-= T2i / 550D users UNITE! (1) =-

BMW, congrats on the camera, and on "post #1". I don't think I've ever seen that before!

Mookalafalas, Thanks Man =)

Hey guys, I just notice the first picture I ever posted on POTN is on the first page of this thread. It's nice to see I'm still active here after 227 pages.

I like how this thread is becoming more and more popular, as more and more people post pictures here. The 60D User Unite thread is no where as active as this one. Good continuation guys, keep it up!

Also, I've been asked what can cause softness on the T2i's older brother thread (), here was my reply. Feel free to comment/correct me or add some more factor if I missed something.

Well, softness can be caused by lots of factor:

You might have a shutter speed to slow. 1/50 can be enough for someone at 200mm without IS but may be for you, even at 18mm with IS, it might not be enough. Your holding technique makes a big role in slow shutter situation. Shooting from a car, at full arm lenght (over your head, under your waist...) also do not help in getting sharp picture at 1/50. Also, you might find 1/30 with IS at 18mm to be enough but when at 135mm, you will most likely and with softness. It's trial and error to see up to where you can and cannot go. I, for myself, can shoot at 1/60 at 200mm without getting motion blur. Everything is in the holding technique.

It can also be caused by wrong focus. It is really easy to miss the focus on your shot if you wait to much after half pressing the shutter button to acquire your focus. Either you or your subject might have move as tiny as 1cm and that will probably result in an OOF picture (aperture plays a role in ''in focus'' distance, see here ). Also, simply pressing the shutter button in one motion (no halfpress to acquire focus, than full press to shoot), might lead in an OOF shot. Also, if you using focus and recompose, if you recompose to much, you might be a little OOF. Focus point also makes a difference. The center focus point is the most reliable one. Do not let the camera decide where and with which focus point you want to use. Manually select the one you want. In sports, use the center one.

Another thing is sharpening. Either in camera or in post, you need some. If you are used to a 350D and you now have the 60D, you will notice you need to sharpen more. It is normal, the 60D has so much more pixel on the same size sensor, you lose a bit of per-pixel sharpness. Just sharpen a bit more, it'll come perfect. Go in picture still and push that needle a bit more to the right, until satisfaction.

The lens also plays a big role in sharpness. The 18-55mm is nowhere as sharp as the 100mm macro. Don't expect too much out of your lens. I know my 50mm isn't as sharp my 70-200, if I want it to be equal, I need more sharpening. Dust, water drop, fingerprints on the front element can also need to a loss of sharpness.

Another variable than come in play is aperture. Shooting wide open will be now where as sharp as stopped down a bit. Usually, lens are at their maximum sharpness around twice the aperture. So, to get the most out of my 17-50 F2.8, I need to stop it down to F5.6. That is where I'll get the maximum sharpness. Double the aperture is not necessarily a fixed rule but has proven to be pretty accurate. Some times, it might be a stop over the doulbed aperture, again experiment with your lens to see it's sweet spot.

Talking about aperture, diffraction can cause softness. It's mostly technical stuff (read about it here), but stopping your lens over F11 will cause a loss of sharpness. You can also look here to see lens sharpness test at different focal lengt and aperture.

Filters. Yes, UV filters can play a role in the loss of sharpness. Do not buy cheap 10$ Tiffen filter for your XXX$ lens. If you want to use UV filters, buy some top of the line ones. Hoya and B+W are a nice example of quality filters.

So, I hope I made things clearer for some of you and I helped a bit. If you fit a bit in each category, you will probably have soft pictures. If you do not fit in any category here, you have no reason to get soft pictures. Last thing, nobody will ALWAYS get tack sharp pictures. That's called the keeper's rate. Some will end with 10% of keeper, other might be 90%. Don't discourage, your keeper's rate will grown as you'll gain experience.

Hope that's clear for everyone

One thing I would add is that even if you shoot raw, it is impossible to get the same sharpness at a higher iso as you would at iso 100. Overall, I think that is a great summary though. I'd maybe include difraction in it as well and the optimal f-stop for a lens. My Sigma at f1.4 is nowhere near as sharp as it is at f5.6... or even F2.0 for that matter. F22 is maybe even less sharp than F1.4 due to diffraction.

^^Thanks, I'll add diffraction.

EDIT: Updated.

Our cat, Oreo. You can see my wife and my reflection in his eye.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/trulie98/519193​8221/

Been slowly getting used to using the Zeiss 135mm. Used it for my nephew(s) hockey game today. Bit of a learning curve shooting full manual including focus for sports. Luckily it was a SLOW moving game of hockey. Lots of out of focus shots, but I surprised myself with my keeper rate.

Here is one of my daughter with the 135mm @ F3.5 and yongnuo 560 flash. No PP done on this photo which is quite amazing imo. I have pp'd every photo I have taken for years. Can't remember the last picture I didn't do something to.

Which one do you prefer? The first one is SOOC.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/51930611@N07/5​192891346/

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Second, without a doubt.

The second. I like the warmth of the first, but its a bit much, like it's crying out for white balance.

Mookalafalas wrote in post #11318016
like it's crying out for white balance.

+1

Testing out the polarizer.

Nice shot Yahoo. Perhaps next time you could try for a less busy background? Cement wall, brick wall, doors, pipes ruin a bit of the picture. Same for the rocks on the bottom right corner. Also, you could try removing those sticker in photoshop, they take away the looks from the mags.

But is only because I can't only tell you ''nice pic'', you are not learning from that easy comment.

But yeah, nice picture of a nice car

Mookalafalas wrote in post #11318016
The second. I like the warmth of the first, but its a bit much, like it's crying out for white balance.

That's how I felt. A couple people told me they liked the original better though.