Problems with sharpness Nikon D5300

Hi I'm new here, I've been shooting for a client for sometime now. All street photography to get an idea of location and traffic in the area. So anything from close up to long shots. I'm having issues with sharpness in the pics. My photos were sharper before this new batch I have been taking. I'm trying to think of any setting that has changed on my camera that has caused this? I shoot on manual with a focal length of anywhere from 5f - 16f and adjust shutter speed accordingly. Always 100 ISO. Raw and in the vivid or standard mode with white balance sunny or auto. Area mode auto or 39 points. Auto bracketing off. Matrix metering. Everything else is auto. I usually do not shoot with a tripod, but even if I do I'm getting the same problem. I'm also noticing more shadow than previously in my pics and almost like there is a slight vignette around the edge of the pic. These are unedited pics. I shoot on 35mm lens with lens on auto. What could have changed on my camera to cause the lack of sharpness when I zoom into the pics. As I say my pics were a lot sharper before with what I think were all the same settings.

During three winter months there is maybe one stop less light than in other seasons and this in between 10 a clock and 15. Slight vignetting appearing suggests that 35mm opens aperture more than in previous images. As aperture opens the area in focus gets narrower.

 

What is hyperfocal focusing distance? What is sufficient time to stop motion? How much I must raise ISO to reach short enough time?

Edited March 28, 2018 by hapien

Hi, can you upload a representative sample that has the issue and one from before that doesn't? Full or at least 50% resolution.

During three winter months there is maybe one stop less light than in other seasons and this in between 10 a clock and 15. Slight vignetting appearing suggests that 35mm opens aperture more than in previous images. As aperture opens the area in focus gets narrower.

 

Interesting hypothesis. The camera picking a wider aperture to compensate for less light would also explain the vignetting.

 

On the other hand, it's hard to imagine that the OP didn't know about the effects of different apertures on image properties.

"I shoot on manual with a focal length of anywhere from 5f - 16f and adjust shutter speed accordingly"

 

"I shoot on 35mm lens with lens on auto"

 

"Matrix metering"

 

What does .."focal length of anywhere from 5f - 16f" and a "35mm lens" mean together? I'm confused...:confused:

 

I'm guessing you mean f5 - f16, ie the aperture of the lens... and nothing to do with focal length?

 

Manual AND Matrix Metering? What, together?

 

We need some samples with EXIF data intact. Ideally an old 'good one' and a recent 'bad one'...;)

Edited March 28, 2018 by mike_halliwell

"I shoot on manual with a focal length of anywhere from 5f - 16f and adjust shutter speed accordingly"

What does .."focal length of anywhere from 5f - 16f" and a "35mm lens" mean? I'm confused.

 

I'm guessing you mean f5 - f16, ie the aperture of the lens... and nothing to do with focal length?

 

Manual AND Matrix Metering? What, together?

 

"focal length of anywhere from 5f – 16f" could refer to subject distance in feet.

 

"lens on auto" probably means it's a pre-G lens with the aperture ring set to the minimum aperture so that the camera can control the aperture.

 

What's surprising about the combination of manual exposure and matrix metering?

My guess is camera shake, due to using a slow shutter speed.

 

Nikon don't make a 35mm focal length lens with VR, so you'll get no help if the shutter speed is too long.

 

That's just a guess though. As previously requested, we need to see the pix to give other than an informed guess.

Ah, I'd wondered whether this was a distance between 5 and 16 times the focal length and "manual" meant focus - but then realised that "close up to long shots" suggests otherwise. So I guess an aperture of f/5..f/16, and "35mm lens" means that focal length. (Aside: A while back I bought a 35mm focal length lens for a Pentax 645. Have you ever tried searching for "Pentax 35mm lens"? The one thing it won't show you is what you're looking for...)

 

The aperture could be having an effect, although I'm surprised a 35mm prime is still vignetting at f/5. I believe it's possible to turn off some of the vignetting correction in the camera, so maybe you're seeing this?

 

As for softness, it's always possible that either the lens or the camera's AF module has taken a whack, or that you're getting more vibration (especially if you shoot hand-held at f/16 in winter light). I'd be interested to know whether you can get a sharp image using live view to focus, with the camera on a tripod (or table) to rule out hand movement. But sharing images with us may well give a clue.

 

Best of luck, Georgina!

Humm, something's not right. Slow shutter speed camera shake even when on a tripod?

 

All I can think is that the lens is wide open and so, potentially, a bit soft.

 

Also what body and lens are you using?

 

If it's an old 35mm 2.8D on a D90, it's going to be a bit fuzzy wide open.

