Beginner Lens Failure or My Failure ?

[gothgirl]

So I recently bought a sigma fixed 2.8 lens, knowing full well image quality is lens to lens and some are great and some are pants

Well here is a couple of shots taken on the new lens

The snake was done handheld at night, and the only light in the room was the snake's bulb... so max of about 1500 - 2000 Lumens

The dogs were done on a cloudy day , at the beach, again handheld.

The gecko was done with onboard flash

I am not exactly happy with how they came out

But is it a lens issue or a mistake i've made ?

(I'd be much happier if it's something I've done wrong, and not the lens being a poor copy)

So these were done on a Canon 50d, with the Sigma Fixed 2.8 17-50 lens (non vc)

 

[Shawn Eastman]

What are you not happy with?
I can see that there are points of focus... i'd say the lens is operating fine. All comes down to where you're focusing & the settings you're using.
It's more often then not the user that's messing up rather than the camera or the lens.. but without knowing exactly what you were trying to achieve with these shots (& why you think they failed) & the exact settings you used it's hard to say what you should do differently to be happier with them.

 

[moomike]

You're not doing yourself any favours unfortunately, you're trying to get shots that are going to be pretty challenging in general, let alone for someone unfamiliar with a new lens & trying to judge whether it's a good copy or not. You need to work backwards for this, rather than going for the most challenging stuff you can find, try something easier to begin with.

Tripod mount your camera, use a static subject, a shutter release or self timer & make sure you nail the focus - once you know you can get a nice, sharp shot in this way, you will know whether it's user error or not. Aside from that advice, I'd just make sure to have a good search on here for tips & tricks for each type of image you're trying to capture (love the subjects btw, used to look after a few royal pythons, a really mean grass snake, cane toads and 3 leopard geckos - wife can't stand them unfortunately tho so I'm not allowed any

For the dogs shots, make sure to ramp up the shutter speed, they move a lot faster than you think - make sure you're using the best AF method and points for tracking action on your camera - do you use back button focus, are you using AI servo, a single focus point or multiple points, etc? The head on shots are the most difficult ones to get - try getting a shot of the dog running across the frame from side to side as it should give you a large & easier target to follow.

I would imagine you could quite easily get a static shot of your snake which would allow you to set up a tripod & eliminate camera shake. It's all about controlling how you take the shot & making sure you don't make it more difficult than it has to be On camera flash is never going to give the best results either, the shadow tends to be too direct & harsh - try wrapping some tracing paper over the front to diffuse it slightly, not a brilliant solution but it's a start & will give you something new to try.

Are there any local togs that could walk you through some of the shots you're trying to get - look into the meeting place section - in general we're a pretty friendly bunch & there's always someone willing to help

 

[gothgirl]

To be honest I'm glad it's me making the mistakes

I can learn but I can't fix a lens !

Yes shutter speed (or dog speed) greatly miscalculated

Servo focus , and single point focus

I'm glad the lens is ok

 

[rpsmith79]

To be honest I'm glad it's me making the mistakes

I can learn but I can't fix a lens !

Yes shutter speed (or dog speed) greatly miscalculated

Servo focus , and single point focus

I'm glad the lens is ok

The lens may still be at fault, you need to do as Mike suggested and start off with static subjects, ideally on a tripod, to see if you are getting sharp shots in a controlled environment

It's also worth trying it out at various apertures while you are at it, from wide open all the way up to f11/22, this will also help you to determine the lenses "sweet spot" for IQ, DoF etc

But it's all good advice above, i think you are trying to run before you have learnt to walk, i know the feeling as i did the exact same when i bought my first telephoto lens, i just assumed i could go out and take cracking shots of birds in flight....... 3 years on and i'm still learning

 

[Phil V]

Not what you asked... however
I feel like a stuck record, but subjects like the gecko and snake require lighting.

If you want your photography to improve, at some point you will have to grasp that nettle. There really is no alternative at those diastances for year round success.

 

[Mr Bump]

Phil is right with the lighting for sure also the advice regarding tripod shots.
Too much is made of the cameras technical wizardry to take a good shots but great shots need more.
Also good advice on the aperture sweet spot, most big lenses are better stopped down a wee bit.

 

[val d5000]

Hi I'm no expert and have also just bought that lens and I'm just having those same thoughts because i am new i thought i need more practice

 

[sk66]

It's almost always technique/user error.
I don't think I've ever had a "bad lens" that wasn't somehow physically damaged. I have some that require AFMA, I even had one that wasn't perfect with max adjustment. But unless everything else is optimal you'll probably never see the difference. I used the same lenses w/ bodies w/o AFMA... it generally makes very little difference.

 

[gothgirl]

Reading what's been said I do believe it's just bad decisions on my part, here's another shot from the same day of one of the dogs with the same lens, and this I am much happier with it especially as its quite a heavy crop

I think as this dog is stationary, it gave me more time to compose the shot properly

 

[Shawn Eastman]

For sure. When that dog is jumping up at you it's with some serious fast movement & you're going to need a super quick shutter speed to capture him as well as a small enough aperture to capture enough of what you want in focus, in focus. When the dog is a lot more static like in that second shot, you can use a not-so-speedy shutter & whichever aperture you like (provided the final exposure is correct) depending on the depth of field you want within the shot. I suspect you probably shot both images with exactly the same settings....? Have a check at the data.

Try throwing a stick & shooting the dog as it runs past you or towards you in autofocus AI Servo mode & start off with a shutter speed of say 1/100. Just stick it in shutter priority if you must with auto ISO. Then gradually increase your shutter speed & take note of the point at which you think enough of the dogs movement has been captured in a still. From here you can take this shutter speed to manual mode & then play around with your depth of field & ISO to get the image closer to how you want it.

It's a lot to take in but if all of that sounds a bit gobbledygook to you then it's about going back to basics & understanding what everything is individually & then how they are collectively used together in the exposure triangle, instead of jumping into such difficult shots as has been mentioned.
If it does make sense to you though, then give it a shot & let us know what you find out.

 

[wezza13]

I see nothing wrong with the Gecko picture. Its eye's sharp, as it should be. The light doesn't look too bad, considering it's on-board flash.

With my dog pictures, I start at a high shutter speed like 1/800 or even 1/1000 and see if I can reduce it a bit. Like birds, that fluffy dog of yours will move slightly giving you the impression that it hasn't focused properly, looking soft.

I've got a new Tamron 70-200mm VC 2.8 being delivered today and I'm certainly not thinking that I will be out taking amazing pictures.

I'm expecting to be learning how to use it "properly" for quite a long time to come!

Good luck and keep posting, critique helps us all aim to become better in photography.