Little bird, un-sharp...WHY?

Candid Arts · May 9, 2009

So this shot is 100% crop SOOC of a 50D, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/640th, 300mm on the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III. Evaluative metering mode, focused on center focus point, hand held, shot in RAW, 0 exposure compensation. I think that's about all the info I got. Distance to subject was roughly 50 feet. If I missed something, let me know.

It is not near as sharp as I would like (expect?) it to be. I know it's not a great lens by any means, but it should produce better results than this yeah?

Any ideas on what I may be doing wrong, or if the lens is just that cheap, or...anything. Thank you.

dlplumer · May 9, 2009

Small birds are tough to get especially when you have to crop significantly to get them to fill the frame. So part of the answer, I suspect is that you cropped this beyond it's quality limitations since no part of this image is in focus.

Another thought. Did you have IS turned on?

I find, very fast shutter speeds, high speed continuous shooting, and getting as close as you can with these little buggers, produces the best results. I struggle as well.

Dan:D

JustPlainMe · May 9, 2009

I would agree, this looks a bit pixelated as though it were cropped to a low resolution.

That said, I know Canon glass is better than Sony glass, but I have a lot of trouble with consistent focus all the way out on my 75-300. It's a pesky lens, and I think that except for the very high-end telephotos, some lenses are going to lose sharpness and focus capability all the way out. (Speculation, just a thought.) And you IS is in the lens, right?

I have sometimes taken 100 frames of birdies and had 1 that was just barely satisfactory. And if IS wasn't on, that will add to the problem. (Mine's in my camera body, not my lens, I don't know how Canon works.) You have to be super-steady at that focal length almost regardless of the shutter.

Keep trying! They are beautiful, the one you shot is gorgeous. Maybe you'll get him again!

Ric Grupe · May 9, 2009

How did you sharpen the raw file?

Candid Arts · May 9, 2009

dlplumer wrote:

Small birds are tough to get especially when you have to crop significantly to get them to fill the frame. So part of the answer, I suspect is that you cropped this beyond it's quality limitations since no part of this image is in focus.

Another thought. Did you have IS turned on?

I find, very fast shutter speeds, high speed continuous shooting, and getting as close as you can with these little buggers, produces the best results. I struggle as well.

Dan:D

Thank you for your reply and input. I know I cropped the photo beyond the quality limitations, I was more just looking seeing if there were any part of it at all that were sharp at a 100% crop at the center of the frame.

This lens does not have IS. Hence why I bumped the ISO to 400 to try and raise my shutter speed.

Do you find that using a mono-pod and/or tripod is useable in this type of situation (shooting birds, etc...) or is hand held the best way to go (regarding having to track, constantly move as they move, re-set up tripod, etc...)?

JustPlainMe wrote:

I would agree, this looks a bit pixelated as though it were cropped to a low resolution.

That said, I know Canon glass is better than Sony glass, but I have a lot of trouble with consistent focus all the way out on my 75-300. It's a pesky lens, and I think that except for the very high-end telephotos, some lenses are going to lose sharpness and focus capability all the way out. (Speculation, just a thought.) And you IS is in the lens, right?

I have sometimes taken 100 frames of birdies and had 1 that was just barely satisfactory. And if IS wasn't on, that will add to the problem. (Mine's in my camera body, not my lens, I don't know how Canon works.) You have to be super-steady at that focal length almost regardless of the shutter.

Keep trying! They are beautiful, the one you shot is gorgeous. Maybe you'll get him again!

It was most certainly cropped, at a 100% crop, but not at a low rez. JPEG Quality 100 out of LR. As I stated above, this lens doesn't have IS, so it was not turned on (nor off I guess).

Thanks for your input.

Ric Grupe wrote:

How did you sharpen the raw file?

I didn't do any adjustments to the RAW file whatsoever. This is SOOC, 100% crop at the center of the frame (presumeably the sharpest area of the frame).

