How to get sharp pics from my D70s


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Santhiheafern

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Feb 11, 2007
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Hi there, I've not really been able to get sharp pictures from my D70s+kit lens (DX18-70 f/3.5-4.5/G) since the day I started using it.

The picture below is one of the example.

DSC_1364.jpg


The problem is most obvious with pictures taken outdoor in low light without flash. Have tried the hyperfocal distance formula but no noticeable improvement. I also have adjusted the Sharpening Option of my camera to Medium High. But again, it's not helping much.

Any suggestion to rectify my problem or help me to better understand the cause of the problem would be very much appreciated. I would really have more fun if I can get this fixed.

Cheers !!

Santhi
 

if you've been shooting in P mode, in low light situation the aperture will go wide, means DOF becomes thin, naturally area in focus is relatively 'lesser'. hyperfocal distance don't give you 100% sharpness throughout the picture, it only improves sharpness relatively.

if your shutter speed is slow, slight movement will affect sharpness as well.

in any case how sharp do you want to consider sharp? when you resize a picture sharpness might get affected too, that's why there're sharpening tools in photo processing softwares.

i think this picture has acceptable sharpness if it's unsharpened in a software.
 

Hi eikin, thanks for your advice. The pic appended has no sharpening done to it. It's straight from the camera.

It's nice to know that the pic is not that bad in terms of sharpness. Certainly it boosts my confidence with the camera.

How sharp do I want ? - Well, I was just hoping that I'd be able to see decent details when I looked at the picture in its full size.

Any lens that you could recommend for me to deal with such problem?

Santhi
 

Hi eikin, thanks for your advice. The pic appended has no sharpening done to it. It's straight from the camera.

It's nice to know that the pic is not that bad in terms of sharpness. Certainly it boosts my confidence with the camera.

How sharp do I want ? - Well, I was just hoping that I'd be able to see decent details when I looked at the picture in its full size.

Any lens that you could recommend for me to deal with such problem?

Santhi

every lens has a certain aperture where sharpness is most easily achieved, people call it the sweetspot, i don't really go into that ... but anyway you can't expect high definition sharpness at full size, afterall digital images are pixels
 

Any lens that you could recommend for me to deal with such problem?

Santhi

For once, stop thinking you can buy you way out of a problem.

Its hard to judge from a jpeg over the screen but its seems you didn't have enough DOF to cover the foreground. This is a really flat scene with not much contrast. Did you know that contrast affects the perception of sharpness as well?

I don't know what are the parameters you set on your camera but you can't expect images to be sharp straight out of the camera. This is why we do post editing, to bring out the potential of a digital image.
 

make aperture to larger numbers like f10 to f22. means the hole is smaller.

use tripod
 

sometimes the fog will make a pic blurred too.
 

Thanks Kit & Knpan for your input. Much appreciated.
For diagnosis purpose, the setting of the picture is:
1/3 sec, F/11 (aperature priority), exp +0.3ev, wb = cloudy (set at -1).
I'm currently using the sReala v2 curve loaded onto my camera.
Picture taken wz tripod.

I know that post processing will enhance the pic quality. At this moment, I'm more interested to look at how we can take sharper pics before post processing.

Thanks again for the support from you guys !!

Santhi
 

i think its the fog that is making the image blurred. that 1 cant be avoided. try shooting under a really direct sunlight. or a really bright sunny day. most probably it would be clear.
 

Any lens that you could recommend for me to deal with such problem?

Santhi

your kit lens is already very sharp

no point get another lens just for sharpness unless u want f2.8, will be a diff story altogether.:)
 

your kit lens is already very sharp

no point get another lens just for sharpness unless u want f2.8, will be a diff story altogether.:)

Hi Knpan and ihub88, thanks bro for the support and suggestion. I must say that I was able to get some reasonably nice pics with the kit lens. Only when it comes to shooting in low light situation without using flash, then the focus issue becomes a headache.

With your assurance given to my kit lens, I will cotinue to keep it as my D70s' partner and put it to full use. You guys have fun snapping !!

Santhi
 

What you mean hyperfocal distance focusing? Does it mean that you zoom to the max, focus, then zoom back to take the shot? This could not be applied to all lenses due to the lens design. I did that to my D70 kit lens too but it did not work.

To make it sharper, try F8. But frankly, i don't see much issue with the sharpness of your lens. DSLR image by default is softer compare to digicam so it leaves more room for the photog to tweak the image. If you don't like photoshop, just bump up the in camera sharpening. Installing a new custom curve will give more contrast to the image and may affect your perception of image sharpness too.

18-70mm is a good and versatile lens. I always shot at wide open apperture without much gripe (probably i am not that fussy and i do photoshop). It should last you a long way :)
 

What you mean hyperfocal distance focusing? Does it mean that you zoom to the max, focus, then zoom back to take the shot? This could not be applied to all lenses due to the lens design. I did that to my D70 kit lens too but it did not work.

That's not hyperfocal distance focusing.
 

What you mean hyperfocal distance focusing? Does it mean that you zoom to the max, focus, then zoom back to take the shot? This could not be applied to all lenses due to the lens design. I did that to my D70 kit lens too but it did not work.

:think: i think that's not how hyperfocal distance is applied
 

Hi there, I've not really been able to get sharp pictures from my D70s+kit lens (DX18-70 f/3.5-4.5/G) since the day I started using it.

dont expect the kit lens to perform miracles... :nono:
 

Nothing wrong with the peakture. Cannot compare with the f/2.8 trinitiy lenses
Also maybe there was some slight wind (Did the TS anchor his tripod down?) or slightly soft sand (causing the tripod to sink slightly?), resulting in some motion blur? :dunno:
 

Nothing wrong with the peakture. Cannot compare with the f/2.8 trinitiy lenses
Also maybe there was some slight wind (Did the TS anchor his tripod down?) or slightly soft sand (causing the tripod to sink slightly?), resulting in some motion blur? :dunno:

Amazing... you can actually motion blur in that jpeg...
 

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