soft/oof iamges-why?

I'm using a 450d that is new to me. I took this with the kit lens at 55mm and auto everything. It looks really soft, almost as if it's not quite in focus when viewed at 100%. I cropped out this geezer's face (I call him dad) at 100% to include a sample below.

Most shots with this camera are turning out like this. There is a cheapo UV filter on the lens that I forgot was on there if that makes any difference. My suspicion is that there is a photographer error. Could there be an equipment error that's causing this?

Thanks for the help.

Post the shot settings...often times it is very useful in diagnosing problems

Try taking some test shots with and without the UV filter. If you have a really cheap filter, it CAN result in worse image quality.

What AF settings are you using? Did you lock it into a particular AF point that's not on the man's face?

Also, what aperture settings are being used? If you're close to the subject and are using a large aperture, then you have a relatively shallow depth of field to work with. Anything outside that range is going to be progressively more out of focus. When you want to keep everything in focus (for example, in a landscape shot), try using f/11 or f/16.

A cheap filter can cause issues and it really serves very little purpose. Are you getting the focus OK light in the viewfinder and using just one focus point?

I also use the kit lens on occasion and mine is soft below f6.1. A 100% crop would be soft at f5.6.

Use more USM?

I hadn't selected a single focus point. However, I did have the crosshairs light up on my subject (dad) and the focus light gave me the OK. The shot settings are as follows...
1/125
f9
split metering (I thought I was set to eval metering)-it was in full auto mode-wouldn't this be a moot point?
ISO 200
flash off
55mm
large jpeg
focus is set to AI focus

As for USM, that's not something I can adjust, is it? In fact, I don't think the kit lens even has USM.

I'll start by taking off the filter and proceed as feedback indicates.

Thanks again!

UnSharpMask is a sharpening function in Photoshop.

From your settings I see no reason for the image to be that soft.

Im Sasquatch wrote in post #6745114
=I'm Sasquatch;6745114]I hadn't selected a single focus point. However, I did have the crosshairs light up on my subject (dad) and the focus light gave me the OK. The shot settings are as follows...
1/125
f9
split metering (I thought I was set to eval metering)-it was in full auto mode-wouldn't this be a moot point?
ISO 200
flash off
55mm
large jpeg
focus is set to AI focus

As for USM, that's not something I can adjust, is it? In fact, I don't think the kit lens even has USM.

I'll start by taking off the filter and proceed as feedback indicates.

Thanks again!

From what you said, it looks like the filter is a likely culprit here. Even though the kit lens very cheaply made, it's actually not a bad lens at all when stopped down to f/8 and beyond. That should not be causing the problem. If you have AF set to the man's face, then the AF is evaluating the correct point.

One thing that MIGHT be an issue (probably unlikely) is whether your lens has an AF problem. Some lens have front/back focusing issues that rob sharpness. You can download and print a focus testing chart here:

http://focustestchart.​com/focus21.pdf

Just follow the directions in the PDF and you can test whether your lens is focusing correctly.


You might also want to play with the image adjustments in your camera. Bump up sharpening a notch or two and see how the results change. The 450D probably applies pretty heavy sharpening by default (since it's a consumer level camera), but some other cameras (like the Nikon D200 that I used to have) apply very little sharpening in-camera when left to the default settings, and so would produce rather soft images unless sharpening was bumped up in the image adjustment menu or during post-processing.

That is quite soft, if it were me I'd first try to eliminate any variables when testing it.

If you have a tripod set it on that. Then you might try manually focusing on something, and if nothing works see if a friend will let you try their lens on your camera to narrow down what it might be.

Good luck, hope you figure it out so you can get to some happy shooting

Titus213 wrote in post #6745154
UnSharpMask is a sharpening function in Photoshop.

Ooops... who's the new guy on POTN?

Thanks for the help. I will download the focus chart and give that a go. I hijacked a bunch of my dad's lenses and had a good time with them on my old Pentax 35mm. It looks as though he is about to lose a Canon EF lens for a little while.

I'd say if its a crop then hand movement is the most likely suspect here.

The image looks like you were standing pretty darn far away with your 55mm and you tried to crop it digitally to get in closer. Am I right?

Reign wrote in post #6745468
The image looks like you were standing pretty darn far away with your 55mm and you tried to crop it digitally to get in closer. Am I right?

I cropped out everything else to show the detail that was fuzzy. I didn't think it would be too smooth to post a 4.5mb picture to POTN. I didn't blow up the image that I posted.

It's interesting that handshake was mentioned as my hands shake terribly. I thought I'd be safe with an IS lens and 125 shutter speed. If it were only a few images, I'd assume handshake was it. Unfortunately, it's a lot (most) of the images I took yesterday.

I'm printing up the focus chart now and I've removed the filter. I'll try the focus test and see what happens.

Im Sasquatch wrote in post #6745114
=I'm Sasquatch;6745114]focu​s is set to AI focus

AI focus is the problem. Full auto mode you can only use ai-focus and this is continuous focusing letting the camera decide what in the scene to focus on. Since you didn't post the entire photo, the camera could have focused on something 25 feet behind the person instead of the person.

I suggest you get out of auto mode and into P mode for starters using single-shot focusing choosing your focus point (not having all AF points highlighted). Focus on your subject and recompose (holding the shutter button down halfway or just use the * button (see custom functions) or AF-on button depending on your Canon model and then take the picture.

This is the entire image shrunk down to 20% of it's original size. At 100%, it's so rediculously large that you can't help but notice the detail being lost. I just printed the image and it looks decent. Not great, but decent as far as being sharp goes. It appears as though I may be focused a bit in front of my subject.

The second image was taken in program-1/8th, f6.3, 200ISO, split metering (I swear it was on eval metering!) at 55mm and hand held. Again, this is shrunk down to 20% of it's original size. At 100%, the stump looks soft just like my subject does in the 1st shot.

Am I stewing about nothing?

3rd shot was in program as well-hand held, ambient light and reduced to 20% of it's original size. 125/s f3.5 400ISO 18mm
From a certain point of view, that branch sticking out looks like the head of a monster.