Can the camera lose sharpness?

Morph3ous

Morph3ous

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I've got a Canon 60d that I've owned for a few years now, along with the 17-55IS, 50 1.8 and 70-200IS.

It's been a great camera but just lately it's lost it's sharpness? The 17-55 and 50 are good sharp copies and no matter what I do the images just seem really soft? Take the 50 for example...in the past if the environment is right I've got sharp images wide open at 1.8 and stopped down a little it's even better. Yesterday I was using it at home and at 1.8 with a shutter of 1/200 it was soft. I stopped down to f4 and it was still not pin sharp.

The other day I was using the 17-55 outside and it too just seemed more soft than usual.

The only thing that's changed is a firmware upgrade recently so I could try out magic lantern. I know it deleted my camera settings but could it affect the bodies sharpness like this?? Yesterday I wasn't using the memory card with ML on. Just a normal SD card.

Advice appreciated.
 
For a camera body to lose sharpness generically seems odd. Can you post an example of one of your earlier sharp shots, and one taken with the same lens under similar conditions now which is soft?
 
Are you judging the sharpness from a jpg or raw file? If the former, could the firmware change have altered the default amount of sharpening applied?
 
I was shooting in raw, but towards the end I did actually shoot in raw+jpeg so I'll load the photos up and check. Thanks.
 
Hi

It is possible for the autofocus to go out of calibration on Digital Cameras that still use a mirror, that is why some have a setting to calibrate the focus yourself.

If yours it not one of those that allows user calibration or the focus shift is outside the adjustment range if it does then it will need to be sent away to be fixed, and that might not be financially viable on a 60D
 
its possible that maybe the sensor or the lenses might of picked up something and need a clean

or you just looked at foveon pics and came back to yours...

cheapo uv filters will soften a image too
 
It would be unwise to make any judgements when using a Canon 50/1.8 at f/1.8. Focus is notoriously inaccurate with that lens and also inconsistent so it's impossible even to calibrate the thing. I'm looking to change mine for the new STM version.

The only way a camera or lens can lose sharpness is if something's out of whack, most likely after a bump. There are lots of critical precision bits and pieces that need to be exactly set.
 
Try manual focus and see what that's like as I'd imagine it's an AF issue rather than the camera losing sharpness per se
 
Thanks everyone. I'll do some tests and see how it goes.
 
It could be you're eyes! I wear glasses now! First time in my life at 44!

I thought my iPhone screen was fuzzy! Didn't think it was actually my eyes
 
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