yet another sharp, focus type question please help!

wheresdavid

I am having problems getting a "sharp" picture. I don´t know if it´s me, the camera, the glass ...I am a bit embarrassed to post this but here I go. as always a quick background. I am currently in south america at the end of a long trip. I flew back to the states in late october to upgrade from a point and shoot to an entry level SLR. Well the camera was stolen in Ecuador in December (keep an eye out on the discovery channel for the story) and i decided to replace it. I had a few people bring me the following items which were bought in the states:

canon rebel xti
[FONT=Verdana,]Tamron AF 18-200mm 3.5-6.3 XR Di II Aspherical [IF] Macro Standard Zoom Camera Lens for Canon EOS[/FONT]
Hoya 62mm UV Filter23631

Hoya 62mm Circular Polarizer


Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Standard/Medium Telephoto Camera Lens
Canon Wireless Remote Controller RC-5
Hoya 52mm UV Filter
several san disk 2 gig ultra II
canon monopod.

Hopefully right off the bat you wont say that I can´t get a sharp picture with my lens. Since I don't even know where to start is there something i can do to see it is the camera, the lens, me all of the above ... I will be leaving Lima in a few days to go into the amazon area (ok a town in the Amazon) where I hope to get a lot of great shots of the Shapibo people and there fabrics.

as always thank you in advance for the great information.

Dave

Dee

Can you post some samples?
I'm going through the same process with my zoom film lens on my digital camera.

If you could post some 100% area crops I'm sure someone would be able to help you.

In my web wanderings I did come across someone who went thru a bunch of f-stops and discovered the one f-stop that was the best for that lens at that distance, but I can't remember where it was now.

Basically set the camera and lens on a tripod and run thru the f-stops that lens has to offer. A remote would be handy but is not necessary.

wheresdavid

Dee wrote:

I'm going through the same process with my zoom film lens on my digital camera.

If you could post some 100% area crops I'm sure someone would be able to help you.

In my web wanderings I did come across someone who went thru a bunch of f-stops and discovered the one f-stop that was the best for that lens at that distance, but I can't remember where it was now.

Basically set the camera and lens on a tripod and run thru the f-stops that lens has to offer. A remote would be handy but is not necessary.

Here is an indoor shot of a little girl.

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Below is one that was taken two days ago

gus

Im having difficulty understanding which lens you are talking about ...i assume its the 18-200 Tamron.

It is never going to be a sharp portrait lens...its a cheapish ($400) versatile traveling lens so accept what it gives you. Are you post processing these shots at all ?

They look ok to me. Just use the 50mm f1.8 for portraits & things will be ok. Its a better lens for portraits.

With the little girl its shot at 80mm at 1/125 (you should make it a larger aperture than f6.3 also). Thats a fairy slow shutter for that length & i would suggest you have some camera or subject movement. For a shot like that use the 50mm on f4 & see the difference.

pathfinder

I agree with Gus.

Your shot of the little girl is lovely - not terribly sharp, but lovely none the less. I suspect the AF system of your Rebel grabbed the sharp contrasty lines of her hat, rather than her eyes and eyelashes. The AF systems of Prosumer DSLRs will do this if you do not ride herd on them carefully. The statue seems adequately crisp - it will print fine with a little post processing in Photoshop also.

18-200mm zooms are not going to give images that are razor sharp. But a little sharpening in Photoshop, or even in camera with the Image setting in the camera can improve these a lot.

The images from your Canon Powershot A610 seem sharper because they are sharpened in the processing software in the camera, whereas DSLRs tend to downplay in camera sharpening and leave that processing to the user, as it is assumed the user prefers it that way. If you do not, dial up the sharpening in the menu in your XTi

claudermilk

I'll third the comments on the little girl: it looks like the focus is on the hat. It also looks like you're running that zoom near wide open, which is not going to give the best results. I'd probably try and keep it to f8-f11. For the examples you showed, I'd have used the 50/1.8 and used "foot zoom" since that lens *can* give you razor-sharp images. I'd almost keep the 50mm on the camera & swap to the zoom when you cannot get the framing you want by walking around.