 

Equally if it's a 35mm Sigma Art on a D810, there's no excuse for anything soft...optically atleast!

Edited March 28, 2018 by mike_halliwell

Oops - I missed the tripod mention. I guess that probably rules out the camera shake, unless there's something seriously wrong with the mirror mechanism.

 

Equally if it's a 35mm Sigma Art on a D810, there's no excuse for anything soft...!

 

Except that the Sigma 35mm has (as far as I can tell) a champion level of telecentricity, and AF fine tuning it was a nightmare. But it's sharp when it hits!

 

I'd say:

 

• Go somewhere fairly bright, set the aperture to f/8 and use a tripod, use live view and focus manually. Take off any filters, and clean the lens. If the image is soft, something bad has happened to your lens (unless you've somehow got something on your sensor). Check with a different lens, if you can. I'm assuming you don't have VR on that lens; if you do, turn it off.
  
• If this is sharp but you can't get a good image at a wider aperture in the same conditions, something less serious may have happened to your lens. Or it might just not be all that sharp in the first place, but you do say things have got worse, so presumably that's not it. But almost everything is acceptably sharp at f/8, and even at f/5, most lenses are at least decent.
  
• If manual focus is sharp, the next step is to try autofocus without live view. If that consistently reports that it's in focus but the final image isn't, if your camera (or lens if you have a dock) has AF fine tuning, I'd try it. Otherwise, something different and bad may have happened to the lens. Unless it happens to many lenses, in which case something may have happened either to the mirror system, to the AF module, or to the mirror box as a hole. (I believe the D800 had an issue where the mirror box was known to crack if the camera was dropped, which made everything slightly out of whack.)
  
• If those options are sharp (which you suggested they're not), I'd blame hand shake. Keep the shutter speed up and see whether it helps.
  

But posting some images would give us more of a clue!

Download an EXIF tool. Compare the EXIF data between several images that you consider good versus those that you consider bad.

 

Which values are different?

A tripod doesn't help much if you trip the shutter with a finger! And some cheap tripods are pretty shaky.

Good point, Joe (although to be bad with a 35mm lens, they'd have to be really bad). I should add "set the camera to timer release" to my instructions!

Another thing to check for is foreign matter on the sensor or the rear element of the lens. Maybe you got a piece of Scotch tape on something somehow.

Another thing to check for is foreign matter on the sensor or the rear element of the lens. Maybe you got a piece of Scotch tape on something somehow.

 

True, but that thought made me wince. :-) (One thing I would say, given the weather: you can get condensation on the rear element or the sensor. Which might give some fogging, if not strictly softness. I think that's unlikely to be it, but just a thought.)

I think part of the hint in the original post is "area mode 39 point or auto." This camera may not pick the right subject in auto mode, and unless one is trying to shoot a very fast moving subject in continuous servo mode there's little reason to use that many points. If the depth of field is being narrowed by a larger aperture in poor light, the focus could be nearly anywhere. In addition, if 39 point is even available, the servo is either in A or C mode. That camera allows release priority and if that is set the camera may shoot before focus is complete. I do not know just how it's done on the D5300, but on the D3x00, which does not allow release priority at all, it shoots sooner and less precisely in AFC than in AFS, to avoid missed shots. But if one has release priority set, the camera need never focus. It will fire with the lens cap on.

 

I would suggest as a starting point to reset the focus to single servo and single point, focus priority, and aim it at something stationary. See if it's sharp then. If it's not, then try the same shot under the same conditions in Live View, which uses a different AF system which reads directly off the sensor, making it more accurate. If it's sharp then, it suggests a problem in AF, either in the way it's set up or in the camera itself. If it's not sharp then, I'd look for a problem in the lens. If the first experiment yields a sharp result, then I'd look at technique.

 

If you're set to "Auto ISO," I'd also suggest checking EXIF info on shots you've made, to see what ISO the camera chose. If it's set to Auto ISO, it will up the ISO from your starting point any time the shutter speed goes below 1/30 second. Not needed on a tripod, and high ISO, though it should be pretty good on a D5300, may still degrade edges on close viewing.

 

Oh, one final reminder ; because there is no lock on the rear control, it's terribly easy on these cameras to displace the focus center point. If you have 39 point AF, it's likely that wherever the point is it will focus on something. I constantly accidentally bump the control with my nose. Make sure your point is centered - the [OK] button does this.

