20D and blurry photos

Hi guys,

I just bought a used 20D for my wife and I cannot help but noticed that the photos are coming out a little blurry. I had a 40D and a 5D recently and though they are better cameras, I still expected the 20D to perform better than her Fuji Finepix P&S camera. I think I might end up selling it because she's doesn't seem to grasp the SLR style cameras. I'll attach a few photos for you guys to see. Please tell me if you see the same thing (that it's not sharp as it can be). Shot RAW and I had to apply maximum sharpness (+10) in DPP (latest version 3.4+)

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the lens is a 18-55mm IS

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strancali wrote in post #5830060
Hi guys,

I just bought a used 20D for my wife and I cannot help but noticed that the photos are coming out a little blurry. I had a 40D and a 5D recently and though they are better cameras, I still expected the 20D to perform better than her Fuji Finepix P&S camera. I think I might end up selling it because she's doesn't seem to grasp the SLR style cameras. I'll attach a few photos for you guys to see. Please tell me if you see the same thing (that it's not sharp as it can be). Shot RAW and I had to apply maximum sharpness (+10) in DPP (latest version 3.4+)

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the lens is a 18-55mm IS

from what i see there really really sharp for that lens......

if anything you may need to get better glass to see a dramatic increase

Hi, thanks for your input. Maybe I should attach some photos without pp. I had to sharpen these to maximum and I don't think it should have to be like that right?

strancali wrote in post #5830962
Hi, thanks for your input. Maybe I should attach some photos without pp. I had to sharpen these to maximum and I don't think it should have to be like that right?

honestly they were prolly ok without photoshop... the other thing you can try is going into the cameras menu and setting a manual picture type with a higher sharpness and contrast... i know i did that on my xti when i bought it

If she's coming from a P&S, have you shown her the correct way to hold the camera? It's very easy to induce a little shake from the action of pressing the shutter button.

Bob

onecleanjetta wrote in post #5832355
honestly they were prolly ok without photoshop... the other thing you can try is going into the cameras menu and setting a manual picture type with a higher sharpness and contrast... i know i did that on my xti when i bought it

Well I had set her camera to shoot RAW just in case so I can save the bad ones. Maybe I am comparing it to my 5D and expecting that quality?

Canon Bob wrote in post #5832593
If she's coming from a P&S, have you shown her the correct way to hold the camera? It's very easy to induce a little shake from the action of pressing the shutter button.

Bob

Hi Bob,

Yes I showed her as much as i can with using the 20D. She's going to try and use it for a couple of more weeks to see if she can get the hang of it. I just want to make sure that it's operator error and not the model itself. I saw a lot of "blurry" post and wonder if that's the characteristics of a 20D.

We could get a better idea of the camera and/or lens' performance if you would either post the photos with Exif embedded or at least write out the relevant details (f/stop, shutter speed, ISO, focal length, processing parameters in DPP). Also, it would be best to show us unsharpened 100% crops.

SLR style cameras are more than just switch on - point - and shoot. It's a style that takes years to master and appreciate. Your poor wife has been hit with a 'brain overload' with a hell of alot of techy jargon, and pointless carry on just to 'take a photo'.

Keep it simple for her - and enjoyable. Sell the 20D and buy her a portable printer or something else for her Fuji.