Any of the three you showed here could do with a little sharpening in PS. It's just a necessity with a DSLR & part of the process.

Oh, what show & when on Discovery?

wheresdavid

claudermilk wrote:

I'll third the comments on the little girl: it looks like the focus is on the hat. It also looks like you're running that zoom near wide open, which is not going to give the best results. I'd probably try and keep it to f8-f11. For the examples you showed, I'd have used the 50/1.8 and used "foot zoom" since that lens *can* give you razor-sharp images. I'd almost keep the 50mm on the camera & swap to the zoom when you cannot get the framing you want by walking around.

Any of the three you showed here could do with a little sharpening in PS. It's just a necessity with a DSLR & part of the process.

Oh, what show & when on Discovery?

hopefully i can answer the few questions here -

the lens i was talking about is the tamaron. when i took the picture of the little girl i did not have the 50mm lens.

i havent tried to sharpen any of the photos in PS yet, that is my project starting tomorrow.

as far as the discovery channel i dont know if they will pick up the documentary which was done by a british company. they said that the discovery channel is the north american partner. the british company is doing a documentary on travel scams. in my case, i was drugged on a bus in ecaudor, woke up in a hotel room the next day with my "stuff" missing. luckily i had insurance!

what is the foot zoom? i am guessing that means walking closer to the subject.

As far as the tamaron are there any tricks i can use to get sharper photos (already assuming I will be sharpening them in PS). i will taking shots of "indigenous" people so i will have to be using the tamaron.

Thanks
Dave

gus

wheresdavid wrote:

, i was drugged on a bus in ecaudor, woke up in a hotel room the next day with my "stuff" missing. luckily i had insurance!

Thanks
Dave

Out of interest...how were you administered the drug.

Dont worry about the camera gear..if i was you i would be thankfull i still had my kidneys after all that.

wheresdavid

gus wrote:

Out of interest...how were you administered the drug.

Dont worry about the camera gear..if i was you i would be thankfull i still had my kidneys after all that.

the first thing i did when i came to was look in the mirror to make sure i had no fresh surgery scars. I am a "seasoned" traveler and i thought i knwew all the scams. i knew people who were drugged on night bus and woke up on the bus the next day after being robbed. in my case it was the date rape drug where i was conscious for a while but without a will. i digressed, sorry. i was chatting with the woman sitting next to me on the bus and she was eating candies and offered me one when my guard was down and i took the bait you might say. she was a pro that is for sure. she scoped me out in the bus station the night before, had her gringo target and bought a ticket fo the seat next to mine. the trip was a 6 hour trip crossing from Ecuador to Peru, i never would have thought about being drugged on a bus trip like that. i even had my "small" backpack locked tot he seat and she was able to get me to unlock it and i cant remember a thing.

gus

wheresdavid wrote:

i even had my "small" backpack locked tot he seat and she was able to get me to unlock it and i cant remember a thing.

Wow...a simple sweet

I have a good friend here whom is also a very seasoned traveller (30 odd years backpacking & hiking across most of the globes back waters) & he was also scammed in south america on a bus last year. I wont bore anyone with how they did it but he said they were very professional & he didnt know a thing until it was too late.

wheresdavid

gus wrote:

Wow...a simple sweet

I have a good friend here whom is also a very seasoned traveller (30 odd years backpacking & hiking across most of the globes back waters) & he was also scammed in south america on a bus last year. I wont bore anyone with how they did it but he said they were very professional & he didnt know a thing until it was too late.

it can happen to anyone, all you have to do is let your guard down once. I am going to be leaving lima with a friend for a 2 month jaunt down to bolivia and Argenitna. Having someone with you eliminates some of the scams but not all. hopefully i can figure out hwo to get one or two good shots on this trip.

Terrence

Wow. Stay safe out there man!