Ric Grupe · May 9, 2009

I didn't do any adjustments to the RAW file whatsoever. This is SOOC, 100% crop at the center of the frame (presumeably the sharpest area of the frame).

Okay.

First...that lens is not very sharp.

Second...no IS means some camera shake at 300mm handheld even at 1/640 is likely.

Third...all raw images should be sharpened at least a little.

Add it all up and you get the image you have.

Usually the dead give away on hand/camera shake is evident in the catchlight in the birds eye. If you jerked at shutter release then you will see 2 or 3 catchlights the same size slightly askew from each other. You may have to look at the image at 200% to see this. If the bird was moving or the wind blowing the branch add that in too.

I personally cannot shoot without IS handheld at 300mm and expect decent results.

JohnDC · May 9, 2009

JustPlainMe wrote:

That said, I know Canon glass is better than Sony glass,

Sony glass, hand held, 1/250, ISO 400, on an old Sony A100, 190mm on the 18-200 DT. Compare this to the tanager. Check the professional lens reviews for objective comparisons.

raptorcaptor · May 9, 2009

Try correcting the exposure on the raw image, then see how it looks!

Ric Grupe · May 9, 2009

JohnDC wrote:

Sony glass

Does Sony make a lens for use on the Canon 50D?

Not relevent to the topic here if they don't.

Excellent capture...BTW!

Ric Grupe · May 9, 2009

raptorcaptor wrote:

Try correcting the exposure on the raw image, then see how it looks!

I thought the image has a lot of noise for an iso 400 shot. Making me think that sharpening was attempted on an OOF image.

I also have the feeling that it is being displayed past the 100% crop size.

silversx80 · May 9, 2009

There is also some really severe chromatic aberration in the shot which may be adding to the issue at hand. I'm not sure if lightroom has an option to correct for that in their RAW. Elements 6 with ACR 5.3 does not, but I can do it in CS3. It really helps clean up the image.

JustPlainMe · May 9, 2009

Ric Grupe wrote:

Does Sony make a lens for use on the Canon 50D?

Not relevent to the topic here if they don't.

Excellent capture...BTW!

No, it was just an aside, I have a Sony and usually the first thing people tell me is "Sony glass is terrible anyway."

I was just drawing a parallel that my telephoto is really hard to handhold all the way out---I don't know if other lenses have the same issues.

JustPlainMe · May 9, 2009

silversx80 wrote:

There is also some really severe chromatic aberration in the shot which may be adding to the issue at hand. I'm not sure if lightroom has an option to correct for that in their RAW. Elements 6 with ACR 5.3 does not, but I can do it in CS3. It really helps clean up the image.

I didn't know you could do that in CS3, I will have to go ahead and install it (I have it but am afraid to try it, the learning curve scares me). I get really noticeable chromatic aberration at 300mm, it would be great to be able to fix it!

Ric Grupe · May 9, 2009

JustPlainMe wrote:

No, it was just an aside, I have a Sony and usually the first thing people tell me is "Sony glass is terrible anyway." I was just drawing a parallel that my telephoto is really hard to handhold all the way out---I don't know if other lenses have the same issues.

Actually some of Sony's Zeiss glass is excellent.

Handholding issues on telephoto lens is an optics issue...no manufacturer can get away from...hence, IS...tripods...etc.

Candid Arts · May 9, 2009

Here is the original raw image not cropped SOOC.

Here is the 100% crop after I adjusted the color profile, contrast, clarity, sharpening, saturation, exposure, little hue adjustment on the green, adjusted for some chromatic abberation, and noise reduction...I think that's it. All done in LR2.3

And once again for S&G's...the SOOC 100% shot.

It sounds like I should have brought out my tripod, or at least mono pod. The lens doesn't have IS, so obvoiusly couldn't use that. Any other tips on what to do to make this lens work better?

Little bird, un-sharp...WHY?

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