650d/t4i pictures soft

I have bought a second hand 650d with 3 lenses 18-55 kit/tamron 70-300 and a sigma 300mm f4 (one of the older ones apo macro i think) i am having problems with my pictures as they all seem soft only occassionally i get a sharp picture. I have tried every setting and even in auto the pictures seem slightly out off focus. Could there be a problem with the camera? Is there any think i should check/try? Or is it my lack of talent?

Try using single point/center point focus. If you are using zone AF you will not get the focus where you want it. Also make sure you are not moving the camera while taking the shot. Squeeze the shutter button slowly and smoothly.

So many possibilities. Focus, insufficient shutter speed, motion blur, lots of possibilities. If you can post a couple of photos with issues perhaps we can get a better hand on the problem.

Post a few photos with EXIF intact.

gonzogolf wrote in post #15674993
So many possibilities. Focus, insufficient shutter speed, motion blur, lots of possibilities. If you can post a couple of photos with issues perhaps we can get a better hand on the problem.

Word.

Try shooting on a tripod (or table if no tripod). Shoot an object using the AF. Then shoot the same object in live view, magnified, MF to see if the focus on the lens is off.

If you're shooting RAW, you have to apply some sharpening to the files just incase you're shooting that way and seeing soft.

f-stop 4.5
exposer time 1/200
focal length 141mm
metering mode pattern
exif 0230

using a tamron 70-300mm

f-stop 4.5
exposer 1/200
iso 800
focal length 130mm
metering pattern

tamron 70-300mm

Keep in mind that using the 1/focal length rule of thumb you should account for the crop factor of the body. So at 144mm your minimum shutter speed ought to be a shade over 1/200 (144 X 1.6= 1/230) So its highly possible that you are getting some motion blur here from your slower shutter speed.

Nothing to the extend that should bother me.
Gonzo has a good point for you.

f-stop f/20
exposure 1/200
iso 1600
focal length 300mm
metering pattern
using tamron 70-300mm

(the squirel is eating an ice cream)

How much crtopping has been done on those pics.
Post the uncropped versions.

Agreed... in all three cases the most likely thing is some camera shake that causes a little bit of overall image blur.

First shot (rooster)... the shutter speed is pushing your luck. 144mm focal length handheld at 1/200... you'd be well advised to put the camera on a tripod (might not be practical in this case) or increase the ISO to be able to use a faster shutter speed, handheld. With that lens at 300mm, you should use 1/500 shutter speed. At 200mm, 1/320. It would be better if you could use higher, rather than lower. You don't mention the ISO used for that photo, but I suspect could have doubled it to use twice as fast a shutter speed, which would be much safer.

The second image (metal sculpture) is more reasonable, but still marginal. If you'd used ISO 1600 instead, you could have used 1/400. That shot doesn't look bad to me anyway. Maybe it's just because I'm looking at it at internet resolutions.

The third shot (the squirrel) 1/200 is way too slow for 300mm, you should at least use 1/500 but would be better off using 1/640 or faster. Here you used a good high ISO, but way too small an aperture: f20. No need to use such a small aperture. Open up to f10 or f7.1 or so and use a much higher shutter speed.

Your 18-55 probably has IS... Image stabilization that helps you hand hold shots at slower shutter speeds. Some Tamron lenses have VC (vibration control) and some Sigma lenses have OS (optical stabilization) which are essentially the same thing and help in the same way. However, whatever they call it, stabilization can only help reduce blur from camera movement... if you use too slow a shutter speed you still can get subject movement blur.

Other common problems that people mistake for focus issues:

1. Do you have "protection" filters on your lenses? If so, remove them and try again without. Often filters, if not top-quality and multi-coated, can cause some overall image blur.

2. Insufficient image sharpening. If shooting JPEGs with the camera, you can increase sharpening in the camera or add a little more in post-processing. If shooting RAW files, you can apply more sharpening when converting the RAW to JPEG in your computer. The high resolution (18MP) cameras need more sharpening than earlier, lower resolution cameras did. Canon seems to have used a pretty strong anti-alias filter on the 18MP cameras (the 7D's is stonger than the AA filter on the other 18MP models).

3. You could actually be missing focus... View this Youtube videoand the other two in the series about Canon cameras autofocus... how it works, how to use it... This will really help (your camera's AF system is most similar to the 50D discussed in the video).

One possible reason for missed focus is if you are simply allowing the camera to automatically select focus, well it's doing pretty darned well. But leaving it up to the camera is always going to be less precise than planning and selecting the point of focus yourself. For precise focus, it's better to select a single point manually and then put it right where you want the camera to focus. Your camera doesn't have "zone focus"... it offers two types of AF point selection: All points/auto selected or single point/manually selected. NOTE: If using any of what Canon calls the "Basic Modes", settings on the mode dial indicated by icons like the Running Man, the Scenic Mountain, Macro Flower, etc... you might be forced to use all points/auto selected. Your sharpness, choice of JPEG vs RAW and other factors are also dictated by that preset mode. Switch to P or Av or Tv, which Canon calls the Creative modes, but allow you to control more of settings of the camera. All of these are still "auto exposure", but stop there and even let you tweak exposure a bit (see Exposure Compensation). Only M and B are fully manual modes.

If new to using DSLRs, you'd do well to get a copy of "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson.... This might be the best $15 you ever spend on your photography and will help you dealing with the above situations, when setting up exposure that will give you the results you want.

The user manual that came with the camera is very helpful. But there are also guide books specific for your camera, that nicely complement the manual. I always buy one or two of these when I get a new camera, to read along with the manual so I can learn to use it well as quickly as possible. There are a lot of different ones... I've bought and read and can recommend those by David Busch, Charlotte Lowrie and Michael Guncheon (not sure if they've all three written guides for your particular camera... but other authors writing for the same series would be similar).

thanks very much for the detailed feedback. This is my first DSLR i have had it for about 2 weeks and as you can see from the pics i have a lot to learn . i have been reading up on line and been watching alot of youtube videos. Thanks again