embarrassing question..

[troyer16]

hey all, im on vacation and looking at my photos on my computer and it seems stupid but the only shots that are sharp are my verticle shots. All my horizontal ones seem slightly OOF, like camera shake. Its strange though because the majority of them are like that. Any help?

[PacAce]

Any samples?

[troyer16]

the internet where i am at is extrememly slow but i am working on trying to get samples up. could it also be from the extremely cheap SUNPAK CP filter i used? I dunno its just the strangest thing.

[Robert_Lay]

the internet where i am at is extrememly slow but i am working on trying to get samples up. could it also be from the extremely cheap SUNPAK CP filter i used? I dunno its just the strangest thing.


I would say that you have to have a darn good reason for putting anything in front of your lens - even a high priced filter. There are many possible artifacts that may find their way into your image due to filters - every air/glass interface is a potential problem. The lens manufacturers put a lot of effort and expense into their anti-reflective coatings, and anything you put in front of that has to be considered as a possible degradation.

However, blurred pictures are more often a case of not using the focus or auto-focus properly. I would suggest doing some experiments to make sure that you are using the AF properly. For example, I generally use center point only, and I often forget to point where I want to focus first, mash down half way to lock that focus point, and then recompose. The usual result is that I have focussed on the background instead of the subject.

[troyer16]

Thank you for the reply, I am using the center point and its all landscape shots. Im trying to get to inifnity in focus but almost nothing is.

[kevin_c]

What sort of aperture & shutter speed settings are you using?

[troyer16]

AV mode differning between f/8 11 16

[kevin_c]

What sort of shutter speed did this give you - were you hand holding the camera? If so the shutter speed may have been a bit slow to avoid camera shake, maybe you just had faster speeds the 'portrait' shots - Just a thought...

[simwells]

It's definately a Circular Polariser not a Linear one? If it's a Linear the AF could be playing up.
Otherwise it's possible the cheap filters make the image much softer so it appears OOF

[totalbeginner]

It's definately a Circular Polariser not a Linear one? If it's a Linear the AF could be playing up.

I was going to suggest exactly the same thing, especially as the OP has suggested a link between portrait and landscape format which could indicate AF problems with a linear polarizer.

[Croasdail]

Take the dang filter off.... really. Unless your shooting slowly and deliberately, a CP can often cause more problems then it fixes. It has it's purpose, and there is a time to use it... just not all the time. Take that out of the mix, and see what you come up with.

[troyer16]

the filter is definatly a CP. I think it was that that was messing them up though. Depressing because my trips practically over :(

[Cubix Rube]

Ya know...with a CPL, you have to rotate it to find that point that gives you the maximum effect. A 90 degree rotation has a great deal of impact to the light. If the OP is rotating his camera back and forth, and not rotating his CPL each time to compensate, the effect on the detail and color, as a result of the rotation of the CPL, may appear to be an issue with focus...

Just a thought.

[Glenn NK]

Ya know...with a CPL, you have to rotate it to find that point that gives you the maximum effect. A 90 degree rotation has a great deal of impact to the light. If the OP is rotating his camera back and forth, and not rotating his CPL each time to compensate, the effect on the detail and color, as a result of the rotation of the CPL, may appear to be an issue with focus...

Just a thought.

And a good thought too.

Even a few degrees either side of optimum on a polarizer has quite an effect.

OP: have you ever tried manual focus? Apparently it works.;) ;)

[Tel]

If its only effecting your landscape orientated shots then are you sure its not he app you're viewing the files with? I had this problem in an internet cafe once, I can't remember the app because it was a Windows machine I'm used to working on Macs but it only showed portrait shots as sharp unless I zoomed in to 1:1, in which case it showed everything perfectly.

Not sure if it helps but make sure you zoom in and check it out.

[jrobert]

Might it be as simple as the camera needing, but not seeing, a contrasty, vertical edge, meaning vertical in the camera's normal orientation? A70 focuses that way. Often I'll pre-focus a portrait-oriented shot in landscape position, using a handy vertical edge, if the scene doesn't offer an appropriate (horizontal, if I'm going to turn the camera) one.

-jeff-

[Mstar]

Have you been taking something a bit naughty? Maybe a bit too much drink? Does everything also look a bit fuzzy when not admiring your pieces of art? :)

[Hangerhead]

Ya know...with a CPL, you have to rotate it to find that point that gives you the maximum effect. A 90 degree rotation has a great deal of impact to the light. If the OP is rotating his camera back and forth, and not rotating his CPL each time to compensate, the effect on the detail and color, as a result of the rotation of the CPL, may appear to be an issue with focus...

Just a thought.

groans...
so that's why so many of my shots on ai servo mode (panning!) at british superbikes lok OOF.
I also had a CPL on the 300mm lens (was using out to 200mm) and distressingly few shots looked really sharp.
poor technique? Never ???