17-85 IS HORRIBLE PICS

Ok My local camera store that I deal with a lot, leant me the 17-85 IS lense, and my pictures sucked so bad!!! Our Families living room was small and not very lit... and I had no external flash... so the pics look horrible@!! and I did'nt bring my 50mm along.. Not only the pics were dark, but out of focus?
I cant wait to bring the thing back to tell you the truth... 4.0-5.6 is no good to me.
Just had to VENT!

It is a good lens if used in good light. If I'm not using a flash, I always go with one of my fast primes. They work great indoors.

The lens is fine, but the application wasn't matched to its strengths.

I even used the on camera flash and did'nt help one bit unless you are up close...
man I am mad...
confused..
and more.

If you have a copy of one of the images available, with EXIF data, it would help resolve the issue. I really don't think that the lens is the source of the problem.

It would indeed be interesting to see the EXIF data for the "bad" images. I've been using this lens for over a month now and find it capable of handling pretty dark interiors. The IS really helps to handhold the lens down to 1/10s. I even got a few sharp shots in the 1/8s handheld. In these cases I would set the shooting mode to continuous and would take 3-4 shots in sequence and then select the sharpest one. Usually at least one of them would be a keeper (as far as sharpness is concerned). Have you been taking most of your shots at the 85mm zoom end? These are harded to handhold in dim light.
You also say that the pictures were dark, which does not sound like a problem of the lens, but a problem of exposure.

--Misha

Thanks for replies.. I am so lost. I dont mean the lense is a bad lense... b/c I have taken some good shots outside.. but absolutely not one picture turned out nice.. and if it was bright enough. it was out of focus??? (btw, it was on auto focus)
I cant even show you any pics b/c I have adjusted levels in PS and fixed them all.
they almost had a gold, brown tinge to them and slightly noisy from ISO 800, which is weird b/c the 20D is normally good for no noise.
I believe it was the operator too, I even said forget it and set it to AUTO after a while..
what more could I do if the ISO was already cranked, and the ap was at it's lowest?

Oh and the focus is weird? Why in the world if it is on AF does it make it clearer to turn the focus ring?? They seem to be so out of focus.

First of all, if you're adjusting levels in photoshop, you didn't get correct exposure to begin with. When you bring levels back up, you increase noise. That's just how it is. Get the exposure right in the first place and noise won't be too bad - regardless of the lens.

Second, a slow lens like that one isn't meant to capture action (assuming you expected to capture kids running around or whatnot) without sufficient light. The IS comes in handy to reduce camera shake but it WON'T stop movement in your subjects. You need ample light to obtain a fast shutter speed for this.

Third, your out of focus shots may be from having the camera in AI Servo mode...it will let you snap a shot whether focus was locked or not. Change it and it won't let you snap a pic without locking focus first. You don't say what camera you were using so this may not be the case. The original Rebel does not have AI Servo in the first place. If you're using manual focus...check the diopter adjustment. It may not be adjusted to your vision. If you were trying to grab action, and you locked focus, you may have not hit the shutter fast enough and the subject ran out of the depth of field, causing an out of focus capture.

Note that none of these problems are the fault of the lens.

The on camera flash is almost useless. Try an external flash or a faster lens.

Ok May I remind you I am new to all this, and new to the 20D of a month...
I appreciate all the help I can get. BTW, I have taken some incredible pics.. just not Xmas day.
So first.. I am using the 20D, and any picture I have taken with the 20D, I have found could use some sort of levels boost.
My camera was not in al servo, it was on one shot.. and I believe if I remember correctly the s/s was just way to slow.. and they looked crappy. I dont mean dark, I mean brown, gold, from lights that were on in the room, and the noise was in the pic before I adjusted levels FYI.

Thanks RKlepper, I normally do use the 50mm, but wanted something a little more wider.. and I hope to be purchase a new ext flash soon, I just wanted to figure out, if there was anymore I could do in this situation.

Sounds to me like you have a white balance problem. That usually happens when you shoot inside with tungsten lamps.

How slow was the s/s? Any EXIFs left?
As for the brown and gold from the lights - that may have to do with the White Balance setting. I do not know about the 20D, but the 350D gets sometimes a bit confused indoors with various types of light sources if set to AWB. If you shoot RAW, then WB settings in the camera should not matter - you can adjust the WB in the RAW files. Also, if you have some kind of a cheap filter in front of your lens and the light sources are in the frame, you may get additional trouble from flares, glares, ghosts, etc... (not to start another "filter-nofilter" war )
As far as being "new to all this", I found articles in the "understanding series" on the luminous-landscape.com website to be quite valuable.

Obviously there is a large learning process involved fro the OP in this thread,. and a few issues that need to be worked out.

But as an aside I think we need to clarify this statement?

I think your other points are spot on but,
Using levels and correct exposure are not neccesarily related in any way. Most Canon digitals default settings have a low contrast,. this is coupled with EOS digitals inherent high dynamic range. High dynamic range means that there is more info, more "steps" if you will between the drakest darks and the brightest whites. This high dynamic range coupled with default low contrast settings equates to more image information to work with. It also almost requires the use of either levels or curves to get the look we desire from our images.


SmilesforLife,..
...using levels for your images is not in any way an indication of a failure on your part. I have used levels on about 98% of the images I have taken with Canon digtals over the years. It "could be " a symptom of a problem.. but not at all neccesarily.

Some things you need to consider are;

Understanding exposure. Shutter speed will be low if there is not enough light. This is why we desire fast lenses in these situations,. or higher ISO settings.

White Balance. Either get it right in Camera,. or shoot RAW to adjust later.

Right tool for the right job. For indoor work,. your right in thinking that your 50mm would be a better choice. that fast aperture of f/1.8 will give you the much faster shutter speeds that the slowr zoom lens can not offer you in those lighting conditions.