Trying so hard - but my images are still mainly unsharp! ;o(

littlenomad · Aug 26, 2012

I have both a 50mm 1.8 Canon lense and a Sigma 18-200mm and I am consistently getting bad bad out-of-focus. Tried all kinds of things but I am getting almost 80% out of focus. There must be something dead obvious that I am doing wrong?
I had the shutterspeed quite high at 250 or even higher to make sure that it's not camera shake. Aperture was at f2.8 and f6 respectively. ISO approx 100 or 200. I just can't figure it out and am sooo gutted. ;o(

The attached image shows a better one of the lot, but still pretty bad. The rest are much worse. Any ideas?

Thanks so much!

binga63 · Aug 26, 2012

just an idea but try shooting with a tripod.. remote trigger...
or shoot a static object and work out the idiosyncracies of the lenses at each of the given fstops on your camera..but most of all don't give up.. .

SCraig · Aug 26, 2012

I don't know what the exact camera-to-subject distance on this one was, but assuming 10' then you only have about 10" of acceptable depth of field at f/1.8. That's about 3" to 5" in front of your point of focus and 5" to 7" behind your point of focus. Plus, using maximum aperture (assuming that f/1.8 was maximum aperture) then, generally speaking, you will never get the sharpest images possible from a lens, you need to stop down at least 1 to 2 stops. Stopping down a bit will also give you more usable depth of field. For example, going from f/1.8 to f/4 increases the depth of field from 10" to 22"

tirediron · Aug 26, 2012

Could you provide links to a couple of the high-res images that you say are worse and include the full EXIF data? That one is rather small to try make any sort of analysis on.

My first guess (and the most common problem among new photographers, in my experience). Is missed focus. Camaera auto-focus systems like contrast and light, and if you're using wide-area/dynamic-area/whatever-it's-called auto-focus, the camera may choose an aread which isn't what you want. Re-read your camera's manual and determine how to use just a single focusing point, and place that on the point of critical focus and then press the shutter release.

raphaelaaron · Aug 26, 2012

judging by what you've mentioned to rule out camera shake and soft focusing it may be something else. did you buy your camera body used? is it old?

im guessing it may be either a backfocusing issue with the lenses or body.

or it may even be a mirror that has come bumped out of its position by a little bit. this happened to me once while shooting. caught consecutive blurry shots and was scratching my head, and until my last shot, the mirror flew off after pressing the shutter. of course i had to send it back to Canon. just a guess, though. best of luck.

KmH · Aug 26, 2012

Neither of those lenses are quality lenses.

From a review of the Sigma 18-200 lens: Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM review: Digital Photography Review

Conclusion - Cons

Very inconsistent sharpness through the zoom range - extremely soft at 80mm

Soft corners at all focal lengths

Occasionally indecisive autofocus

Slightly less resistant to flare than its more recent competitors

and from a review of the Canon 50 mm f/1.8:

Excellent image quality when stopped down
Extremely cheaply built

Depth-of-field (DoF) is what controls what in a scene will be in focus. Many new to photography have difficulties understanding how to use DoF effectively, and many lack the technical literacy required to troubleshoot photographic problems. It doesn't help much that today's entry level cameras have such crummy viewfinders that when they have a DoF preview function, the viewfinder gets so dark as to make the feature nearly useless.

This group of tutorials can help as a place to begin gaining knowledge of the concepts described like DoF and the basic concepts of auto focus. Learn Photography Concepts

belial · Aug 26, 2012

KmH said:
Neither of those lenses are quality lenses.
Concepts[/URL]

He shouldn't be getting sharpness issues with the 1.8 though. The lens isn't perfect but it is sharp

belial · Aug 26, 2012

What focussing procedures are you using? Are you using auto point selection? If not which focus point are you using? Are you using center post focus and recompose techniques? Those aren't always the best idea at wide apertures.

KmH · Aug 26, 2012

The Canon 50 mm f/1.8 is not sharp at f/1.8. It starts getting sharp at f/3.5, and is sharpest when used between f/4 and f/8.

table1349 · Aug 26, 2012

One suggestion. Just because you have an f1.8 lens, doesn't mean you should use f1.8 as in the posted shot. A smaller aperture, will be sharper, provide a bit more DOF to work with and in the posted photo would not make any difference in the overall appearance.

