Is this sharp


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eoscanon40d

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Jul 30, 2008
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Hi just got my Canon 100mm macro lens and tried a shot. I tried zooming in and seems to be blur. The setting was AV f2.8 on tripod as I was testing it and would like to know if it's due to lens blur or it's normal? I did some other shot in daylight using tripod with Auto Focus and when zoom in also blur? So don't know if it's due to camera shake or lens problem? Any advise. Attached is photo taken at night.

3241571524_8760d5fd5c.jpg
 

Hi just got my Canon 100mm macro lens and tried a shot. I tried zooming in and seems to be blur. The setting was AV f2.8 on tripod as I was testing it and would like to know if it's due to lens blur or it's normal? I did some other shot in daylight using tripod with Auto Focus and when zoom in also blur? So don't know if it's due to camera shake or lens problem? Any advise. Attached is photo taken at night.

3241571524_8760d5fd5c.jpg

looks sharp to me...
the back is blur due to shallow DOF. try to go to F14 but u might have prob with the lightings if no flash. You shu=ould be able to see of the background.

during your use, did you go very near ur subject such that it is closer than the min focusing dist. If so, your subject can be blur... Try moving back a bit and try
 

looks sharp in that small reso photo, just that the focus is kinda lower
 

You must have bought a faulty lens cos you can only get sharpness on bottom half of pic. Quick! Send it back to Canon for a full refund.

OR... you can just set to higher Aperture. This is a fix to for the top half OOF bug.
 

Sorry if this sounds rude, but you seem to have bought the lens without even knowing what the lens is supposed to do.

The photo looks exactly like what a normal 100 macro would do at f/2.8.


I did some other shot in daylight using tripod with Auto Focus and when zoom in also blur? So don't know if it's due to camera shake or lens problem?

no one can say. If you could please post the original photo probably you'd get an answer. By the way what do you mean by "zoom in"? It's a prime lens. Do you mean when the lens is moved close to subject or when you view the photo at 100% "zoom"?

I guess your lens is just fine.
 

Sorry if this sounds rude, but you seem to have bought the lens without even knowing what the lens is supposed to do.

The photo looks exactly like what a normal 100 macro would do at f/2.8.




no one can say. If you could please post the original photo probably you'd get an answer. By the way what do you mean by "zoom in"? It's a prime lens. Do you mean when the lens is moved close to subject or when you view the photo at 100% "zoom"?

I guess your lens is just fine.

Yes I know what lens I bought. Sorry didn't make myself clear enough but what i meant when I zoom in was using the camera's zoom while viewing the pict on LCD.

When I zoom into the picture taken using the LCD, it looks blur?

Thanks guys for the response, just worried that my new lens got problem but glad to know that it's sharp. Is it normal for it to appear blur on the LCD?

Open up in photoshop to 100% view and it appears ok except some which were blur and I guess could be due to my manual focus.
 

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Thanks guys for the response, just worried that my new lens got problem but glad to know that it's sharp. Is it normal for it to appear blur on the LCD?

oh yes. you can't trust the LCD for minor details. The maxumum "zoom in" usually results in poor quality even on tack sharp pictures, even with the VGA screen of 5D mk II.
 

if you are thinking of macro, autofocus is not a good idea.
 

Try to increase DOF when take macro or close ups and since u're taking it at night, switch to manual also and add bounced flash. It should look something like this:

IMG_5383.jpg
 

Hi just got my Canon 100mm macro lens and tried a shot. I tried zooming in and seems to be blur. The setting was AV f2.8 on tripod as I was testing it and would like to know if it's due to lens blur or it's normal? I did some other shot in daylight using tripod with Auto Focus and when zoom in also blur? So don't know if it's due to camera shake or lens problem? Any advise. Attached is photo taken at night.

3241571524_8760d5fd5c.jpg

Are you still on a 40D? It's well-known to have a very very poor LCD screen.
 

From experience, I can tell yo u honestly that not all tripods are created equak. I used to get blurr pictures with my efs17-85on a tripod. Turned out my tripod is the one that's not sturdy enough. Try mirror lockup with fast shutter speed and see if it's still b lurr
 

At f2.8 on a 100 mm lens prob with the subject distance in the picture of about 30 cm away...you are gonna get only 0.06 cm of depth of field...meaning only a very thin layer of view where things will appear sharp.....there shld be nothing wrong with your lens bro....learn to understand Macro lenses...it is meant to be so and takes picsture of things more or less parallel to it's plane


learn from this DOF calculator

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

if not convinced, you can sell me the lens cheap cheap since it is "broken"
 

just a question...why is TS picture orange? the camera using AWB and fooled by ambient light rather then the subject lighting?
 

Dear TS
May I know where did you focus on when you take the shot?
 

Hi,
May be you can try this:
1) Put the camera on a tripod and use cable release (or self-timer).
2) Select the center focusing point and use the center focus point to focus an object a few meters or further away.
3) Shoot once focus lock. Your lens should be ok if the focus object is sharp in the image.
4) Do this again at a near object (may be 40cm to 50cm away), but now at F16 to test the macro range. Make sure the shutter speed is not too slow... use flash if neccessary. Also, take note where the center focus point is on the object.
5) Your lens should be ok if the focus point and immediate surrounding is sharp in the image. The rest of the object should look blur.

I tested out the Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens and the focusing is accurate and fast even in macro range... Very tempted to get one.

Have a nice day.
 

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TS, shoot do u have any other shots to see? The lens cap shot was too thin a DoF to tell. Compare yours to Snoweagles', now that can tell is tack sharp.
 

oh yes. you can't trust the LCD for minor details. The maxumum "zoom in" usually results in poor quality even on tack sharp pictures, even with the VGA screen of 5D mk II.

Yes I must agree, got me worried in the beginning. I check the same picture on computer and it looks ok. I've tried some other shots using self-timer to eliminate the tremors and it appears great.

As for the other replys, I must have confused you guys with the picture pertaining to my question. My bad.

Yes the glass functioned as it should with the DOF at F2.8. It got me worried when I tried to zoom in to check the picture using the camera's LCD and it turn out blur at the focus point. I proceeded to check some other shots using the camera's LCD and same thing too. I downloaded the pictures to my comp and check again, it appears ok except some which were blur. It puzzles me as I was using tripod so shouldn't be the case. This got me worried as to whether I got a lemon.

After some tips from the guys, I decided to do more shoots using self-timer etc. It turn out fine this time round. So guys, thanks for all the help and tips rendered.

Oh yeah, anyone can advise me on a good technique for hand-holding when using the macro for outdoor shoots when tripod is not available?
 

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... it appears ok except some which were blur. It puzzles me as I was using tripod so shouldn't be the case.

... I decided to do more shoots using self-timer etc. It turn out fine this time round.
...

Oh yeah, anyone can advise me on a good technique for hand-holding when using the macro for outdoor shoots when tripod is not available?

Macros are always tricky when it comes to hand holding due to their very nature. I believe 40D has an option to choose a self timer time of 2s instead of 10s, which might help avoid some irritation, however your best bet is tripod + remote cable release. It is a good investment, original Canon is about 80$ but you can find cheaper third party ones. As for hand holding, remember that you don't press your shutter hard or quickly: that's a main source of shake for shots with high shutter speed.

However, do notice that there's some shake you can't eliminate: even a small wind can shake the leaves, even small movement of animals gets noticed at macro resolution. You have to wait till the scene is reasonably still.
 

I use the back-button AF by setting C.Fn IV-1 for my macro shots. Try it and you will love it.
 

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