I know kit lenses aren't supposed to be sharp, but...

T

The Matt

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Yes
... this is significantly worse than I expected.
This was taken on a Canon 450D with the ef-s 18-55mm IS kit lens. ISO 100, f16, 35mm, 1/80th. Shot in JPEG so has had some in-camera sharpening. Also rotated, but no other processing has been carried out. I focussed on the ruined building using the centre af point.

original size

Is this standard for the lens and settings? Maybe I'm expecting too much from the thing, but I just wanted to make sure it's not a focussing problem or anything like that. At 1/80th, IS turned on I would personally rule out camera shake.
 
Nah. You should be able to get sharper than that by messing about with the sharpness on the Custom Settings in the menu.

I don't got no other lenses yet and I'm managing to get stuff like this:

3334469351_9404a7b8e1.jpg
 
What exactly is the problem? It looks pretty sharp to me! Unless you're looking at it at 100%, but even then very few shots will look totally sharp. Were you using a tripod?

Chris
 
If memory serves, the kit lens has a 'sweet spot' at around f/8. Much beyond that and sharpness will start to decrease.

Chris
 
Thanks. It doesn't look too bad this size, but any larger and the building is noticably fuzzy. I didn't have a tripod with me. I will have to try at about f8 and see what things look like.
 
As above - f16 will soften the image due to diffraction. f11 is about as far as I would go. I have had decent results from the kit lens at f8-f11. Also, jpeg output from the 450d is pretty soft at the best of times. Try shooting in RAW + jpeg and viewing both images in DPP for a comparison to see what I mean.
 
:plusone: the problem is diffraction - F/8 or below to stay safe on 1.6x crop cameras.

-Rob
 
Agreed. That plus the lack of tripod. Tripod, remote release and mirror lockup are invaluable! It's a small difference, but it's the difference between perfect and almost there.

Personally I find I do notice things that, at first glance, are hard to quantify. Put it down to micro-contrast and things just "looking right" if you want.
 
It doesnt look like shake to me, I would imagine diffraction probably would be the main cause.
 
Thanks everybody. At 1/80th with image stabilisation turned on I wouldn't have thought I'd be getting shake. I shall experiment with wider apertures and see what I get.
 
I have found good sucess with my D40 kit lens, a basic 18-55 and also with my D90 lens an 18-105. I think that practice with them helps a lot
 
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