/2-2.5 and very sharp at f/4. Shooting wide open is not the best idea because the depth of field is too shallow and the optics do not perform the best with a wide open aperture.

 

[Letaptim23]

I've heard about the sharpest spots of a lens are usually f8 or f11 but wouldn't that defeat the purpose of owning fast lenses? I went for an informal photo shoot with a friend of mine today at a lake nearby, and the weather was overcast. The entire scene was grey and not a single ray of sunlight! It was around 4:00-5:00ish (golden hours of photography) and it would have gotten dark outside soon. f2.8 and f3.5 are manageable but something like f8 and f11 just seem out of the picture! (no pun intended). I was shooting with a D3100, something that's not known for it's high ISO performance. Any tips??

F/8 or f/11 would be the sweet spot of a consumer grade zoom lens, or thereabouts. A prime lens gets sharper much faster. I have found that the f/1.4 primes I use are adequately sharp by f/2-2.5 and very sharp at f/4. Shooting wide open is not the best idea because the depth of field is too shallow and the optics do not perform the best with a wide open aperture.

Thanks for the tip! I'll look into that for next time
But I have one more question. If I'm shooting at ISO 400, 1/30sec, and at f1.8 to get a DECENT exposure, then how am I able to get a good exposure at f3.5 and down? Oh, I shoot portraits in RAW and go from there and I have access to a tripod, but don't really use it on people.

 

[cgipson1]

post a shot with exif.... that way we can help better! The rule of thumb for sharpness is two stops smaller than wide open... but there are many other things that contribute to poor IQ.

Got a filter on it??? Lose it!

Keep your shutter fast... minimum 125 .. preferably higher.

Use flash... it stops shake and subject movement...

 

[cgipson1]

I've heard about the sharpest spots of a lens are usually f8 or f11 but wouldn't that defeat the purpose of owning fast lenses? I went for an informal photo shoot with a friend of mine today at a lake nearby, and the weather was overcast. The entire scene was grey and not a single ray of sunlight! It was around 4:00-5:00ish (golden hours of photography) and it would have gotten dark outside soon. f2.8 and f3.5 are manageable but something like f8 and f11 just seem out of the picture! (no pun intended). I was shooting with a D3100, something that's not known for it's high ISO performance. Any tips??

F/8 or f/11 would be the sweet spot of a consumer grade zoom lens, or thereabouts. A prime lens gets sharper much faster. I have found that the f/1.4 primes I use are adequately sharp by f/2-2.5 and very sharp at f/4. Shooting wide open is not the best idea because the depth of field is too shallow and the optics do not perform the best with a wide open aperture.

Thanks for the tip! I'll look into that for next time
But I have one more question. If I'm shooting at ISO 400, 1/30sec, and at f1.8 to get a DECENT exposure, then how am I able to get a good exposure at f3.5 and down? Oh, I shoot portraits in RAW and go from there and I have access to a tripod, but don't really use it on people.

1/30 is WAY too slow to shoot people.. even if you use a tripod, subject might move, and you are guaranteed to have camera movement if you shoot handheld! Shoot at 1600... or 3200..... or use flash!

 

[Letaptim23]

My experiences with ISO 1600 have caused me to never shoot at that level or higher, but I'm up for it if it produces better results

 

[o hey tyler]

Thanks for the tip! I'll look into that for next time
But I have one more question. If I'm shooting at ISO 400, 1/30sec, and at f1.8 to get a DECENT exposure, then how am I able to get a good exposure at f3.5 and down? Oh, I shoot portraits in RAW and go from there and I have access to a tripod, but don't really use it on people.

It sounds like you need to shoot earlier in the day, or get an external flash to provide light. Shooting between 4-5pm during the winter is generally when the light is getting pretty slim, an overcast day can make that worse. 1/30s is too slow to use with your 50mm. You should try to maintain a shutter speed of 1/focal length, but even faster in your case because you have a crop frame camera. The other thing to consider is that people move, sway, and aren't perfectly still. So at 1/30s you are not able to isolate movement because the shutter speed is too slow. Start shooting at f/2.5 or 2.8 for starters and see if your image is a bit sharper.

 

[cgipson1]

My experiences with ISO 1600 have caused me to never shoot at that level or higher, but I'm up for it if it produces better results

be better than bad camera shake, right? use FLASH! Don't be a "Natural Light Photographer".... be a photographer that uses whatever tools are needed to get good images!

 

[Letaptim23]

Here is the shot I'm talking about. Shot at f1.8 at 1/30, ISO 400, no EV or flash
This is an edited photo in Camera Raw and PS CS6 but minor adjustments like Noise Reduction and White Balance

 

[cgipson1]

That looks more like missed focus.... but is probably a combination of too shallow a DOF, camera shake due to a low shutter speed.. and possibly missed focus also. What focus mode / method do you use?

 

[thetrue]

Here is the shot I'm talking about. Shot at f1.8 at 1/30, ISO 400, no EV or flash
This is an edited photo in Camera Raw and PS CS6 but minor adjustments like Noise Reduction and White Balance

And a wonderful vignette....yuck. Why not TRY ISO1600, then you can increase shutter to 1/125.

 

[Letaptim23]

I used the AF dot to line up with her eye and then recomposed locked in with that focus

 

[cgipson1]

I used the AF dot to line up with her eye and then recomposed locked in with that focus

With ultra shallow DOF... recomposing will KILL you! lol! Use Spot (Single Point) focus.. you can move that around to get it on your subject.... I think a D3100 will do that.