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400D shots not sharp
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Hi, just joined and thought somebody might be able to help. Taking loads of pics with my new Canon 400D. However, all images are not sharp despite using tripod, different settings etc etc. Can anybody help??? very frustrating!!!. I have even taken a username of ‘lousyphoto’.. although I don’t think it’s me!
P :cry:Welcome to PI. You’ve come to the right place to get answers :)
Don’t despair, I’m certain that you’ll get sorted out quickly.
You’ll find that you’ll get more responses if you post your question in the General Photography Q+A forum
and perhaps with a sample photograph and the settings you used, eg f-stop, shutter speed etc…Enjoy.
Welcome.
Can you post a couple of images on here as an example. Are you shooting RAW or JPEG? What aperature and shutter speeds are you using. Also, what are you actually shooting?
I had problems in the early days with soft images, even when using a tripod. I now almost always shoot using the miror lockup and timer. I found the vibration coming from pressing of the shutter, so with the timer I don’t even touch the camera any more.
Another reason for your soft images could be too large an aperature. Are you using something like f4 or f5.6, if so, this could account for some of the image being out of focus, due to a shallow depth of field, depending of course on the distance from the camera, so using something like f11, f18 or even f22 will give a much larger depth of field, meaning more of the image will be in focus.Anyway, let us know some of the technical details like aperature, shutter speed, what you’re shooting.
Just joined myself today. There are sharpness setting in the camera’s set up. I’m using a 350D at the moment which is basically the old version of what you’re using. Ultimately it comes down to your shutter or aperture settings but as Brian C said it may be the shutter release, I had problems with the cheap tripod I was using. I got a really good Manfrotto from Birmingham’s in Dublin and the difference is obvious. Good luck.
Folks, I have this camera now for a couple of days to try it out. A couple of things immediately spring to mind that maybe some of you Canon users could explain the features and effects.
Focus: The focus was set to Auto Focus (the lens, yes, but the upper most button on the RHS with the cross hair effect). When half pressing the shutter the matrix in the view finder lights up in certain areas, ie, it doesn’t automatically pick the centre of the image. I’m assuming this will have quite a serious effect on focus of what was intended? I have currently set it to selective focusing to the centre segment and I’ll be giving it a go later or tomorrow morning. SO, am I right that this can cause soft images??
Effects: Michael (LousyPhoto) had a menu setting called “Picture Style” chosen as “Landscape”. The sharpness setting on this is 4 similar to “Standard” that I’ve now chosen. I know from my Sony A700 that this will have a softening effect on an image and effect the colours. Can anyone Canon based confirm this is also the case with the 400D?
The camera is now set as indicated and is shooting in “L” jpeg. I’ll let you know how it goes but confirmation, or otherwise, of the above would be appreciated.
Alan.
Huh! Me with a Canon…what’s the world coming to? :roll:
Focus: Yes, if it should for example focus on the tree on the foreground instead of the people you are taking the photo of.
Effects: You can change the picture styles of the RAW in DPP on your computerAlan, you’ve not defected have you. I remembered you had the Sony A100 so check your profile, I see you also have the Sony A700…. tell me about it?? mmmmmm
Oh, it’s only a temporary thing. The A700…if you get this you’ll consider the A100 a disposable. The sound, speed, quality, ergonomics, features, sound, quality, sound…you get the idea?? I have the A100 as a secondary camera at this stage but rarely use it. Nothing wrong with it, just the A700 is the dogs wotsits.
Any ideas on the Canon 400D? I ran it yesterday on a bright overcast day and ISO400 at f9 I was getting a shutter speed of 1/40 sec with the kit lens on a colourful plastic tractor. This doesn’t sound right to me so I’m going to run a comparison with the A100 today. It seems on the face of it that the camera isn’t getting enough light. I’ve tried both lenses with the same effect (EFS 18-55 1:3.5 – 5.6 & Sigma 18-200 1:3.5 – 6.3). Even with OS operating on the sigma I was getting soft or blurred images of an object at 10ft. Obviously handholding at 1/40 sec is going to result in the majority of cases with a soft or blurred image. I tried this with Raw mode too and the same result.
Any suggestions would be helpful. By the way, this camera has already been returned to Canon and they’ve already replaced the inner workings…allegedly.
Alan
Thanks for all your help guys, to be honest it’s going over my head but I have confidence the camera problems (if there are any) will be solved by Alan. However the bottom line is(I think) that I have to improve…. big time.
Pat
Yes Constantine, and thanks. Irishwonkafan tweaked some controls and hey presto it’s fine. I’ve taken some deacent shots and posted.
I actually bought a new Canon 40 D the other day and am happy enough with that too
Pat :lol:
Any idea what settings you set?
I have a 400D so I would be interested to know.Cheers,
Martin
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