The next step in technical quality - Nikon D90 with stock lens

jon_of_drums

jon_of_drums

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Jonathan
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I've had a Nikon D90 a number of years now, having converted from Nikon film SLRs. To date I've only had the 'kit' lens that I bought with it: Nikon D90 AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G. I'm still a bit disappointed with the technical quality of the results I'm getting, mainly to do with sharpness. Even when I shoot in good light conditions, on a tripod, VR switched off, RAW files, etc. I still don't quite get the sharpness that I'd like.

When I go on holiday later this year, I'm thinking about hiring something to try to get better results. What I'm interested in is whether a better lens on the same body will improve the results, or if I'm just bumping my head up against the limitations of the sensor in the D90? I'm tempted to try something like a Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/4 G ED VR (mainly as I'd just like a slightly longer telephoto), but possibly won't bother going to the expense if it's not a significant technical improvement from what I have.

Any thoughts on the subject greatly appreciated.
 
Yes the 70/200 will be a lot sharper, have one and it produces stunningly sharp pictures.
Bit then a few years back I also have the 18/105 and that was pretty good, my only gripe was the plastic
mount snapped when the camera fell a very short distance onto grass.
The other thing to consider is the weight, depending on where you are going and how you are travelling ?
What is your main interest subject to photograph ?
 
I've never had a problem with sharpness with my D90. My 'standard' zoom was the 16-85mm but the 18-105mm has a good reputation. Are you shooting Raw or JPG? And what mode do you shoot in so is the lens stopping down at all? Could it be a focussing problem - lens not quite registering properly on the camera?
 
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D90 is capable of taking images as sharp as any you'll see anywhere.
What are you doing with the photographs? Unless you're printing them very large your camera is not the problem.

Also, are you sure your it's your photographs or could it be your expectations? Some people have unreasonable expectations about sharpness, often comparing to the very sharpest (or seemingly sharpest) images they've seen online. The perceived sharpness they compare against can often be more about lighting and post-processing than it is about kit.
 
Lol @ Paul. Tbh, for a holiday that would be ideal as the Sigmas are awesome awesome cameras. The IQ is amazing if that's your thing.

I also have to agree with Shaheed. His pics from the combo he mentions are superb.

As for lenses, you don't say what your holiday is... That will no doubt impact lens selection.
 
All very helpful stuff. Many thanks. I've been thinking for a while that the positive reviews/opinions of my D90 body and lens kit didn't seem to match with my experience/expectations in the results. I've thought for some time that it might just be a 'fault' of my digital workflow - ie. not applying appropriate sharpening in post. Some time back, after what was probably not quite enough research, I switched to taking just RAW files instead of JPEGs. Now I'm going to have to admit that the only software I use for post at the moment is the latest version of iPhoto. The sharpening offering there is pretty rudimentary (ie. simply more or less, on a single parameter control). I guess I should look into this further. In which case, the obvious next step for me would be Apple's Aperture, given that I don't have infinite time to dedicate to this, and that it can operate on the same photo library already in place from iPhoto. Any strong feelings there? Will I be getting a more sophisticated set of sharpening tools by paying the (what seems quite reasonable) £55 or so?

Thanks for all the comments on lenses. I think I'll hire something anyway, even though the core of my original post may well be in the processing domain. I'm into my close-up abstracts at the moment, so a faster, longer telephoto than the one I have will be interesting to explore.
 
Never had a problem with sharpness when I had my D90... pin sharp with the lens' I used with it... (24-70 2.8, 50mm 1.4, 60mm 2.8)
 
For your processing try Lightroom 5.
I used to get very sharp results with my D90 and a selection of prime lenses (28 f1.8, 35 f2, 50 f1.4 etc).
 
Whilst it crosses over with your kit lens (in focal length at least), perhaps give one of the 'G' primes a go, certainly the 50mm on my D90 gives as sharp results as i could wish for and would give you a benchmark to measure your kit lens against.

I did start a thread on here recently in praise of my 18-105, i think it is a great walkabout / holiday solution for the money and despite having a range of primes still use the kit lens frequently. i think it may be the RAW / JPEG issue mentioned above, rather than the kit.
 
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