valleymiss Loc: Mississippi

The last few months I have had so much difficulty getting a sharp photo, I am wondering if I ever will again. I use a Canon Rebel XS. I use 3 lenses regularly,but have one I seldom use. I have a
Canon EF 75-300 mm Zoom 1:4-5.6III
Canon EFS 18-55mm Kit Lens for the XS and has an Image Stabilizer
Sigma DG70-300mm1:4-5.6 This one has a Macro Switch..
Canon EF28-90mm


The images look perfectly fine until I put them at 100%,then they are horrible...which won't be acceptable at all with the Stock agencies.

I had a Rebel XT and 3 of those lenses are what I used with it.That one quit ,so I bought the XS through the plan that Canon has where you give them your camera and you get a refurbished one at a reduced price.

Anyway I have tried different settings, including manual,different
exposures, everything that I know to do and most still come out terrible. I do this for a hobby and don't claim to be anyrhing but an amatuer,but I would like to have more good photos than
bad.

One other thing I might mention, I only see with one eye..my left one. It has always been so with me since I was a child,but until the last year I could see light with the right one,but had a bad fall in 2010 and don't see the light anymore.I don't know if this has anything tp do with it or not,but thought I would mention it.

It seems like the focusing is way off,and occasionally I am lucky and take a stunning photo. Here is an example of what I am talking about. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,

Valleymiss

Cardinal


Bluebird Shutter speed 1/332,focal length,190mm,


Bluebird Taken in same place as the first one

fcrawley Loc: Melbourne, FL

Did you ever have similar results with your old camera? Have you always has these results with this camera? This is a very interesting problem. The first thing I would check is the lens calibration. Put the camera on a tripod and about 6 feet away on the floor put a yardstick down so that you look at it longways through the lens. The camera should be looking down at about 45 degrees. Put the camera in Aperture Priority and open it all the way and focus on the 18 inch mark in AF. Take a photo at each aperature setting as you close the lens. The start over in MF. When you look at the photos there should be even distances on either side of the 18 inch mark that are in focus. So it should be in focus from 17 to 19, 16 to 20 15 to 21 etc as you close down the diaphragm. Each lens may be different but they should all be close. So, if for a single lens it's correct for AF, but not MF then it is likely a camera body issue. If the results are the same in AF as MF but they aren't balanced then it's likely a lens issue. If all the lenses are the same in AF and MF then it's probably a camera body issue. The reason to do this test is to check the calibration of the focusing in the body. If they are blurry and you focused spot on in MF and the focus didn't change with AF as you look through the viewfinder and they are still blurry, then you definitely have a sensor alignment issue that could be causing this. I just want to see if the problem is in your AF system or in the sensor.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

There seems to be a variety of possible problems. Without access to the EXIF data, it's hard to judge. There definitely seems to be chromatic aberration in the second photo. Was the camera still, or was there movement? That could explain softness, though not the chromatic aberration. On the other hand, if you post-processed these photos, that could have been introduced by some of the filters.

By all means, check the lenses as fcrawley suggested. If you have another camera available that can use those lenses, I'd duplicate the tests with both cameras and compare the results.

valleymiss Loc: Mississippi

:-( :-( Hi, Thank you for yoour reply. I did have this problem with my other camera but it wasn't so often. This has been going on with this camera about 5 months. I attributed it to my lack of knowledge to be sure I had the camera set right. I had a Kodak 35mm before I went to the DSLR and loved it..had very good success with it. But I have not been able to do as well with either of these two. However when I first got this one I had some pretty good photos,and at first I did with this one. I don't know if I accidently shake it on the tripod or not. The Cardinal photo was taken using a tripod. The 2 bluebird photos
were taken with the camera setting flat on the top rail of my porch. I din't know that I mover the camera with either,but I could have. Anyway, I am sending the the extra info Maybe that will give you a clearer picture. The subjects look clear in the view finder and on the LCD Monitor,but when I get them on the screen that is another story.

for the cardinal


for the 1st blue bird


for the 2nd bluebird

photogrl57 Loc: Tennessee

Have you tried adjusting the diopter for your eyesight? I had to about a month ago ... and the photos are much sharper now .... it's a tiny dial near the view finder. If you look at something through the viewfinder and adjust that dial you will see things go in and out of focus.

valleymiss Loc: Mississippi

Hi Again.Here is another picture I took with the same camera,but I used the Kit lens with it.This came straight out of the camera no post processing except for cropping.

Pine Seedling


EXinfo

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

Hi valleymiss!
A quick look at your cardinal photo shows that it appears sharp enough, with no chromatic aberration (as seen in the other photos) but while enlarging it on my screen it seems to pixelate rather quickly. My question is: you are apparently shooting in "jpeg" mode, are you shooting in "normal" "low" or "fine" "high" quality?
I shoot Nikon, so some of your controls are different than mine. But overall, your shooting with a 10 megapixel camera, and it looks like 3 megapixel in your photos.
You might check this angle to see if your quality adjustments are correct.

valleymiss Loc: Mississippi

I have tried to adjust it,but can't tell that it helped much. Tomorrow I will work at it some more. This is so Frustrating. Thanks for your help.

Another cardinal


the extra data for this cardinal photo

RocketScientist Loc: Littleton, Colorado

I have a hard time focusing too. I am very near sighted. When it comes to adjusting the diopter, the way I do it is to let the camera autofocus on something, then adjust the diopter while the focus is still locked.

Another thought is to use the live view function. It might help quite a bit. Auto focus is slower this way however. If you don't have face recognition turned on, you can use the + button (rear of camera upper right corner) to enlarge and get very exact focus.

I shoot RAW + JPG or just JPG on my T1i, it depends on the circumstances. I'll suggest for avoiding Danilo's concern about pixelation set your quality to Large with the nice round quarter circle to make it the finest of shot quality.

You can avoid using the screen photos by placing a check in the "Store original" check box next to the browse button where you upload the photos. Most of us will be able to see the EXIF data that way.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

it's camera shake. You can tell because of the "doubled" edges on everything.

I have the same problem...I'm horrible at keeping the camera steady. Speeds that others shoot easily, I can't.

Have you eliminated the possibility of camera shake by taking a few outdoors shots at a high shutter speed and a large depth of field? Possibly put the camera on a tripod?

RockinRobinG Loc: The Middle of Nowhere, Nebraska

Change your metering mode from pattern to spot metering. That should help you to auto focus on a single subject.

Gary Truchelut Loc: Coldspring, TX

I curious, how does the metering mode have any effect on the focusing ability of the camera? Same question with the diopter. I didn't think they were connected in any way to the focusing ability of the lens or camera.
I tend to think the problem is camera shake. I would try using a tripod or setting the camera on a solid surface and using a remote release or the timer to see if that helps.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Gary,
It really doesn't but sometimes people say "I can't get focus" when they are perfectly focused on an object in front of or behind their intended focus point, but they don't realize it. The camera chose the wrong point of focus and did it's job but the result wasn't what they wanted.

RockinRobinG Loc: The Middle of Nowhere, Nebraska

Well said.

RockinRobinG Loc: The Middle of Nowhere, Nebraska