400d Help!

[cd07]

March 31, 2012 at 1:18 pm

Hey guys Im having some problems with my canon 400d. All of the pictures I take seem soft when I zoom in on the LCD. At first I thought it was a problem with my 300mm lens but that is still under warrenty and I had it sent to a Canon specialist in England to be checked and they sent it back and said it was perfect. So now it can only mean there is a problem with the body. Can anybody give me some advice on possible problems?

Thanks

Ciaran

[jodal1975]

March 31, 2012 at 2:33 pm

hi ciaran
there are a few things i would ask/suggest here….you may know all these already ..but just incase :
1: is it a 70-300 ? because they have a tendency to get softer the longer you go, the same as the 55-250. this is not a “flaw” as such , just the quality of the lens (low end of the canon line up)
2: how have you set the different ‘picture styles’ in the menu ? (2nd menu across , 2nd option from bottom ) you have to adjust the sharpness on all of the different styles. the default is always quite soft…because no matter what setting you have the dial at on top of the camera , the “style” you have set in the menu is used aswell ..i tend to leave it on “standard” with sharpness at 7/contrast 2/saturation 0/colour tone 1
3: AND PROBABLY MOST IMPORTANTLY …the older rebel lcd’s are not great quality ( i use the 450d) once you start to zoom in the quality of the image begins to decrease , it should look alot better on your pc….PLUS if your fully zoomed in on your lcd screen your probably at about 600% which is going to show all kinds of softness . even when sharpening in post in photoshop etc you wouldnt zoom in passed 100% when deciding on your amount of sharpening
i would really suggest looking at them on your monitor and zoom in to 100% , only then will you really be able to assess the the sharpness. but bear in mind ALL PHOTOS are sharpened in post to some degree.
hope this helps
dallan

[cd07]

March 31, 2012 at 3:59 pm

Thanks for the info Dallan. I never played around with the picture styles before, I took a few shots there and they seem a bit better but still not tack sharp then again the light isnt great at the moment! would it be possible that the sensor is dirty? I have the camera about four years now and never had it cleaned.

[Mikka]

March 31, 2012 at 10:05 pm

Use your LCD on the camera for Histogram/Exposure info only, never rely on it for picture quality. The best way you can view the quality is on your PC using whatever software utility comes with the camera or Photoshop/Lightroom/CS5 etc……../Mikka