topic Re: EOS 70D soft images in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS 70D soft images

drrhein — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 19:50:45 GMT

Hello Everybody. My name is Dennis and I'm a newb, not to dslr's but to this model, so please have mercy on me.

First question: When using the image processing software, PF 4 should I be able to go to 100% and still have a sharp image?

Every image I take, with any lens, whether I focus manually or with AF, seems soft to me and I can't often make it sharper in post. I use raw.

MY Iphone 8+ does fine at 100% and is razor sharp.

Next: How in the world do you get good focus on water fountains? I can't get any kind of decent focus with MF or AF.

The attached examples are resized to make size limit but to get the size limit I'm afraid I lost resolution, so there's another question.

BTW, my 10D does same thing

Dennis

Re: EOS 70D soft images

kvbarkley — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 20:06:03 GMT

To get a focus on a waterfall, focus to the bank at the side with a half press of the shutter button, hold the button and recompose.

Generally, I have found that moving water has enough contrast to focus.

Re: EOS 70D soft images

drrhein — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 20:27:09 GMT

The fountail I'm trying to get has nothing on either side to focus on.

Re: EOS 70D soft images

Waddizzle — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 23:38:34 GMT

Your sample images are not good examples to use for comparison because the subjects are at significantly different distances from the camera. Next time try shooting the same subject from the same distance.

What lens are you using on your 70D? Many of the lenses sold in camera kits are not very sharp. Another reason why your DSLR images might seem less sharp is DOF, depth of field, which can becomes more pronounced when the subject is closer to the camera.

Finally, what are your exposure settings for the DSLR photo? Too slow of a shutter speed can cause an entire image to seem out of focus due to camera shake by the photographer.

Re: EOS 70D soft images

Waddizzle — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 23:42:48 GMT

@drrhein wrote:
The fountail I'm trying to get has nothing on either side to focus on.

Depending upon the nature of the fountain, you can focus on the edge of the water. Sometimes you can focus on the base of the fountain, down where the water is being released.

It helps to know the DOF, depth of field, of your shooting scenario. The plane of focus will give you the sharpest image. But objects a little behind, or in front of, the plane of focus can appear “acceptably” sharp, too.

Re: EOS 70D soft images

drrhein — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 01:46:07 GMT

EF-S 17-55mm USM f 2.8 was used on both those, Although I use the 75-300mm kit lens a lot.

Both those shots were f14 1/125 ISO 100. All on tripods using remote release.

I can't even think about any faster shutter speed because of either shady or cloudy conditions.

I can stop to f 22 but I end up with 1/4 or 1/8 second and iso 800.

I was trying handheld landscapes the other day at f8 at 1/60 iso 500 and everything was blurry. this is both with MF and AF.

I wanted f20 for DOF but that yielded insanely slow shutter speeds.

Auto mode is worse.

Dennis

Re: EOS 70D soft images

Waddizzle — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 13:37:59 GMT

Why such a narrow aperture? If you are using a tripod, you can use f/8. Post a sample photo of the problem. Filters can impair focusing, too.

Re: EOS 70D soft images

BurnUnit — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 15:06:38 GMT

Try making something like a 800 x 600 px crop of a detail area of the whole image where you think you're seeing the problem. And try to leave your EXIF data intact so we can see the actual shot settings.

Re: EOS 70D soft images

ebiggs1 — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 16:51:50 GMT

Dennis,

For the settings you stated your shots are typical. I really don't see anything to complain about. ANyway as far as sharpness goes. Your orchid is OK but the hibiscus is over saturated as is the whole shot.. A common mistake for new folks. Ease up on the sliders in post.

The Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens is a great lens. The 75-300mm is more of a challenge to get super sharp photos with. You are using One shot and just the center focus point? Raw file format? P mode or my choice for this type work Av mode. "Auto mode is worse." Put a small piece of black electrician's tape over that selection on the mode dial so you never even think about using it again.

Re: EOS 70D soft images

ebiggs1 — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 16:59:29 GMT

"When using the image processing software, PF 4 should I be able to go to 100% and still have a sharp image?"

Not necessarily. What is PF4? Does it have Canon lens correction built in?

Focusing on a fountain or any subject that doesn't offer a good point to focus on is easy. Find something that is nearly the same distance and focus on it. Keep your finger on the shutter button and recompose. Plus there always the old way and do a manual focus. Not as easy as it was in the olden days but still viable.