Exif Data from you above shot.
[TABLE="class: exifTable, width: 100%"]
[TR="class: exifVisibleRow"]
[TD="class: exifTd"]Date Time Original[/TD]
[TD="class: exifTd exifTdShort"]2012:08:26 15:38:43[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: exifVisibleRow"]
[TD="class: exifTd"]Exposure Time[/TD]
[TD="class: exifTd exifTdShort"]1/250[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: exifVisibleRow"]
[TD="class: exifTd"]F Number[/TD]
[TD="class: exifTd exifTdShort"]f / 1.80[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: exifVisibleRow"]
[TD="class: exifTd"]Exposure Program[/TD]
[TD="class: exifTd exifTdShort"]Manual[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: exifVisibleRow"]
[TD="class: exifTd"]ISO Speed Ratings[/TD]
[TD="class: exifTd exifTdShort"]200[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: exifVisibleRow"]
[TD="class: exifTd"]Metering Mode[/TD]
[TD="class: exifTd exifTdShort"]Pattern[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: exifVisibleRow"]
[TD="class: exifTd"]Flash[/TD]
[TD="class: exifTd exifTdLong"]Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: exifVisibleRow"]
[TD="class: exifTd"]Focal Length[/TD]
[TD="class: exifTd exifTdShort"]50mm[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: exifVisibleRow"]
[TD="class: exifTd"]White Balance[/TD]
[TD="class: exifTd exifTdShort"]Auto white balance[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: exifVisibleRow"]
[TD="class: exifTd"]Make[/TD]
[TD="class: exifTd exifTdShort"]Canon[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: exifVisibleRow"]
[TD="class: exifTd"]Model[/TD]
[TD="class: exifTd exifTdShort"]Canon EOS 600D[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: exifVisibleRow"]
[TD="class: exifTd"]LensInfo[/TD]
[TD="class: exifTd exifTdShort"]4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: exifVisibleRow"]
[TD="class: exifTd"]LensModel[/TD]
[TD="class: exifTd exifTdLong"]EF50mm f/1.8 II[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: exifVisibleRow"]
[TD="class: exifTd"]LensSerialNumber[/TD]
[TD="class: exifTd exifTdShort"]0000000000[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

DOF tutorial: Understanding Depth of Field in Photography
Whole tutorial package: Digital Photography Tutorials

cgipson1 · Aug 26, 2012

Two problems here:

#1 Shooting at 1.8 minimizes the DOF greatly, and some (most) lenses are not at their sharpest wide open...

#2 shooting wide open is a recent fad among many people new to photography (especially the MWAC crowd), and they lack the basic skills in camera handling to be able to shoot at wide open, to compensate for the other lacks. (I am assuming the OP is new to photography, or they would know this already!)

PlanetStarbucks · Aug 26, 2012

Slightly different tack here from what all the others were on...but, are you shooting through a filter? From detail part of the dress, it looks less like a focus problem and more of a ghosting or chromatic aberration. I'd be surprised if that's all caused by the lens. Maybe try shooting some similarly high contrast things in different ways and the problem can be nailed down. If that's all lens issues, then...wow.

KmH · Aug 26, 2012

Good point. No doubt, a low quality filter could hinder auto focus module performance and cause other problems.

littlenomad · Aug 26, 2012

Thank you for all the helpful responses! Looks like I was shooting many of these at too small an aperture (1.8 and 2.5) and will try at f4 upwards. I didn't use a filter.

So camera shake isn't part of the problem?

The other lense (Sigma) however I did shoot at f5 and above, but again as low as it would go. See below.

Here is one where focus seems to be on the wall, not the girl (Canon Lense).

And here is one very very eeky (Canon):

Same Lense but now nice and sharp (Canon):

Could it be both a focus and camera shake issue? Or just focus? Wondering whether I should try a f5 or so on the Canon with a tripod. Camera itself is a Canon600D, wonder whether that's something else in USA terms? It's less than a year old, same with the lenses. Although yes there is always the possibility of a bump. But I wonder whether it's more of a user issue?

cgipson1 · Aug 26, 2012

It was mentioned that most lenses are usually not at their sharpest wide open. A lens with a max aperture of F5 is probably not an expensive lens, and is likely to be less sharp at F5 than a more expensive lens. Most lenses are usually SHARPEST about 2 stops closed down from the max aperture. Highly recommend that you try that.. you will see a difference!