Need help desparately..

[lwywjm]

Hey guys,
I just bought a EFS17-85mm IS lens for my 350D (Previously I thought is the kit lens that playing the trick) and while trying to shoot indoor banquet photos (at the round tables), 100% of the pics aren't sharp.

Can your teach me what are the settings to tune. (P or M mode is fine) The cam was set at P-mode and I did use extra flash unit during the photo taking. I've also tried set the focal point(s) to center point as well as all the 7 points.

Pls help.

Greatly appreciated
May

 

[yangbeng]

wats your camera shutter speed?

 

[TMC]

Post a pic with details such as shutter speed; iso; and flash usage. then we can tell you what is wrong.

 

[n0d3]

If you were using an external flash, you should't have used "P" cause you'll end up with a dimly lit background. Switch to manual and set the shutter speed somewhere between 1/40-60 depending on your liking and the aperture to f/5.6 or whichever is the sweetspot for your lens and use ISO 400-800.

And do post the photos in question.

 

[David]

The issue is about sharpness rite? So the exposure is not in question here.

Yah, suggest you post some images for us to see how not sharp they are.

Could be your lens+body combi or maybe u are used to films? Digital images from DSLR can be soft. Personally I dun like it but have lived with it, doing my own post-processing sharpening.

 

[n0d3]

The issue is about sharpness rite? So the exposure is not in question here.

Yah, suggest you post some images for us to see how not sharp they are.

Could be your lens+body combi or maybe u are used to films? Digital images from DSLR can be soft. Personally I dun like it but have lived with it, doing my own post-processing sharpening.

I was merely suggesting how she could have improved her photos besides sharpness since I do not know what the problem is.

 

[fWord]

If you are using IS on your lens, plus an additional flash unit, there shouldn't be an undue amount of camera shake in your images. But having said that, you'll need to hold an SLR more steadily than a usual compact digicam in order to get a sharp image.

It's not easy to discern the reason for the softness without some examples of your photos. If you've just gone from a point and shoot consumer camera onto a DSLR, you'll probably feel that all of your images are soft because more expensive cameras tend to apply less sharpening to their images.

Also, stopping a lens down (ie. using a large F-number or a smaller aperture) will give you a sharper image in most cases, with f/8 being a good start. If you wish, this can be tried in Aperture Priority mode. But even with the flash, the camera metering system will probably give you a very slow shutter speed because the background might be dark.

Try the equipment again in bright daylight, if you haven't done so already, and be mindful of the minimum focusing distance of your lens. If you are too close to the subject, the lens will not be able to lock focus.

Worst case scenario is that your camera's electrical contacts are faulty and it is not communicating with your lens to ensure proper focusing. But if this is the case, your LCD screen might reveal the aperture to be '00' instead of any other number.

 

[lwywjm]

Hi David,
what software did you use for sharpening the images?

Rdgs
May

 

[lwywjm]

Guys I donno how to attach pics

But thank you so much!!!! for your help, every1. Din no theres so much kind-hearted soul like your who reply so promptly to help.

Thanks again
May

 

[n0d3]

If you are using IS on your lens, plus an additional flash unit, there shouldn't be an undue amount of camera shake in your images. But having said that, you'll need to hold an SLR more steadily than a usual compact digicam in order to get a sharp image.

It's not easy to discern the reason for the softness without some examples of your photos. If you've just gone from a point and shoot consumer camera onto a DSLR, you'll probably feel that all of your images are soft because more expensive cameras tend to apply less sharpening to their images.

Also, stopping a lens down (ie. using a large F-number or a smaller aperture) will give you a sharper image in most cases, with f/8 being a good start. If you wish, this can be tried in Aperture Priority mode. But even with the flash, the camera metering system will probably give you a very slow shutter speed because the background might be dark.

Try the equipment again in bright daylight, if you haven't done so already, and be mindful of the minimum focusing distance of your lens. If you are too close to the subject, the lens will not be able to lock focus.

Worst case scenario is that your camera's electrical contacts are faulty and it is not communicating with your lens to ensure proper focusing. But if this is the case, your LCD screen might reveal the aperture to be '00' instead of any other number.

I wouldn't suggest stepping down to f/8 while using the flash though, takes forever for the flash to recharge.

 

[Limsgp]

Is it possible that the DOF required is too big for the lens to handle? Since it is mentioned "banquet" & "round tables", which maybe > 1.5m width. Probably the tables are close together so the photographer is close to the subject. it is also mentioned that 100% of the pictures are not sharp, instead of in one picture 100% of the area is not sharp. So maybe for a table of 10, 5 person is sharp and 5 person is not sharp? maybe it is unlikely that the camera uses a high F number under "indoor" conditions. maybe the situation will improve if the furthest person and the nearest person are not too far apart and the photographer is standing a bit further? just a suggestion.

Hey guys,
I just bought a EFS17-85mm IS lens for my 350D (Previously I thought is the kit lens that playing the trick) and while trying to shoot indoor banquet photos (at the round tables), 100% of the pics aren't sharp.

Can your teach me what are the settings to tune. (P or M mode is fine) The cam was set at P-mode and I did use extra flash unit during the photo taking. I've also tried set the focal point(s) to center point as well as all the 7 points.

Pls help.

Greatly appreciated
May

 

[+evenstar]

The issue is about sharpness rite? So the exposure is not in question here.

Yah, suggest you post some images for us to see how not sharp they are.

Could be your lens+body combi or maybe u are used to films? Digital images from DSLR can be soft. Personally I dun like it but have lived with it, doing my own post-processing sharpening.

