New 50mm f/1.8 photo

[mozzie]

I finally ended up getting a 50mm and took it for a brief spin. Love the lens but not too sure about the photos .

This is one that i liked the look of on my camera but when i got it up on my computer it seems just a little soft. Its a comment i've gotten before too. So putting it up for some suggestions - i am not entirely sure what i am doing wrong? or if its just me that thinks its a bit fuzzy... all advice would be loved.



200 ISO, f/18, 1/80 sec, no flash, 50mm focal length

[MATT]

It doesn't look soft at this size.

Just remember that just because you have f1.8 lens you don't need to take every image at 1.8. This a trap I fell into with my 1.4.

But this is a nice image. I like the angle and it seems clear and crisp to me.

regards
MATT

[zafra52]

It looks very sharp to mee, too. The question is : have you sharpen the photo or is it as it came out of the camera? I f you take a photo in raw and convert it to JPG you loose quality.

[Glen]

It looks sharp to me too, I like the image as well

[mozzie]

Its straight out of the camera - jpeg...havnt worked on the RAW - not quite good at pp yet.

It does look sharp on this size - I am thinking of printing it to mayb see if it is or isnt - my monitor isnt that great - gives weird colours amongst many other things...

i think it might only look soft if i look at it either full size or close to full size which i am guessing i dont need seeing as i dont print that large.

thanks for the comments

[shakey]

Hard to tell with this size image, but a couple of things to note. Many digital photos look a little soft straight out of the camera, no matter how good the glass is. Most need a little sharpening, which can be done in computer software like photoshop or as a menu choice in camera. Don't have a canon so I can't be any more specific than that. In addition some of the photo hosting sites apply an automatic sharpening algorithm as well...Smugmug does but I'm not sure about Flicker.

If you have in camera sharpening turned off then likely you will need to do some in PP. More time consuming, but at least you have control over the amount of sharpening applied. If your hosting site applies more sharpening then then there is little you can do about it apart from suggesting to the host that they provide an "opt out" choice, that's if you have applied your own sharpening.

[Mj]

To the other comments I'll add the following suggestion... assuming I'm reading the attributes of the shot correctly, you've a relatively low shutter speed at 1/80 and you've stopped down to f/18. Firstly you might be seeing some blur due to shake that isn't evident to us at the size posted, and second, at f/18 you might be starting to get to the point where the lens is not as sharp as it might be at wider apertures. I'd recommend opening up the lens to say f/11 with a corresponding increase in shutter speed and see how that compares.

Mj.

[mozzie]

second, at f/18 you might be starting to get to the point where the lens is not as sharp as it might be at wider apertures. I'd recommend opening up the lens to say f/11 with a corresponding increase in shutter speed and see how that compares.

Mj.

I am a little confused - i thought a smaller aperture was meant to increase sharpness?

But i do think the faster shutter speed would be a good thing to try out

[Mj]

I am a little confused - i thought a smaller aperture was meant to increase sharpness?

Well... yes and no... you do increase depth of field with smaller apertures... however there are other factors such as diffraction that come into play... refer http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/diffraction-photography.htm
probably more info than you really need but a quick browse will give you the idea.

The other rule to remember is to ensure a shutter speed of at least 1/focal_length. So at 1/80 with a 50mm lens your getting close enough that lack of steady hands could result in blur.

Mj.

[gstark]

I am a little confused - i thought a smaller aperture was meant to increase sharpness?

But i do think the faster shutter speed would be a good thing to try out

Don't confuse sharpness with depth of field.

Seriously ... the two are related, but are not (quite) the same thing.

Depth of field is an optical property that can be mathematically calculated given certain properties of a given lens. As you increase the aperture (numeric value) you reduce the physical size of the aperture opening, and thus gain a greater area of depth of field available to your lens. DoF relates to the range of an area within an image that is rendered in sharp focus.

But as I said, this is an optical property that can be mathematically calculated, and there are formulae available for just this task.

The apparent sharpness of a lens is more of a physical property ascribed to any given lens, and it varies from one lens to the next, even from lenses of exactly the same type.

Firstly, as you move your lens through its range of aperture settings, you will be increasing the DoF that your lens provides, but at the same time, you will also progress through a range of sharpness levels. Typically, many lenses are at their sharpest when closed down a stop or two; I would expect your lens's performance to be at its optimal at around f/5.6 - f/11.

Sharpness relates though to the level of detail that a lens may be able to resolve. Consider, say, the fabric on a shirt - the texture of a weave, the fineness of the sewing, and so on. Or the details - pores, blemishes, etc - that may be apparent on the surface of somebody's skin. Different lenses resolve these factors differently, and the sharper the lens, the greater the level of these details that may be seen.

Does this help any?

[mozzie]

Wow thanks Gary ... it does explain A LOT --- btw this board definately needs a *boW* smiley.....

I only recently managed to get my head around the DoF thing so now one moor to add to the list of things to figure out.

THANKZZZZ