EOS M50 photo sharpness issue

[aislinnm]

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! 

[Waddizzle]

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

[Ron888]

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

[jrhoffman75]

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

[aislinnm]

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

[aislinnm]

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

I hope this can be helpful 🙂

[Ron888]

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)

[Ron888]

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

[stevet1]

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

[Ron888]

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