 FERNANDA KINGSLEY-THOMAS |
problems with sharpness-lens canon 55-250 I have got a canon 500 D that comes with 18-55mm kit lens. It took me 6 months to decide on what extra lens to buy and finally after reading so much and having great comments about the 55mm-250mm I decided to buy it. I am struggling to get sharp pictures with it. At 55mm I can just about get them sharp but not at 100% but if I go higher than 135 mm the quality gets worse, not really sharp even at 50%. I am talking about handholding the camera. I tried taking a picture of my mother with a camera on a tripod at 250mm with the IS turned off and it was sharp at a 100% . The problem is that I cannot carry a tripod with me when I am with people because they get annoyed having to wait. Do you experience the same problem? If I take a picture at 50mm with my 18-55mm I can get sharp pictures but never as clear as many other people and then I have to crop it to get it enlarged.I would like to do it with the 55-250mm but either the lens are bad, or they are too heavy for me to hold with steady hands. I don't know what I am doing wrong. If I try to get the speed real fast to avoid camera shake but if I get the aperture to 8 or 11 then the shutter speed goes down to 125 and if I get it to 600 then the aperture sometimes goes to 5.6 which is not what I want. I don't seem to be able to set the correct aperture with a fast shutter speed to avoid camera shake. I was wondering what I am doing wrong. I thought maybe I will get a 24-105mmL because they are better lens. All I want is sharpness. Your input would be so appreciated. I can upload some pictures if you think might be helpful Fernanda
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
I think you need more practice more than anything. Try different hand/arm positions first to see if you can get steadier. Try your left hand under the lens, with your left elbow up against your side, making a triangle shape from your shoulder down to your elbow, up to your hand. Turn your body sideways a little with your left shoulder towards your subject. Almost like holding a rifle. You don't like using a flash? That would help. If you can get it to 600 at 5.6, you should be okay at 300 f/8. That sounds like outside numbers, not inside. There isn't that much of a difference in depth of field between f/5.6 and f/8. Is it in the pictures that makes you avoid f/5.6, or is it what you've heard or read about always using the smallest aperture that makes you not want to use f/5.6?
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- Bob Cournoyer Contact Bob Cournoyer Bob Cournoyer's Gallery  |
Unless I missed it, you never mentioned iso. Have you up'd the iso to increase shutter speed and keep the aperture where you want it?
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
Gregory & Bob are right on. If you do decide to get an L lens, you will be setting yourself up for more $$ investments in the future. L glass is so sharp & can be a bit addictive - its all I shoot with. The 24-105mm f/4L IS lens is fantastic - lighter than my 24-70mm f/2.8L (no IS) and it is a great lens. Its about $1000 US. Another great lens is the 70-200mm f/4 L (non-IS) & sells for $650 US. This is the best L lens for the price you will find. I had one and it was fantastic. I later sold it to get the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS (which is considerably more $$ & much heavier) as I shoot a lot of low-light concerts & portrait photos. The f/4 version is lighter and I have lots of sharp & beautiful photos I took with that lens. Practice your technique and if you have the ability to rent lenses locally, try out a couple and see for yourself if they are worth the $$ to you. Here is a pic I took when practicing my panning technique with the 70-200mm f/4L lens. The face of Happy Duck is sharp while I was using a slow enough shutter speed to show the movement of her wings. The background fall colors reflecting on the water adds a nice look to the image as well :) Its one of the 1st images I shot with my new Canon 20D and its still a favorite. Love in Light, Carlton
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Randy A. Myers |
The lens is not the main problem. The problem you have is understanding what settings you need. Make sure that your shutter speed is 1.6 times the focal length you are using. If you are at a focal length of 135 mm, that would give you a shutter of 1/216 sec., so anything from 1/200 sec. up would be good. This will cure the camera movement problem. Make sure the aperture is at f-8.0 and you will clear up the sharpness factor for almost any decent lens. Raise the ISO until thse settings are possible. If the ISO gets too high, you will have to use a tripod or use supplemental lighting. If you are still confused, use Auto ISO and put the camera in program. It will do the rest. Good luck.
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FERNANDA KINGSLEY-THOMAS |
~Bob, most of the time I forget to check the shutter speed and avoid to up the ISO which I know would avoid camera shake because my teachers have always mentioned trying to have lower ISO to avoid noise. There is one lady in better photo who uses this lens and her pictures are so sharp and have a clarity that I have never managed. I also saw pictures taken buy another photographer on this site who uses only a Canon powershot G9 and the clarity in his pictures are amazing. What gives this extra clarity? Carlton, thanks so much for your input on the 24-105 mm lens. You also wrote to me when I was thinking of getting the Tamron 18-270mm which I still have not decided because opinions are so varied and sharpness is not great. I just don't want to walk around changing lens. Do you think there is a massive difference between the 18mm and the 24mm. I will try your suggestion of renting different lens. there are shops in London that rent L lens for £50.00 for 3 days. Really good. I am posting some photos I took with the 55-250mm. Randy I love your very clear and straight to the point suggestion. I will go to the zoo in the next few days with my tripod and spend the day alone practising. Thanks you so much for your help
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
The duck is just blurred a little from movement. One quick thing you can do is use some sharpening with photoshop, or whatever program came with your camera. Digital cameras has what's called a high pass filter that's in front of the sensor that causes a little softness to photos. Every photo needs a little sharpening added to it. You photo of the bird feeder and the mother looks like the basic sharpening that every photo needs, wasn't done. So start doing that to your finished photos and you'll see some improvement. If you do ever use another lens, you may see an improvement in sharpness, even if you don't try a L lens. Zoom lenses that have a very wide range of focal lengths like a 55-250, aren't the sharpest anyway. They're convenient because of the range, but it's hard to get a lens with that wide a range to be very sharp. Zooms that have a narrower range, relatively speaking, are usually sharper. It's part of the give and take that happens to practically everything in photography.
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Randy A. Myers |
It's just as I thought. The images where your shutter speed is near or above your focal lenghth are sharp. The one with the cat where the shutter speed is a lot slower than the focal length is blurred due to camera movement. The duck is blurred because it's moving. It's movement at that focal length requires a higher shutter speed. Keep an eye on the focal lenghth and shutter speed relation and you should be good to go.
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