I don't know what I am doing wrong!!! Please help!

The5D

I ran into a problem that seems to make little sense. I just started an online retail store and have set up my own studio to take product pictures. I have been using my old Nikon D40 and Nikon lenses (18-55 VR and 55-200 VR) and I am pretty happy with the results, especially the small product ones (shoes, etc). I have 2 x 240 W softboxes and I am shooting off a tripod, tethered to my laptop.


However, the body of the D40 is kind of old and there's dust on the mirror, so I decided to upgrade my gear to the D3100.


Unfortunately, whatever I do, I can't seem to get the same quality pictures with the D3100 as I did with the D40. The most annoying part is that the pictures come out slightly out of focus (they look blurry at 1:1) and also there is no definition and the colors appear washed out.


I think I tried everything possible, and I am getting pretty frustrated about now. I took pictures with the exact same settings and lighting conditions on both the D40 and the 3100 and the difference is obvious. To top it off, I went ahead and got a new body, this time the D5100 and believe it or not, I get the exact same problem. It looks like I am doing something wrong here, but I have no idea at this point what it could be.


Did anybody out there run into the same problem? Any ideas what else I could try? I find it hard to believe that my old, beatten D40 takes better pictures than the newest D3100/5100.

I attached two photos: one taken with the D40, the other with D3100. Please see EXIF info in each picture for details.

Help, please :-)


Thank you.

The5D

Apparently the EXIF info is lost when uploading pictures ... Here is my second photo. This was taken with the D3100.

NedZ

Are the ISO settings and aperture values the same. The second picture seems sharp in the center and there's lack of sharpness at the perifery as if it was shot with fully open aperture. Did you get new lenses with D3100 or you used thes same one for both shots. I don't know Nikon but there might be difference in sensors and/or default settings. If you underexpose by 0.5 EV or so you might get better saturation. I hope this helps.

Earache

Are you using auto or manual focus - if auto, are you using single or multiple focus points? Have you tried a focus comparison using the same lens on different bodies, on tripod, manually focused, using magnified live-view? This could help you determine if focus differences are body related.

TonyCooper

Can't help you, but I'll take that 18/55 lens off your hands. I dropped
my D60 (just a newer D40) and broke off a flange.

I'm still using my D40 and D60, and haven't tried a D3100, but can't help
but think the problem is somewhere in the settings and not in the lens.
It wouldn't be a body problem anyway.

DavidTO

The5D wrote: »

Apparently the EXIF info is lost when uploading pictures ... Here is my second photo. This was taken with the D3100.

Don't attach, embed. See the FAQ linked in my signature or in the "More" menu up top.

The5D

I took the pictures using the same ISO, aperture and shutter speed on both cameras. The EXIF info would have shown that. I'll take new pictures using the exact same settings and lenses on both cameras and embed them instead of attaching to provide a little bit more detail. Thank you for your feedback so far. I really appreciate it.

Art Scott

The5D wrote: »

I took the pictures using the same ISO, aperture and shutter speed on both cameras. The EXIF info would have shown that. I'll take new pictures using the exact same settings and lenses on both cameras and embed them instead of attaching to provide a little bit more detail. Thank you for your feedback so far. I really appreciate it.

When saving your images, if using photoshop, use the "save as" function not save for the web and that should preserve the exif info.....