topic Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

aislinnm — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 08:39:30 GMT

Hello, I use the EOS M50 with its 15-45mm kit lens, and I've always had an issue with the photos not being very sharp or focussed in situations where the lighting isn't perfect and the subject isn't close. I have attached a reference photo which shows the issue with sharpness/focus I see in so many of my photos (see the subjects' faces in particular). Is this just usual for this camera and lens, or is there something I'm doing wrong settings-wise? If I do simply need to upgrade my lens to be able to consistently take sharp photos, what lens should I upgrade to? For context, I mostly use my camera to take spontaneous, candid photos of people at events etc. My photo subjects are quite often at a distance of up to 10m away, I need to be able to take photos quickly with a fast shutter speed, and I like my photos to have large depth of field/everything in focus. Ideally, I also like my camera/lens to be as unobtrusive as possible. Thanks everyone!

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

Waddizzle — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:33:40 GMT

Sorry to hear you are having issues.

Is your sample image the same size as the original photo? The sample is fairly low resolution.
How long have you experienced this issue?
Do you save captured images as RAW or JPG?
What is your work flow? How do you transfer files from the camera and to what type of device?

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

aislinnm — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 21:42:53 GMT

Thanks for your reply. My sample image is a smaller file size than the original, but here it is again below as a larger file size (I can't upload the original size photo here, but essentially, even the highest quality versions of my photos can still have this issue with sharpness/focus). I've experienced this issue the whole time I've owned the camera, but I'm not the first owner (although overall, it's barely been used over its lifetime). I have experimented with shooting images as both RAW and JPG files, but this doesn't seem to do the trick.

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

Waddizzle — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 22:16:57 GMT

This is another low resolution, 1000 x 750, image. This could be why the image looks soft.

How do you transfer photos out of the camera? Where do you save them.

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

Ron888 — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 23:33:23 GMT

No that's a big one.Download it to see full size

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

Ron888 — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 23:39:29 GMT

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

Waddizzle — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 00:05:09 GMT

“ No that's a big one.Download it to see full size. “

Of course, I downloaded both versions. Do you have a more recent photo?

Again, how do you transfer photos from the camera?

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

deebatman316 — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 00:02:12 GMT

Mirrorless cameras can't front focus. Thus there's no need for AFMA Adjustment/ AF Fine Tune in a mirrorless camera. Only DSLRs and AF SLRs have such adjustments available.

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

Ron888 — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 06:12:35 GMT

Ok,maybe i should call it something else.I've had occasional bad focus issues on a mirrorless (M3). Focus too close or too far

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

aislinnm — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 11:44:19 GMT

I've had to condense the file size to be able to upload it here, to clarify again, but I do have this issue even with the largest, highest resolution version of my photos. To answer your question, I move my photos from my SD card to either Adobe Bridge or Lightroom. The blurriness is apparent before I do any kind of saving/reducing of file size. Is there a chance this is just the reasonable quality of photos that this camera would take, in low light and at a slight distance? Are my expectations too high and do I just need a bigger lens? Or is this out of the ordinary for this size lens and this camera body? Thanks everyone

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

Waddizzle — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 16:13:12 GMT

Please upload an original file to a public file sharing site like Dropbox or OneDrive.

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

Ron888 — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 00:20:10 GMT

No your expectations aren't too high,and larger images arent needed. I'm sure there's a focus problem with this image.Or at least some of it is a focus problem.
Notice how the pattern on the floor is sharpest close to the camera? Where the closest person is standing, the floor pattern is already starting to blur.The camera focused too close to itself.
There may be a chance the lens is decentered (notice the right side is sharper than the left) but it's hard to say for sure from a single image.
So can you upload other images? We'll see if there's any pattern. Images that can show the AF point are best.

Demetrius is correct in saying mirrorless cameras cant have focus adjustment errors but they can still have focus errors. In fact there should be a setting in the menu where you can choose AF accuracy verses speed.I think it's called "shutter release/AF priority release"? You probably should check to see if that is set to best AF accuracy(this might slow the camera in certain situations)
All that said,it seems mirrorless cameras of that type are having lots of focus errors. There's a lot of talk on this subject online,this being just one-
dpreview.com/forums/thread/4167024

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

jrhoffman75 — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 00:50:11 GMT

Please post some sample images to One Drive, Dropbox or similar file sharing service. Preferably RAW images.

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

aislinnm — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 05:43:07 GMT

Please find here a Google Drive folder of RAW images taken on my camera, as examples of the kind of lack of sharpness I often notice in photos. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SIFjZgTTTbVZD1AyHboCOkhLxOQaxzOH?usp=sharing

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

aislinnm — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 05:43:30 GMT

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SIFjZgTTTbVZD1AyHboCOkhLxOQaxzOH?usp=sharing

I hope this can be helpful 🙂

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

Ron888 — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 00:22:43 GMT

I'm not sure it's been asked yet- have you seen the focus points of these images? You'll need Canon Digital Photo Professional program to do this.It's available free from the canon websites.
Notice some are focused on objects rather than people. Also are some focused on the wrong person?
(this site didnt allow all pics at once so have added others below)

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

Ron888 — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 00:20:06 GMT

And here are the others. Hopefully other members here can spot errors i've missed

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

stevet1 — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 02:01:18 GMT

aislinnm,

Don't get too discouraged. Trying to capture motion in dim or low-lit situations is one of the harder things photographers try to address.

Just for the heck of it, take your camera outside on a brightly lit day and take a couple of pictures. Do you experience the same kind of focusing issues?

One thing I would suggest...

In your opening post, you said that you wanted a large depth of field so that everything is in focus. If you are trying to freeze motion with a fast shutter speed, you might lower or widen your aperture to allow more light to come in. This will mean a smaller depth of field, but that's okay. Highlight the subject that 's most important to you, and let the rest of your scene fade away in the background.

There's an old expression that says, "Fill the frame." Go ahead and concentrate on the one thing that's important to you, and draw your viewers' eyes to it. If the rest of the stuff fades away, that's okay.

Steve Thomas

Re: EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

Ron888 — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 21:53:01 GMT

Steve makes a good point.Take some pics in bright sunlight.That will eliminate some possible causes of unsharpness.
Set the focus point to center and shoot people or objects -while having others at varying distances from you in frame.That will help show if the camera is missfocusing