Nikkor 18-55 kit lens

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kabalman

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I own a Nikon D3000, the standard 18-55 VR kit lens and a 50mm 1.8 prime. I use the prime lens most of the time for indoor photography, mainly of my children. When I compare the images to the ones I took with my kit lens, I find that the prime lens is far sharper, but that is because of the quality of the glass (I understand).

But when I am photographing outdoors, of landscapes etc, I mainly use my 18-55 kit lens. I however find that when I use the kit lens wide open (i.e. at focal lengths of 18mm for example), I find that the images are not very sharp at all. I tried to use an aperture of f/11, and focussed at around 5 feet, which is about the hyperfocal distance for the aperture/focal length combination. When I view the resultant image at a 100% crop, I find that it is not sharp at all. I wonder if it is my focussing technique - where do I focus? at the hyperfocal distance, double the hyperfocal distance or a third of the way into the scene?

I do find that when I use the kit lens at 35mm or above, the sharpness is acceptable, but they are not really landscape shots. They are just normal shots of objects/people.
 
Your kit lens will be sharpest at the centre of its range eg. f/8 and 30mm. at those settings it should be just as sharp as your prime at f/8.

If your kit lens is not sharp at f8 and 30mm it may have a focusing issue.
 
The 18-55 is an ok lens but can look soft when pixel peeping. What is it like if you actually print an image at say A4?

You might want to look at the 18-70mm instead. It goes for around £100 used but punches way above it's weight.
 
the sharpest photos are usually around two f stops down from the maximum aperture
 
for example if you are using a f/1.8 lens, the sharpest photo will be at f/2.8
 
ah5168 said:
Your kit lens will be sharpest at the centre of its range eg. f/8 and 30mm. at those settings it should be just as sharp as your prime at f/8.
Click to expand...

I personally very much doubt this. Although stopping down the kit lens a couple of stops from wide will help sharpness, there is no way it will be as sharp as a 50mm prime.
Another thing to consider with stopping the kit lens down to f11 is diffraction starting to soften the image.
 
having had the 18-55 and currently owning the 501.8D, 35 1.8, and 18-70, I can make some sweeping generalisations.

The 18-55 is a pretty sharp lens. In good light. If you stay off the ends. But seriously, in the 24-40 range and f5.6-f11 it can be a nicely sharp lens if you're not pixel peeping and if you keep the shutter speeds up (1/100 covers it all aside from motion). Even if you are pixel peeping it is still pretty sharp and can sharpen in post nicely.

The 18-70 is a little sharper and in a little wider range of focal length and aperture, but the benefit of the -70 to me is build quality and focus override.

Both primes are a lot sharper than the zooms. Obviously you get the lower light capabilities at wide apertures, but I would say that both primes around 2.4 or so are sharper than both zooms at their best settings. It might be by 2.8. I haven't done a rigorous comparison on them. I know that for me, I tend to shoot around 2.4 on both of them as a general start and adjust for more or less light. I find both of them at 2.4 more than sharp enough compared to the zooms. I only use the zooms when (1) I need the flexibilty, (2) I have good light and want the flexibilty, or (3) when I'm using flash and still want some flexibilty.

Thanks
Rick
 
Total shot in the dark here, but you're not using vr on a tripod are you?
 
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