New D30 Owner - Help!

[smills]

So, just bought a D30 from Jessops, camera (display model taken 500 shots), new grip, clone battery and new 256mb Sandisc CF = £1555 (UK), I'm pleased! I could do with some help though as I'm getting soft pictures (I know the images usually need some work and maybe its me not concentrating on what I'm doing in which case I'll get better). I have the Canon sofware plus the CRW converter from the Canon site. I also have PS 6.0, Bibble 2.99 and LinearSharpen 3.4.
So-:

Jpeg
What are the "best" in camera settings?
What sharpening settings do you typically use to get the "best" image for printing?

Raw
When converting to 16bit linear what quality settings should you apply if
a) you want an image that needs little or no further work?
b) you want to apply the LinearSharpen action?

Printing
I'm using the embedded colour profile, PS set to Adobe 1998 and Epson 870 set to ICM (Adobe 1998), printed images seem as per monitor, does this sound right?

General
Any advice/tips using the camera itself?

[Pekka]

smills wrote:
So, just bought a D30 from Jessops, camera (display model taken 500 shots), new grip, clone battery and new 256mb Sandisc CF = £1555 (UK), I'm pleased! I could do with some help though as I'm getting soft pictures (I know the images usually need some work and maybe its me not concentrating on what I'm doing in which case I'll get better). I have the Canon sofware plus the CRW converter from the Canon site. I also have PS 6.0, Bibble 2.99 and LinearSharpen 3.4.
So-:


Congratulations!

Maybe you have problems getting enough DoF for your photos, or you shoot with too low shutter speeds. Remember that the minimum handheld shutter speed by the "old formula" is 1/focal , but with D30 it is 1/(focal*1.6). And many times you need a lot more, as the sharpness achieved by this calculated to smallish print size and does not take subject movement into account.

D30 acts very differently to small compact digital cameras which are very easy to get sharp because of enormous DoF and small actual focal lenght.

What lenses do you use?


When converting to 16bit linear what quality settings should you apply if
a) you want an image that needs little or no further work?
b) you want to apply the LinearSharpen action?


When exporting linear 16-bit TIFF, only setting that applies is white balance. All other settings are ignored.
LinearSharpen has a chooser, use that to make 4 different sharpness levels and see what you like. Normally the 'normal sharpness' works best.


I'm using the embedded colour profile, PS set to Adobe 1998 and Epson 870 set to ICM (Adobe 1998), printed images seem as per monitor, does this sound right?


Yep! As printer ICM I use printer's own ICC profile but as long as you get good results keep it that way.


Any advice/tips using the camera itself?


Take some time to learn to hold it steady, and learn how shallow DoF can be in low apertures. Shoot shoot and shoot - when you review the photos, think how you did it and what could have been done differently.
Don't be afraid of using the high ISO's.

Keep the camera away from rain, and keep the camera pointing down when you change lenses.

[Darryl]

I am still learning too, but I can definately tell you one thing. Make sure you have a good lens. You can find many recommended lenses on this forum.

I used a Tamron on my A2 and thought it should do fine with my D30. Wrong! Check out my comparison that I posted on this forum.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2208

[Todd]

smills wrote:
I could do with some help though as I'm getting soft pictures

You may also have to adjust your diopter. My -1D has 19 positions and I yet been able to nail down exactly where it should be set (+5?). This is assuming you are manually focusing, of course!

Good Luck

Todd Asher

[PHOTOBUG]

Please post some of your images.

[UK_Terry]

Hi
i am in the same boat as you are.
bought my EOS D30 christmas, took a few (awful) indoor pics of the family - cat etc.
now want to be able to take "Good" photo's that i can print and frame.
the softness was a worry to me and i thought it was the way i was taking them, so started looking on the net and found this and a few other sites to help.
i have posted a couple of my better shots on my webpage. but even these are preety poor.