Sharpness - does it have something to do with the body?

[DYORD]

...or definitely the lens?

I own a 450D, and I don't have any "L" lenses. Before I bought it, I considered of buying a Nikon counterpart. But someone have told me that
the features in Canon is far more greater than Nikon.

Anyhow, A friend of mine has a Nikon D300... I just can't compare its brilliancy and sharpness. And he's not even using an expensive lens. I'm comparing his kit lens with mine.. His has brilliant colors and sharper images (just not sure with my focusing though :D). I know you can't compare a 450D with the D300 but I thought the only difference is the features not the output.

Please enlighten me on this. Thanks

[Nortelbert]

You can set the amount of sharpness in camera... it's in your manual. From what I've read, Nikon processes images a little more in camera so that could account for some of the difference.

[jm4ever]

Well a couple of things come to mind. Are you using the 18-55 non IS lens or the newer IS model? If its the non IS one then this could be your problem as its not a very good lens over all. The IS model is supposed to be much sharper. So his kit lens may very well be better than that one your using.

Are you shooting raw or jpeg and what is your friend shooting? If your both shooting jpeg then I think the Nikon body may be doing a little more processing of the images in camera than the 450D. You can adjust your sharpness and saturation in camera and that might help get you closer to his results.

Try shooting raw and processing your own shots with photoshop or DPP. You'd be amazed how much better a shot can become after a little processing. Believe me your 450D is capable of producing some excellent images.

[WaltA]

Were you comparing images on the LCD of the cameras or did you load them on a PC?

If not, as discussed in an earlier thread here, you were really only comparing the LCD's on the cameras.

[amonline]

L lenses do make a difference, but like others have said; work with DPP to find your desired settings and then set those defaults in your cam. This will be a start. There are far too many things to look at here. Is he shooting jpg? Are you shooting raw? Is this at the LCD or computer? Etc, Etc...

[bjyoder]

Speaking totally not as an engineer on these matters, I would have to guess that sensor design/execution can have an impact on sharpness, mainly because of the micro-lenses that are part of a sensor's design.

You also have megapixels. More megapixels can capture more points of light, giving the impression of sharpness.

The easiest way to improve sharpness is, obviously, the lens, which can just be swapped out as needed.

[Grimes]

Depends if he is shooting JPEG too. Supposedly the in camera processing in Nikons gives more sat and sharpness to the JPEGs produced. You can easily duplicate this in software with your images.

[RDKirk]

The difference you may see in a casual comparison of images from those two cameras is almost certainly a difference in processing.

[DStanic]

I would think that in the lower ISOs (100-400) there shouldn't be any real noticable difference between the cameras. At the higher ISOs the D300 may have less noise and more detail therefore *sharper* images. 450D and D300 are the same megapixels so that should keep things on an equal playing ground.

As mentioned Nikon and Canon process JPGs differently in-camera. Person i work with has a Nikon d50 w/kit lens and a 40D with 17-55 IS and 70-200 f/4L and likes to use the Nikon for snapshots as they look "better" out of the camera. If you shoot RAW like alot of people that should put things on an even playing ground too.

If you are comparing on the LCD- the Nikon is higher resolution so it's a poor way to compare.

Perhaps the Nikon has a sharper lens, or was set at f/8 or something, or maybe he just has more skills ???

If you want to show him up just get a 70-200 f/4L cause it's a hella sharp lens! :D

[ingraman]

Were you comparing pictures straight out of the camera? Or was there post-processing involved? Saturation can be adjusted in camera or in the computer. The 450D kit lens is pretty sharp, but Canon raws tend to come out of the camera slightly soft. You can boost sharpness in camera or in post-processing.