Has my new Sony A450 got a focusing problem?

noneforit

noneforit

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Hello

Bought a new Sony A450 + Kit Lens
Combined this with a Lencarta 3 head Smartflash Kit + Background

Have never done studio work before so took loads of test shots with different settings etc.

They looked ok on the camera but for some reason they look very out of focus

Example One - 18mm ISO 200 F10 1/125

Example Two - 55mm ISO 200 F10 1/125

Focus points were roughly where the eyes are and camera was mounted on a tripod

Have taken more test shots without the lighting kit and these seem just as bad.

I have used a kit lens before on my old Sony A200 and this was much better.

Ignore the lighting as im still practicing but the image seems very out of focus, especially at 100% crop

Am I going mad or is there something wrong with the camera/lens?

Cheers
 
The second one looks fine to me but the first is definately soft. The other thing I noticed is that the blacks seem a bit mushy given they were shot at ISO200. Did you have DRO switched on or off? I've heard it can do strange things to photos.

This first photo is an odd one though, 18mm @ F10 should have had everything in focus but I can't find anything that looks sharp in that frame. Was there much ambient light that could have caused some ghosting if she moved slightly? ~Do you have the kit lens from your old camera? Perhaps repeat the test with that lens on this body.
 
Thanks for the reply Kev

I did mess about with the second one in photoshop by adjusting the levels so ignore the colour difference.

I was using a flash heads behind the background and a softbox flash at her 2 o clock position

Havent got my old kit lens unfortunately, all the photos I take seem ok on the camera but very oof when viewed at 100% crop on a PC
 
There's a major difference in background exposure between the 2 shots, with far more (far too much) light behind the head in shot 1

This is just a guess and may be wrong, but I'm wondering whether the problem in the first shot is caused by flare, due to unwanted light bouncing back from the background - this is always a potential problem when the background is overlit and when the subject is too close. The problem is also much more likely to occur when a wideangle lens is used, as with the first shot.

Another POSSIBLE cause is camera shake - I don't know which shutter speed you used, it should have been something like 1/125th, if the camera was set to something like 1/15th then camera shake could cause or contribute to the problem.

There are various free tutorials in the Lencarta learning centre that may help you
 
Are you shooting RAW Laurie and if so are you applying some sharpening in post processing?

The image on the back of the camera is a JPG processed by the camera's programming and will have a certain amount of sharpening applied to it. If you then take the RAW file which has had no sharpening and don't apply some then it will look softer than the jpeg on the back of the camera.
 
Thanks Garry

The subject was about 1 foot from the background and I positioned a light directly behind the background sheet so its possible that flare caused the issue.

I have a couple more test shots (without the studio lights) that seem out of focus, will upload them soon
 
There could well be a focussing problem, it happens often.

My answer would then be wrong, but flare in particular will still cause potential problems with this type of lighting even if the lens is focussing correctly, and especially with a wideangle lens.

BTW, you will always need a good lens hood for studio shots, and especially with a wideangle lens
 
I am going to get a Tamron 17-50mm for the studio work which comes with a lens hood but I dont want to get this if there is a focusing problem with the camera itself.

I have no experience of studio work or lighting so am feeling my way through.
I will take some more test shots without the light to see what the results are
 
Just looks a bit soft to me, nothing a little sharpening won't help.

Try using the lens at different apertures and adjust the lights to suit. That way you can see if the lens has an optimal aperture for sharpness.
 
The 18-55 kit lens is sharp wide open, extremely impressive corner performance at 18mm wide open (f/3.5) and decent wide open at 55mm.

I can't tell much from the small samples posted here mind you.
 
puddleduck said:
The 18-55 kit lens is sharp wide open, extremely impressive corner performance at 18mm wide open (f/3.5) and decent wide open at 55mm.

I can't tell much from the small samples posted here mind you.
Click to expand...

I was led to believe that this kit lens is better than the old 17-70mm one but mine seems very very soft

Will take some more pictures tonight at F22 and see what happens
 
F22? What will it show you?
 
puddleduck said:
Bad idea - on a 14 megapixel sensor, you'll be hitting diffraction around f/12-f/13.

Stick to f/8
Click to expand...
:thumbs:
Manufacturers include specs such as the ability to shut down to very small apertures just because the more features a product has, the more people are likely to buy it.

And, very, very occasionally a very deep depth of field is needed. But as puddleduck says, f/8 (or maybe f/11) is the smallest you should use on your camera.
 
Fair enough guys, will try F8

Was using F10/F11 for the studio light shots as any less bleached the shots

I do have SR switched on so will try without when mounted on the tripod :)
 
Mike might have hit the nail on the head there. Why not try a shot hand held with the SR switched on just to see how it comes out.
 
Right

Took a few more shots with the lighting kit and they all seemes soft with SR on or off

Here are a few more without the lighting kit

They look ok until you look at 100% crop and they just seem.....well bad....maybe it just me or the limitations of the kit lens?

One - ISO200 F10 18MM

Two - ISO200 F10 55MM

Three - ISO200 F10 55MM

Four - ISO6400 F13 35MM

The web seems to compress them as the ISO6400 one doesnt look anywhere near as grainy on my monitor here

Any ideas, focus points were on the blue door in the first two and the label of the glass in the last two?
 
Maybe its just me expecting too much from the kit lens.

I upgraded to a Sigma 28-70mm F2.8 on my old Sony A200 and got some very sharp shots
 
noneforit said:
Maybe its just me expecting too much from the kit lens.

I upgraded to a Sigma 28-70mm F2.8 on my old Sony A200 and got some very sharp shots
Click to expand...

The A450 probably won't have the per-pixel sharpness of the A200.

The A100, A200 and A350 are all very sharp.

But I don't see an obvious problem personally. I think that kit lens is delivering very decent sharpness for a £50 lens at 18mm.
 
Thanks Andy

I do need the images to be sharp as im going to be doing studio shots so im not sure the A450 was the best choice in that case

Im note sure whether its better to upgrade the lens on this one or get a Canon 40D second hand on here and combine with the Tamron 17-50mm
 
Hi Noneforit,

Having just bought an a450 after using an a200 for a few years, I too have noticed that photos seem to be a bit mushy and when using my 300mm quite a lot of purple edging appears which doesn't with the a200.

I think it's probably a safe bet to say there's nothing wrong with the camera per-se, it's just not as good as one would expect for the significant wedge of money that it cost.

Regards,
Gareth.
 
Gareth1982 said:
I too have noticed that photos seem to be a bit mushy and when using my 300mm quite a lot of purple edging appears which doesn't with the a200.
Click to expand...
there is a definite difference in look between the CCD (A200) & the CMOS (A450) equipped bodies. Having said that at high ISO the A450 will be better than the A200.
which 300 btw, Tamron 70-300?
 
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