Re: EOS 70D soft images

drrhein — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 01:36:21 GMT

Yes, One shot center focus point, Raw. Yep I did tweak sat up a bit. Use M or Av mode. Auto is awful.

Here are a few more maybe you can see the focus issue on them all. Exif Jpeg, I use canon DPP 4

Flower is f8 1/10 iso 200, Water is f4 1/160 iso 200, Turtle isf14 1/100 iso 640

Re: EOS 70D soft images

ebiggs1 — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 15:52:20 GMT

You used manual focus and you missed it. Simple. Plus I suspect you cropped heavily.

Photo number 2 is probably too close.

Question, on the turtle you selected f14? That seems odd and makes me think there could be other 'odd' things going on?

A SS of 1/10 even on a tripod requires careful attention.

First I want you to do a full factory reset of the camera. Menus, tools, clear all setting and clear all custom settings, too.

OK, back to square one.

Set your camera back to P mode. Set ISO to 200. WB on auto or daylight. Put your 17-55mm f2.8 lens on AF. Go outside on a nice bright day and take a few shots, a dozen or so, that have good contrast in them. A fence, play set, or trees, etc., in a park for instance with nice blue sky. No excessive editing or cropping allowed! Lens correction only. If these shots look nice and OK, there is nothing wrong with the camera/lens. The issue lies elsewhere.

Get back when you do this and report. We have to eliminate the gear and this is how.

Re: EOS 70D soft images

Waddizzle — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 22:48:49 GMT

@ebiggs1 wrote:

Question, on the turtle you selected f14?

A SS of 1/10 even on a tripod requires careful attention.

A macro shot using shutter speed of 1/10 on a tripod almost requires a remote shutter release, or the shutter delay. Shutter lockup can help sharpness. You also need to have a fairly decent tripod, too. Inexpensive tripods can shake and vibrate in a gentle breeze like a tuning fork.

Re: EOS 70D soft images

drrhein — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 23:58:39 GMT

The 1/10 shot was MF using live view X10. inside with bright defused white lights, on tripod and released with external release. If there was shake in the system I don't know where it came from.

The focus on the flower was dead on but clearly not. I have no earthly idea how I could get it focused better as AF was worse.

they were all cropped to get the size down for the 10mb limit here.

The turtle popped up while I was shooting landscape using f14 for DOF and all I did was refocus quickly. Idealy I would have used maybe f4 for that shot. The landscapes seemed fine although any blowup at all in post shows soft to me.

I'll try resetting and shooting some stuff in the AM.

I just read a review of these xxD camerias and it found the image quality and sharpness no better than an 8 out of 10.

Maybe what I'm fighting with by expecting more but you'd think at this price I'd get something at least as good as an iphone.

Dennis

Re: EOS 70D soft images

Waddizzle — Fri, 09 Aug 2019 01:07:05 GMT

Is this shot in focus to you?

The DoF is blurring the background. The closer you are to a subject, the longer the focal length, the narrower the DoF.

Re: EOS 70D soft images

drrhein — Fri, 09 Aug 2019 01:26:02 GMT

Of course.

Re: EOS 70D soft images

ebiggs1 — Fri, 09 Aug 2019 14:44:58 GMT

"I just read a review of these xxD camerias and it found the image quality and sharpness no better than an 8 out of 10."

This is bogus and a good reason to mot randomly read reviews on the ole inner web. Cameras are not sharp. lenses are sharp.

Stop everything you are doing until you do this......

"First I want you to do a full factory reset of the camera. Menus, tools, clear all setting and clear all custom settings, too.

OK, back to square one.

You and none of us know what is going on or what you might be doing wrong. This is eliminates the gear.

Re: EOS 70D soft images

ebiggs1 — Fri, 09 Aug 2019 14:48:01 GMT

Dennis the reason you need to do the reset and the test is some of your settings and procedure is suspect.

People don't regularly select f14 for instance.

Re: EOS 70D soft images

drrhein — Fri, 09 Aug 2019 15:28:36 GMT

f22 gave me a nice DOF but with too slow a shutter speed. While f8 gave good speed but less DOF than I wanted so why not use f14?

Re: EOS 70D soft images

ebiggs1 — Fri, 09 Aug 2019 15:33:10 GMT

Oh, no real reason. It is just not a standard stop like f16 or f22. It is just a tad bit faster than f16 but not really enough to make a substantial effect on your photo. Most people could not see the difference between f14 and f16 !

Do my test, please. ......and reset.