planning upgrading from t3i

[iphonemaster93]

Hey guys!

So I've had my t3i for a while and I think I'm hitting the limitations in the t3i in terms of what I'm doing now. I've had the camera for about 1-2 years (was given to me as a xmas gift) and up until now, I've done automotive photography, nature photography, as well as portrait photography. I thought that the T3i was already a good enough camera for me to suit my needs but I realized I might need more now but I'm not sure. One night, I was doing rolling shots with a few buddies of mine and noticed in post processing, that there was a ton of grain in most of the pictures if I turned up the shadows (was shooting in betwen 1/10-1/20th of a second at F8.0 at 3200ISO. What are the benefits of upgrading from a T3i or do I just need a better lens? I was thinking of going to either a T4i or a T5i but at the same time, I want to go for a full frame sensored camera but I don't know if the types of photography I'm doing right now require such an advanced camera such as the 5D MkII  or if the t4i/t5i will be good enough. Also, do the lenses for the T3i work for the 5D MKII or do I have to purchase new lenses for it? I'm guessing the lenses for the T3i are compatible with the T4i and the T5i. Thanks!  

[iphonemaster93]

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ebiggs1 wrote:

Any software that is as versitle as PS is going to be complicated.  The more a program does, the mnore difficult it will be to use.  The less it does, like LR, the less complicated by its nature.  If you did nothing except what LR can do, PS is no more difficult.

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 Yeah i'm still slowly learning PS and Lightroom. I'm starting to mess with the temperature and tint, as well as the hue, saturation, and luminance in LR. For PS, there's a lot of things haha. From photo filters to effects, etc etc. Also, why is it that I can never capture sharp photos with the 7D Mark II? It looks sharp in the built in screen but when I view it in Lightroom and/or Photoshop, the object in 'focus' appears to be blurry. Am I using the different auto focusing systems wrong? Or am I just capturing photos at too slow of a shutter speed and my hands just aren't stable enough?

[ebiggs1]

Keep at LR and PS.  Even take a course in them from the local community college.

Your 7D Mk II will take sharper pictures than you are able.  So it has to be something you are doing incorrectly.

Most likely you are not getting focus on what you think you are.  Try turning off all the focus points except the center one.  Now make sure that red square is exactly where you want the sharpest part to be.

Secondly, try to keep SS above the reciprocal of the lens.  I.E. a 50mm lens use 1/60.  A 200mm lens use 1/250.  See if you don't have the exact number go to the next higher one.  Of coures you can use even higher SS and that will help more.  When you get poorly lighted places you will need a higher ISO but that can lead to less than sharp photos, too.

[iphonemaster93]

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

Keep at LR and PS.  Even take a course in them from the local community college.

Your 7D Mk II will take sharper pictures than you are able.  So it has to be something you are doing incorrectly.

Most likely you are not getting focus on what you think you are.  Try turning off all the focus points except the center one.  Now make sure that red square is exactly where you want the sharpest part to be.

Secondly, try to keep SS above the reciprocal of the lens.  I.E. a 50mm lens use 1/60.  A 200mm lens use 1/250.  See if you don't have the exact number go to the next higher one.  Of coures you can use even higher SS and that will help more.  When you get poorly lighted places you will need a higher ISO but that can lead to less than sharp photos, too.

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I took a course at LR and that's how I know how to use LR haha. I'm about to move down to L.A. from the San Francisco Bay so I won't have enough time to take a class on PS from the local community college here. 

It definitely was something I was doing incorrectly. I had the 2nd image priority set in between speed and focus so I switched that to focus (now both my 1st and 2nd image priority selection is on focus) and I went out and took some shots with my CPL (I work at a dealership). All of the shots were great in comparison to photos that I took two days ago at again, full zoom. Now i'm just worried about night time shooting and having to raise the ISO up because I don't have stable hands. I usually don't like raising the iSO up unless I really have to.   

[iphonemaster93]

So I've tried shooting at single point autofocus and above 1/60th (also chose 1/125th for some odd reason) with my 17-55 for standstill shots, and I still am not able to shoot sharp photos.  

[ebiggs1]

Can you u/l a couple samples?  We need to see the issue.

[iphonemaster93]

these four, for example:

[ebiggs1]

Well you stripped all the exif from the samples.  The first two are pretty useless for sharpness.  The last two show problems.  If I had the exif I might be able to tell if it is a camera/lens issue or you.

A little editing in PS helps but it is still not super sharp.  U/L another with the exif intact.

Check this out.

[iphonemaster93]

what do you mean by the exif...? O_o and how would you export the photos from lightroom with exif (I actually don't know what exif is)?

[ebiggs1]

EXIF is the data from the camera at the moment of the shot.  Whatever software you are using is stripping it from the photo.

Also do not convert the photo to png.  Make a regular jpg.

"I took a course at LR and that's how I know how to use LR haha."

You can easily set the correct parameters in LR with the Eport function.  I thought you new how to use LR?  Yes, no? 

[iphonemaster93]

I did, but the teacher didn't go that indepth. She went over the very basics. Just told us to not mess with the settings and import the images as is. Looks like I'll have to figure this out haha.