Beginner Advice about upgrading from EOS 500D

keenan

keenan

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Jacques
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Hi guys..

I am currently in a bit of a struggle. I have upgraded from a used 350D to a used 500D a month or so ago and I dont find the image quality up to my liking. I struggle to get perfect focus and almost 99% of the time need to consult photoshop for enhancing the photos..

I always allow for focal length when choosing exposure so it's not a matter of blur, I just don't find the photos as pin sharp as I would like. Can it be something with the body? I have read reviews and most give the 500D an average image quality of 62%. Am I right in thinking that is bad?

To give you guys an idea..

Here's a picture of my son, it was shot with a 50mm f/1.8 II lens. Peoplw say that if you get bad photos with this lens then you must be pretty #&%$ at photography.. :(

It was taken at ISO 200 with an exposure of 1/60 and the only focus point was dead center on his left eye..

It just looks overall blurred and noisy

http://abload.de/img/img_4099t6jse.jpg
 
Personally, I'd struggle to reliably hand-hold at 1/60 with any lens. If you want to rule out hand-holding as a factor you need to get the shutter speed up to 1/200 or faster, even with a 50mm.

But,in any case.. that photo is sharp enough - but you've missed the focus a touch, and with the lens wide open (I assume it's wide open - you don't say) the depth of focus is very shallow. His ear is pretty much perfectly in focus, and the image sharp enough to pick out individual hairs above his ear.
 
Hi Alastair, thanks for the reply. Yes it was taken wide open as it was indoors. I will try at narrower aperture and see if that helps
 
I would pop the ISO up to 400, aperture to around f4, use aperture priority, and see how that turns out, although without flash, I would personally use a support of some sort.
 
Yup I agree with Alastair- you've just missed the focus. The cuff of his vest above the shoulder is in focus. At close range and f1.8 your depth of field is only a few centimetres.
I don't suggest you use it on every shot, but something like this app will give you an idea of what sort of DoF you'll get with a given camera/lens/aperture/subject distance combo:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jds.dofcalc

You don't say what AF settings you were using, but I'd guess that your camera changed the focal point at the last minute- rather than a lens defect. Either that or you or your son moved slightly backward. Your shutter speed is doable- just bare in mind the 1/focal length 'rule' is not foolproof -it just improves your odds- and also that with a crop body, movement will be more noticeable than with a full frame body.
 
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dizidav said:
I would pop the ISO up to 400, aperture to around f4, use aperture priority, and see how that turns out, although without flash, I would personally use a support of some sort.
Click to expand...

Hi dizidav, thanks for the reply. I dont really like using the flash do to the hard shadows but I'll see if I can make some sort of diy defuser.
 
Cheap DIY diffuser can be made from the bottom off a 1ltr milk container.
 
Coyon said:
Yup I agree with Alastair- you've just missed the focus. The cuff of his vest above the shoulder is in focus. At close range and f1.8 your depth of field is only a few centimetres.
I don't suggest you use it on every shot, but something like this app will give you an idea of what sort of DoF you'll get with a given camera/lens/aperture/subject distance combo:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jds.dofcalc

You don't say what AF settings you were using, but I'd guess that your camera changed the focal point at the last minute- rather than a lens defect.
Click to expand...

Hi Coyon, thanks for the reply and the advise on the app. I used AutoFocus with manually selecting the middle focus point in the viewfinder, I then focused on his eye and after the "beep" confirmation I fired..

Hope that makes sense ;)
 
dizidav said:
Cheap DIY diffuser can be made from the bottom off a 1ltr milk container.
Click to expand...

Yes, I saw one made from the handle of a 6pint bottle.. havn't seen the one with the 1ltr bottle yet, but I will try it out to see which works best
 
Hi Coyon, thanks for the reply and the advise on the app. I used AutoFocus with manually selecting the middle focus point in the viewfinder, I then focused on his eye and after the "beep" confirmation I fired..

Hope that makes sense ;)[/quote]

I think one of you moved in that case.
 
I will try f2.5 or more and see if that helps, I assume it would be a bit more forgiving if the slightest of movement is involved
 
Focus is off, could be the lens (the Canon 50/1.8 is not known for either accurate or consistent focus) but more likely either you, or the subject, moved after focus was locked.