Edited March 28, 2018 by Matthew Currie

Based on my experience with the D5100, I think Matt Currie's advice is a good place to start. His point about focus center point wandering due to a lack of a lock on the rear control is dead on. And, perhaps, failing anything else, a hard reset to factory-original defaults might undo some unrecognized or unintentional setting buried deep in the nested menus (another D5XXX issue).

I shoot on manual with a focal length of anywhere from 5f - 16f and adjust shutter speed accordingly.

For street photos I wonder why the OP doesn't use some of the excellent automatic settings available on the D5300? With so many manual settings to manage, it just makes for a lot to keep track of in a very dynamic environment. For me, with that camera, in an active street setting, I would shoot in the Aperture Priority (A) mode, with point focus, back button continuous focus, and matrix metering. This would allow for better control of the DoF and point of focus, while letting the camera do what it does best: manage a complex exposure. I might also consider enabling auto ISO and carefully selecting the range parameters to accommodate my preferred shooting conditions, taking another variable out of the mix that is easily managed by the excellent camera.

I shoot on manual

Another thought or two: First, with only one command dial, the D5XXX is a pain to shoot on manual. The photographer must jump around in menus or reprogram a very limited set of buttons to have ready access to the most important controls (which is why I upgraded to a D7100). This means it's very easy to mess something up while trying to change a setting. Second, if the image quality is inadvertently set to "Small/6Mp" file size and resolution, the apparent sharpness of the images would be substantially impacted, compared to "Large/24Mp" images, even if everything is working correctly and as intended by the photographer.

One simple thing.

IS THE LENS CLEAN?

It is like my glasses. When they get dirty, the world gradually get less and less sharp, until I clean my glasses.

 

Matt may have nailed the problem.

Although the actual photo would be good to see.

In my yearbook class, one of the students had a bunch of shots out of focus.

Turned out the camera was set for area mode AF, and the AF was selecting something other than the subject she wanted. So, the intended subject was out of focus.

But the subject was clearly out of focus, not just less sharp.

 

It is for this reason that I shoot single point center AF. So that I KNOW what the AF is focusing on.

I will sometimes shift the AF point, but that is a deliberate move for a specific reason.

Oh wow! Thanks for all the replies. This is so informative. I will upload some pics as soon as I get a chance. Yes I did mean aperture when I said something like focal length sorry if I wrote that back to front. I wasn't exactly sure how the AF worked so that's why I always left it on auto, so thank you for the advice Matthew and Gary. I will try shoot from now on in AFS. And thanks David, I will try to shoot in A mode. And also what you said about the mp. I didn't really understand the different modes in the raw section. I notice that my pics are never at 24mp they are small. RAW+f seems to be the largest size in the RAW settings, I was just shooting in the regular RAW mode should I change it to the RAW + jpeg fine mode?

As far as using a tripod, I'll shoot with the timer even if it's daylight. I do notice that my night shots are a lot sharper and I shoot them with the timer.

Ok pics to follow soon.

Ha! I missed the D5300 in the title...Doh! Which version of 35mm lens is it?

 

In a way, the issue is 'What's changed from batch 1 to batch 2' if all the settings are the same. Could be as simple as it's darker and the camera is either choosing an aperture that's not as sharp or the camera is choosing a slower shutter speed thus encouraging hand-held camera shake.

 

Always using ISO 100 will give best IQ, but could lead to unfavourable aperture/shutter speed settings when hand-held.

 

With the D5300, RAW is a fixed size (full res) and cannot be changed. JPEG can be changed in 2 ways, number of pixels:-

 

Large is 6000 x 4000, Medium is 4498 x 3000 and small is 2992 x 2000. Stay LARGE!!

 

Then there is degree of JPEG compression:-

 

Fine, Normal and Basic. Stay FINE!

 

RAW allows the maximum amount of sensor data to be captured and allows the maximum amount of adjustment later. Once things like White Balance are set in JPEG, it can be tricky to get it right afterwards if you've chosen the wrong preset. There is no such thing as a RAW image as it will always need to be converted to make it visible. Nikon's own RAW converter is called Capture NX-D and can be downloaded from Nikon or may have come in the box on CD.

 

Regarding AF-S or AF-C focusing. For street shooting, if anything is moving, either you or the subject, it's AF-C. If it's all Static then AF-S.

Just to be slightly clearer about the difference:

• In AF-C, the camera will keep trying to focus for so long as you're half-pressing the shutter. This means if you focus on something, then move the camera to recompose, the camera will focus on the new thing that you're pointing at.
  
• In AF-S, the camera will try to focus until it succeeds, then stop. So if you focus on something, you can then move the camera to recompose, and the camera will stay focussed on the first thing you pointed at.
  

