EOS 2000D Blurry pictures as compared to my old Samsung Galaxy S9 phone

[v3anders]

I just got the entry level 2000D in preparation for taking a photography class. I gave it a test drive. I see that the pictures are blurry and fuzzy compared to old phone, which has half the pixels. Is this normal? or do I have a defective camera?

[Tronhard]

To be honest, none of these images seem very sharp to me for what I would expect from a lens and camera of this type.
I don't have your model of camera, but I have delved into my museum of gear and found the Canon EOS 600D (Rebel T3i) vintage 2011, with the EF-S 18-55 IS STM lens. This should be close enough for a general comparison to your gear.

I turned the IS from the lens off and mounted it on a basic tripod - to try to emulate what you might be doing, and got these shots: it's almost winter here in NZ and the sun is not even up properly, so things are a bit dull...   I deliberately chose a subject with sharp, clear and straight lines.  All images are straight out of camera with absolutely no processing at all.

First FL: 55mm, f/5, 1/200sec, ISO-400

Next FL: 55mm, f/8, 1/80sec, ISO-400

Finally, FL: 55mm, f/5, 1/200sec, ISO-400

These may not be perfect, but they seem to me to be significantly sharper than the images you are getting, so the question remains why...
I have not seen a response to my question about focusing the lens manually.  I was wondering if you have ever focused the lens using the focus ring on the lens while the AF-MF switch is set to AF, can you please confirm?

[v3anders]

Thank you Trevor. The pictures I posted were magnified and cropped.  The look much better than the thumbnails I posted. I can put the original JPG in the folder I mentioned earlier.

Yes, I do have the lens in AF mode and I do see it focus when I press the shutter button half way.

[Tronhard]

Hmmm... When you explained: "Trevor, I bought it new from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08K7CKKB1" I checked this out.  It's a massive bundle of a lot of gear you may never use, and I suspect this is not a Canon authorized dealer.  Checking their feedback someone else has had issues with the lens, so it is possible that this person is selling grey market (i.e. unauthorized) gear, refurbished (by who knows whom), or even repaired equipment.   I am not in North America so, I don't know all the in's and out's of the market there. 

Frankly, if you had come to me before purchasing, and wanted a cheap kit to get going I would have suggested a Canon Authorized refurbished camera, which are essentially as new and have a Canon 1 year warranty.  All you need is the camera, a decent lens (preferably with image stabilization and an STM designation), a memory card and possibly a spare battery.   

[Tronhard]

OK, good to know, thank you.  These details, especially anything that impacts what we see as a sample image to evaluate, are very important.  I tried to access the link you sent, but it asked me to send a request to access, which I did, but have no response so far.

[v3anders]

Hi Trevor,

Sorry, I did not see the request (don't check my gmail account too often). You should be good to go now.

[Tronhard]

Yes, onto it! 🙂

[Tronhard]

Hi again:
I downloaded the images you shared and looked at them through Windows Photo program at 100% magnification.  Even before doing so, it was apparent that almost all of your statue images were not in focus, the only one really being acceptable was # 348.  Of the images of the golf course some were marginal, but there were a few acceptable ones - looking at the images, it seemed to me that those were taken in quite windy conditions, which adds another layer of complication to the evaluation process.
Do you know anyone who has a Canon EF or EF-S lens that you can try on your camera to take some images?  I am really trying to isolate the lens as an issue if I can to count it in or out of the issues.

[v3anders]

Thank you for taking the time to look at all the pictures and your valuable feedback. I am going to ask around, to see if anybody has a similar camera and will give it a try. 

Thanks again.

-Valentin

[Tronhard]

This thread structure makes it extremely hard to find the latest posts - even if I select newest first, the posts seem to be lost if they are posted as replies! ☹️  I have requested that Canon add an options for strict chronological order without nesting.  So, I may have missed your post, despite searching high and low...

I went out into my garden, between showers, and used the 600D with my 18-55 lens (no AF) to get a few shots as an example of what one should expect to get from a similar setup. 

My camera is set to landscape style,  but that does not impact sharpness significantly, so I think it's a fair match.  Here are some images SooC, shot hand-held, but reduced in size to post without thumbnails.

This first series is consistent, except for aperture, and you can see that the shutter speed changes accordingly. 

FL 55mm, f/8, 1/200sec, ISO-400
55mm, f/8, 1/200sec, ISO-400

FL 55mm, f/5.6, 1/400sec, ISO-400

FL 55mm, f/11, 1/100sec, ISO-400

This next series is just a couple of close-up shots:

FL 49mm, f/11, 1/40sec, ISO-400
 

FL 40mm, f/5, 1/80sec, ISO-400

[v3anders]

Thank you, Trevor. I see that with your camera, you are able to get a much higher shutter speed, while in Landscape mode, than I can in mine.

I am trying to borrow a camera with a lens compatible with mine, to troubleshoot the problem, as you suggested.

Yes, also I find responses very difficult to find, even though I sort newest to oldest.