Has the image been lightened in post processing? If so, that's responsible for most of the noise. Much better to raise the ISO and get correct exposure in-camera than rescuing things later.
 
You could also try leaving it at 1.8 and use continuous shooting. Move that carrier bag too ;)
 
HoppyUK said:
Focus is off, could be the lens (the Canon 50/1.8 is not known for either accurate or consistent focus) but more likely either you, or the subject, moved after focus was locked.

Has the image been lightened in post processing? If so, that's responsible for most of the noise. Much better to raise the ISO and get correct exposure in-camera than rescuing things later.
Click to expand...

Hi HoppyUK, the image is straight out of the camera, absolutely no edit. That is why the noise bothers me.

Coyon said:
You could also try leaving it at 1.8 and use continuous shooting. Move that carrier bag too ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks Coyon, is that "AI Focus" or "AI Servo"? About the bag, get your low blows in while I'm down :D
 
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A 50mm at 1.8 from say 60cm (2ft) on a 500D would give you a depth of field of 9mm!!

I've got a 500D and the 50mm 1.8 and love it, it's pin sharp, but I have to remember that wide open the depth of field can be tiny. Here's one of mine taken with the 50mm for reference (handheld, f2.2, 1/40 sec, with a bit of flash, cropped in):

8370139079_89a93fe26a.jpg

"Beauty is in the eye of the 'b' holder"

And below is a shot from my 500D with 50mm on a tripod (f/1.8, 1/13, ISO-100, natural light, no crop):

8399153998_748c39f72c.jpg
 
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Nick65 said:
A 50mm at 1.8 from say 60cm (2ft) on a 500D would give you a depth of field of 9mm!!

I've got a 500D and the 50mm 1.8 and love it, it's pin sharp, but I have to remember that wide open the depth of field can be tiny. Here's one of mine handheld with a bit of flash for reference:

snip

And here's my 500D with 50mm on a tripod, with natural light:

snip
Click to expand...

Hi Nick65, thank you so much for the informative post..

How do you work out the depth of field compared to aperture and distance?

I take it the further you are from your subject the more the depth of field increase?

Very nice photos :agree:
 
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keenan said:
Hi Nick65, thank you so much for the informative post..

How do you work out the depth of field compared to aperture and distance?

I take it the further you are from your subject the more the depth of field increase?

Very nice photos :agree:
Click to expand...

I'd like to say it's by careful calculation, but with me it's more luck that judgement :), I am improving though, the more I use it the luckier I seem to get. But, you are absolutely correct, in that the further you are from your subject, or the narrower the aperture (larger number) the deeper the depth of field gets. I've now got the DoF calculator on both my android phone, and tablet which I use for this lens and my 100mm Macro and I'm thinking of creating and laminating a piece of paper with depth of field calculation on it, similar to how I learnt my times tables.

Oh and if you still think your focus is off, stick the camera on a tripod, and do the old newspaper focus test. I could have sworn early on that my camera was faulty and wouldn't focus properly, then I realised that the problem lay in the 12 inches behind the camera :)

Nick
 
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keenan said:
Hi Nick65, thank you so much for the informative post..

How do you work out the depth of field compared to aperture and distance?

I take it the further you are from your subject the more the depth of field increase?

Very nice photos :agree:
Click to expand...

Good DoF calculator here, DOFmaster http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
 
Nick65 said:
I'd like to say it's by careful calculation, but with me it's more luck that judgement :), I am improving though, the more I use it the luckier I seem to get. But, you are absolutely correct, in that the further you are from your subject, or the narrower the aperture (larger number) the deeper the depth of field gets. I've now got the DoF calculator on both my android phone, and tablet which I use for this lens and my 100mm Macro and I'm thinking of creating and laminating a piece of paper with depth of field calculation on it, similar to how I learnt my times tables.

Oh and if you still think your focus is off, stick the camera on a tripod, and do the old newspaper focus test. I could have sworn early on that my camera was faulty and wouldn't focus properly, then I realised that the problem lay in the 12 inches behind the camera :)

Nick
Click to expand...

Thanks Nick, lots of good advice and tips :)

HoppyUK said:
Good DoF calculator here, DOFmaster http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
Click to expand...

Thanks HoppyUK, I'll try that now :)
 
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