Shots from A77

[The Bull]

Kind attention: Kei1309, Octarine, Skygon

Hi Sir's

Background of this post is discussed in Sony equipment discussions as i felt my new A77 has some issues with focussing and LCD screen


As suggested by Kei1309, Octarine, Skygon . I have posted some pics taken from A77 as i feel they r not that sharp. Pls help to review and advise.

Shutter Speed: 1/50
F stop : 1.7
Focal length: 50mm

Shutter Speed: 1/80
F stop : 1.7
Focal length: 50mm

Shutter Speed: 1/200
F stop : 1.7
Focal length: 50mm
Flash : Yes

Shutter Speed: 1/40
F stop : 1.7
Focal length: 50mm
Flash : Yes

 

[skygon]

Even at 1/200, the shot is very soft. Should be lens ba: stop it down to f8? How many lens u have? All of them like this?

 

[richiemccaw1]

Could it be an issue with the photo taking technique?

 

[Light Machinery]

It looks soft. With a 50mm lens & head shots, I expect it to be able to count the eyebrow hair even with the lens wide open.

Just do a simple test with a model but this time shoot the picture with a tripod. If the pictures come out sharp with a tripod then it is your technique and not the lens or camera.

Btw, from picture #3, the shot looks like it is back focussed. The front of the left eyebrow is blurry but the edges further back has more definition.

 

[one eye jack]

Does the camera have the latest firmware version? If not download it and install but if you are not confident
then ask Sony for help. After installation do lens micro adjustment for each of the lenses you have.
The settings will be saved in camera's system memory.

PS if you google A77, users encounter focus issues.

How to do lens micro adjustment:

http://www.artville-photo.com/archives/72


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jq9MI9z2vg

Your pictures are shot with aperture wide open, most lenses are not sharp at their
widest stop at least not at the corners of the picture. This 50mm will improve from F2.8 onwards,
with best sharpness at F5.6. Plus when at F1.7 depth of field is shallow.


http://kurtmunger.com/minolta_af_50mm_f_1_7_reviewid114.html

http://www.photozone.de/sony-alpha-aps-c-lens-tests/383-minolta_50_17

EDIT: It will be helpful if you understand how autofocus works. There are 2 methods- contrast detection and phase detection.
The computer algorithm will concentrate on areas of high contrast like whites of eyes. It also depends on where you want to focus and the number of focusing points.

Pictures will appear sharper if overall contrast is high other than lens quality which also affects contrast.

Have you made any adjustments to camera settings like picture quality, etc?

 

[kei1309]

seems to me like there's some slight hand-shake blur

http://digital-photography-school.com/forum/other-digital-photography-technique-discussion/103117-focal-length-versus-shutter-speed.html

 

[fatbike]

seems to me like there's some slight hand-shake blur

http://digital-photography-school.com/forum/other-digital-photography-technique-discussion/103117-focal-length-versus-shutter-speed.html

I agree, I still remember afew years back when I 1st tried f1.8,
Hand tends to shake resulting oof, do play ard more esp with such DOF

 

[DarkWingDoug]

I may not be the best person to talk about this, but I remember seeing a video on youtube, showing soft and not-a-lot-of-details photos. Saying it's sony applying a lot of filtering.

Then he proceeded to edit RAW shots, and the results turned out much better, I'll try to find the video.

 

[Octarine]

Since all these images are close-up pictures they could also be a bit too close? Minimum focusing distance?
The first image has some sharp areas around the eyes, it appears to be blurred due to handshake.

 

[The Bull]

Hi Kei1309, Octarine, Skygon,,DarkWingDoug,Fatbike, One eye Jack, richiemccaw1 and Light machinary.

Thnk you all for valuable piece of info. After looking at your reviews, i feel like its not the camera but the person behind it. I will shoot some pics with trypod with proper Fstop and shutter speed.
Will come back again

Once aagain, Thnk u all

C U AGAIN

 

[daredevil123]

and use continuous focusing.

 

[richiemccaw1]

All the best bull. Looking forward to seeing you share some pictures with us.

 

[kei1309]

I may not be the best person to talk about this, but I remember seeing a video on youtube, showing soft and not-a-lot-of-details photos. Saying it's sony applying a lot of filtering.

Then he proceeded to edit RAW shots, and the results turned out much better, I'll try to find the video.

you mean lots of in-camera processing? till all you had was an over-cooked JPEG?

quite true.

that's why i shoot RAW. but with the A7R's new processor, JPEG is great now.

and at TS, i don't think you needed to post the images for the issue you posted in the Sony forum in a new thread. could the mods merge the threads again?

 

[rhino123]

A look at your photos, there is a question, where is the focus point in all your photo? For the second photo, it is quite clear there are motion blur. Also since your f-stop are pretty small (big), the DOF is also quite thin, thus some of the area are not that sharp (or blurred).

 

[fatbike]

Perhaps a very short test on tripod for stills mite tell u more on ur photos?

 

[Shizuma]

increase DOF first. f8.

still blur? check shutter speed faster than 1/50

still blur? check lens not physically blurred (greasy) and AF switch is on.

seriously I did leave my AF off on my canon by mistake when I was a raw newbie. shot a whole hour of blurry images.

 

[DarkWingDoug]

you mean lots of in-camera processing? till all you had was an over-cooked JPEG?

quite true.

that's why i shoot RAW. but with the A7R's new processor, JPEG is great now.

and at TS, i don't think you needed to post the images for the issue you posted in the Sony forum in a new thread. could the mods merge the threads again?

Ah yes yes, in-camera processing is the correct term.
It's a pity I can't find that video now, and I think it might be for the Sony A7, gosh Sony's naming convention needs improvement.

Okay I found it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96nbKAsu42M

 

[rhino123]

I really don't think the result TS got had anything to do with in-camera processing. Although reviews did mentioned that A77 produce soft fine details.

https://www.imaging-resource.com/camera-reviews/sony/a77/AA77IMAGING.HTM

Sharpness.

The Sony A77 captures sharp images with very good detail overall, though fine detail is somewhat soft at default settings even at base ISO, despite fairly obvious sharpening halos visible around high-contrast subjects such as the larger branches and pine cones in the crop above left (which was shot with a very sharp Carl Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8 SSM lens at f/8). Fine detail such as the smaller branches and pine needles show minimal edge enhancement, but appear a touch soft and feathery. Remember, though, that we're looking at a 24-megapixel image on screen at 100%, so results here are pretty good. See the bottom of this page for our analysis of printed results. Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing colors and tones right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.