First try for Tamron 90mm macro lens. Photos are blurred.

[kaixinxuan]

Hi all,
I just tested the lens at SGB. However most of the photos turned out to be blurry especially those which are very closed up. I took mainly pictures of flowers. Free hand. Not too sure if it due to hand shake. Is there any factors which will cause the blurness? Thanks.

 

[ortega]

at macro distances everything is really big so small movements are also blown up and more visible.
it would be better if you posted your pictures so that we can see what went wrong.

blurness could be oof or camera shake, the tamron 90 is known to be a good lens

 

[rhino123]

Agreed with ortega. Please post some pics in order for us to comment.

 

[swami]

Hi all,
I just tested the lens at SGB. However most of the photos turned out to be blurry especially those which are very closed up. I took mainly pictures of flowers. Free hand. Not too sure if it due to hand shake. Is there any factors which will cause the blurness? Thanks.

What I know is tamron 90mm is excellent lens for macro. Close up shots blur mostly because of the shutter speed.. Post your meta data / pic to check.
FYI, i am using this lens for last 3 months with my nikon d3100.. Do far so good.

 

[kaixinxuan]

Hi all,

Thanks for the comments. I have posted the pictures below. For your advise. Thanks so much.

1/160, f2.8, ISO160

 

[kaixinxuan]

For this picture, I wanted to focus at the centre of the flower.

1/160, f4.0, ISO400

 

[kaixinxuan]

This picture is only a normal focus done on a petals of an orchid flower. But it is also blur.

1/125, f2.8, ISO 100.

These pictures are all taken with using aperture mode. Thanks.

 

[SkyStrike]

I can think of the following factors
- your focusing technique. When you breathe, you might have changed the focus point.
- coupled with the prev point, your aperture is too big, meaning it's dof is very thin. Any slight movement will cause your original focus point too be oof.

You might want to practising the focus breathing technique. Hold your breathe when you are going to take the shot.

 

[Prajna]

As u get closer, dof gets thinner. I would use a very very small aperture. Like f8 or f12

 

[kaixinxuan]

Will using the self timer of 2 seconds helps to reduce handshake?

 

[Gigarex]

Tamron SP AF 90mm Macro is an excellent lens. The only downside is it doesn't come with IS/VC.
As what Ortega has mentioned, handheld macro shots is a challenge, especially in low light. In macro photography, unless you want to achieve a specific focus on a certain part of the object, F2.8 is usually not recommended as the DOF is too shallow. Try stopping down a couple of stops (f4-8) to bring the entire object into focus. If need be, bump up the ISO and the Shutter Speed to compensate for handshakes. With this lens, you can afford to back off a bit and crop the picture subsequently to achieve the desired framing. It is that sharp and it allows you to crop quite considerably.
Below are some of the pictures I took with this lens:

#1 90mm f8.0 ISO1000 1/125 No flash

#2 90mm f8.0 ISO1000 1/125 No flash

#3 90mm f8 ISO1250 1/100 No flash

 

[AnsQ]

Your ant looks sharp.

But it's not an issue with your lens. It's the nature of macro lenses.
Depth of field is very shallow, you need to use a smaller aperture to capture more details.
And watch for wind, or any other movement, a slight movement back or front will throw your focus off.
If you want to handhold, try increasing the ISO more, and aperture of f8 or so, you should see some difference.

 

[Prajna]

Will using the self timer of 2 seconds helps to reduce handshake?

Does not seem like handshake problem, more like some parts not in focus. Try smaller aperture as suggested by some guys here. Smaller aperture means u will need tripod

 

[Ah Pao]

Does not seem like handshake problem, more like some parts not in focus. Try smaller aperture as suggested by some guys here. Smaller aperture means u will need tripod

And of course, pray for a windless day, so that the plants don't move.

 

[snowc]

Hi all,

Thanks for the comments. I have posted the pictures below. For your advise. Thanks so much.

1/160, f2.8, ISO160

From your photos, I believe that the issue here is not about camera shake or slow shutter speed. Its your DOF that cause the blurriness.
If you are trying to get the entire flower or most parts of the flower in focus, I suggest you stopped down to at least f/8 or smaller.
For macro photography, what you often need is deeper DOF which f/2.8 could not achieve.

 

[SoundOfSilence]

Will using the self timer of 2 seconds helps to reduce handshake?

I dont see how self-timer of 2secs can help you reduce handshake, unless you are mounting your cam on a tripod...its just delaying the time to take your shot by 2secs.

stop down your aperture to at least f8 or bigger

if you using autofocus, try not to focus then recompose, at macro distances, dof can easily go off

 

[ortega]

Lots of good advice given, as mentioned earlier the blurry ness comes from the lack of dof. The closer you get to your subject the lesser the dof, to counter that you need to make your aperture smaller.

And when you do that you have less light and thus you will have to slow down your shutter speed. Which might cause subject movement or camera shake.

So the best way to counter this is to add more light which lets you have lots of dof and a fast enough shutter speed.

Most macro shooters use external flashes to do that.

 

[Gigarex]

Macro shooters usually do not use the built in pop up flash due to various reasons. 1) they ate weak 2) shooting macro usually means putting your lens right up to the subject. So the pop up flash would be blocked by the lens itself, casting a shadow. Preferred form of flash are diffused remote flash or macro ring flash. The macro ring flash brings illumination right up to the subject, eliminating the problem caused by the pop up flash.

 

[ortega]

Macro shooters usually do not use the built in pop up flash due to various reasons. 1) they ate weak 2) shooting macro usually means putting your lens right up to the subject. So the pop up flash would be blocked by the lens itself, casting a shadow. Preferred form of flash are diffused remote flash or macro ring flash. The macro ring flash brings illumination right up to the subject, eliminating the problem caused by the pop up flash.

agree not usually but not entirely impossible, depends on the lens to subject distance

 

[kaixinxuan]

Hi all, really appreciate all the advice given. Have a better idea how to improve my shoots. Will try again next weekend. Thanks so much.