Exposure may be the question. If his shutter speed is slow, there may be some handshake or the tiniest bit of motion blur, resulting in his "unsharp" image.

 

[judeseah]

If you were using an external flash, you should't have used "P" cause you'll end up with a dimly lit background. Switch to manual and set the shutter speed somewhere between 1/40-60 depending on your liking and the aperture to f/5.6 or whichever is the sweetspot for your lens and use ISO 400-800.

And do post the photos in question.

let's see,
on my 20D n 5D,
when used with external flash and set on P,
i get minimum of 1/60 f4.

use P w/o fear, its so much easier for newbie,
no need to consider the constant changing lights of the ballroom.

back to thread starter,
is the AF assist of ur flash beam right in the middle of the pic?
u get back focused pics if its higher or front if its lower.
happened to a friend of mine.
change a different flash or using ur built in flash
and see how.

jude

 

[jsbn]

Hey guys,
I just bought a EFS17-85mm IS lens for my 350D (Previously I thought is the kit lens that playing the trick) and while trying to shoot indoor banquet photos (at the round tables), 100% of the pics aren't sharp.

Can your teach me what are the settings to tune. (P or M mode is fine) The cam was set at P-mode and I did use extra flash unit during the photo taking. I've also tried set the focal point(s) to center point as well as all the 7 points.

Pls help.

Greatly appreciated
May

1st of all IS lenses are NOT substitute or magic drug for handheld shots. U can have anti-shake built onto sensor plus IS on lens, u'll still get crap pictures if ur handheld technique is totally out.

P mode, used extra flash. We can't really help much if u dun have the proper exif info.

Drop the '[P]rofessional mode' and skip the full manual mode if u do not know how to use it, u'll get worst pictures.

'[P]rofessional mode' locks the shutter speed to 1/60 which is a little too fast a shutter speed for low-light indoor photos (unless u adjust ur ISO accordingly). And since lighting varies frm location to location (and the word 'low light' is subjective), we can't really give u a fixed 'all-in-one' setting to use in all situations. There is no 'magic number' where low light is concerned. It all depends on ur eyes.

For a start, u can try picking up a book or 2 at the library to learn more abt photography first.

 

[Tsangstudios]

If you are shooting P at the banquet very likely your shutter is too slow.
Bluring is probably due to hand shake.
Even if you bump your ISO to 800 you will unlikey have a bright and stable enough shutter setting in a typical banquet scenario.

Just to confrim you are haveing this problem, shoot in shutter priority have fix shutter at say 1/100 more than enough to prevent hand shake from bluring your shot.

If you picture are still soft it may be due to back focusing issues or maybe auto focusing issues on your cam

To link a pict simply put it on a host somewhere and specify the url
eg

[u r l]www.myphotos.com/abc.jpg[/ u r l]

get rid of the space in between the url to make your link work am sure once we see you picture we will know the problem

 

[RossChang]

The issue is about sharpness rite? So the exposure is not in question here.

Yah, suggest you post some images for us to see how not sharp they are.

Could be your lens+body combi or maybe u are used to films? Digital images from DSLR can be soft. Personally I dun like it but have lived with it, doing my own post-processing sharpening.

Exposure is also part of the question because exposure involve the shutter. not sharp one reason could be due to you are not adhering to the 1/focal length (or add multipler too) rule.

IS May help you to break the rule but not by much.

If all rule of thumb are followed (pos up pic with exif data pls), there is a posibility of camera back focus?... :think: hmmm...

 

[lightning]

Hey guys,
I just bought a EFS17-85mm IS lens for my 350D (Previously I thought is the kit lens that playing the trick) and while trying to shoot indoor banquet photos (at the round tables), 100% of the pics aren't sharp.

Can your teach me what are the settings to tune. (P or M mode is fine) The cam was set at P-mode and I did use extra flash unit during the photo taking. I've also tried set the focal point(s) to center point as well as all the 7 points.

Pls help.

Greatly appreciated
May

Hey fellow punggolians, what ISO setting are you using? How about outdoor photos, are they sharp? For dinner table shoot, normally I will use 1/30 - 1/40 shutter speed, F4, ISO 400, fill flash and manual mode.

Cheers

 

[ptwong]

Hey fellow punggolians, what ISO setting are you using? How about outdoor photos, are they sharp? For dinner table shoot, normally I will use 1/30 - 1/40 shutter speed, F4, ISO 400, fill flash and manual mode.

Cheers

don't you find 1/30 - 1/40 a bit slow? Given a long day, moving around, a bit adrenaline pumping? maybe i cannot make it ha....i normally use double wat you're using about 1/60 or 1/125 F4 or 5.6 sometime F8 depending number of rows.

 

[di0nysus]

1/30 shld be fine.one shld be using WA, say 24mm or less, hence going by the 1/focal length guide, + everyone supposed to STOP MOVING and look at your at the table, + decent flash, pictures shld be sharp sharp.

to threadstarter, hope the lens doesn't have any front/back focusing issues? do a search on how to check for it etc.

 

[lightning]

don't you find 1/30 - 1/40 a bit slow? Given a long day, moving around, a bit adrenaline pumping? maybe i cannot make it ha....i normally use double wat you're using about 1/60 or 1/125 F4 or 5.6 sometime F8 depending number of rows.

Speed seems okay to me even after one day of running around. Have been using this shutter speed for most of my shoot. I sometimes shoot at ISO 1600 without flash also(If the dinner venue is quite lighted).