AF-S is very good for landscapes and similar, although bear in mind that "focus and recompose" does involve rotating the focal plane, so the thing you focussed on may no longer be at the same distance once you've turned (so it's worth focussing with the nearest focus point). With modern high-res sensors, it's easier to see when you have swayed slightly while shooting, or the subject is moving, so for a lot of circumstances having autofocus is useful - though at f/5 and smaller you might find depth of field should be hiding a lot of slight focus misses. One reason to use AF-C with "3D tracking" is that you can focus on a point and then recompose the camera a bit, and the AF point will hopefully follow your camera movement across the AF sensor, which can be quicker than trying to move the focus point with the D-pad. But it can also get confused, so you need to watch it! Just a thought.

 

Higher end bodies have separate control for how precise the focus has to be before the shutter is released. I believe Matthew if he says the D5300 might tie the focus accuracy to the autofocus mode.

 

One word of warning about AF area: I personally do almost always use single point (with 3D tracking), but that assumes you know where the camera will try to focus. I have several blurry photos where I've handed the camera to someone else and they've blindly focussed on the background; so now I do use area mode when I'm trusting the camera to someone else!

 

Now, on to another clue...

 

I notice that my pics are never at 24mp they are small. RAW+f seems to be the largest size in the RAW settings, I was just shooting in the regular RAW mode should I change it to the RAW + jpeg fine mode?

 

That's possibly a game changer for what we're talking about. A low-resolution image will look "soft" - it won't record as much information.

 

If you shoot in "raw + JPEG" you get two images stored - the "raw" version straight from the sensor, and a JPEG rendered by the camera, which is a standard (and lossy) format that can be used everywhere. The JPEG image can be resized by the camera (hence there are small, medium and large options). JPEG, being "lossy", throws away information that is hard to see in the interests of making the file size smaller; the "fine", "normal" and "basic" options control how aggressively it does this, with "fine" giving you the largest files but the best JPEG quality. None of this affects the raw file, which is always the same pixel size (on a D5300). There is still the "14-bit" vs "12-bit" distinction, but that controls how much information (in terms of brightness/colour levels) is recorded at each pixel, not the resolution of the image. I shoot JPEG + raw because, although I always want the raw file for the most flexibility in editing the images, I like having the rough JPEG that I can load quickly into a computer without needing to go through Photoshop etc.

 

If you're shooting raw, the images produced by your raw converter software should be roughly 6000x4000. If they're not, something is odd about the settings for the converter. As an aside, raw files have an embedded low-resolution JPEG image (which is what the camera uses when it's giving you a preview as you scroll through the images you've recorded); some software which doesn't understand the raw file itself (which is a proprietary format from Nikon) can still pull out the JPEG file. So there's a chance that something in your software settings might be giving you only this preview? What are you using to convert your raw files?

 

I hope that helps, and doesn't distract too much!

Without knowing where you live, it's hard to guess if you get decent shutterspeeds to start with. ISO100 in overcast winter/early spring, with f/16, will most likely result in a shutterspeed that's hard to hand-hold.

Also, without sample images, it's hard to guess what is meant by sharpness. Quite possibly everybody is right in assuming it is due to camerashake or focussing issues, but it's also possible you miss the contrast and "pop" that good light can give which in many places in winter and early spring is more rare than in late spring and summer. Looking out the window this morning here, there is flat, lifeless light that will simply make any image feel flat, and that may seem like lower sharpness (while actually the image might be pinsharp, but just missing the contrast to convey that).

 

If you have camera shake while using a tripod, but not when using the self-timer, that would suggest the tripod isn't sturdy enough and actually starts to vibrate after you squeeze the shutter. Obviously, operating the camera as gently as possible helps, but a sturdy tripod that is less prone to vibrations helps even more.

This is a lot to take in. Thanks everyone. As far as converting RAW files, because the client wants no editing I've just been uploading the file to Apple photoshop, just doing some minimal editing like leveling up and some cropping and then only if needed adjusting exposure in Apple's auto program. I just looked at one of my file sizes it's 5983 x 3988 26.5MB - that was a pic I shot on ISO100 18mm f/16 1/100 shot in March in California, that's a newer pic in a recent batch. An older pic that looks a bit sharper with a little less shadow is 5545 x 3696 27.7MB ISO100 18mm f/8 1/320 shot in September in California.

Both are shot in Sunny weather. I'm seeing now that it may be aperture. I did start using a smaller aperture thinking it may sharpen the distant background better but I may be totally wrong with that.