Getting a sharp picture with 300D/ 28-135 IS lens, monopod

[henry_minsky1]

I want to know if anyone has any specific tips on how to get

maximally sharp pictures from a Digital Rebel and 28-135 IS lens.

I have read lots of the general advice about getting sharp pictures

from camera/lens combinations, but I am wondering if there is

anything specific that people have found that works well with the

Canon image stabilizer system, either handheld or with a monopod.

 

I have found that once in a while I get shots of startling sharpness

from this lens, but I haven't yet figured out how to do that

reliably. Is there some combination of shutter/ISO/camera mode on

the digital Rebel (or 10D) which works best in conjunction with the

28-135's machinery? What I'm asking is, given that this is an all

digital system with a lot of processing going on, is there something

new that applies to this system vs. general film camera

considerations.

 

I'm interested both in tips for shooting when there is plenty of

sunlight, and also in low light situations.

[mike_smith2]

There should be no difference in operation no matter what body is behind the lens.....

 

The only thing I can think of is that you need to give the IS time to kick in and stabilise, you cannot point and shoot from a "cold" start, IS is not functional all the time it is attached to the camera, but powers down after a few seconds to save battery power.

 

Depressing the shutter button half way activates IS system whilst the exposure is being determined, but IS is not instant and takes about a second to get up to speed and kick in - if the lens is "whirring away, or on mine tinkling away" then IS is up and running. If you take a picture whilst IS is in "sleeping mode" then it is likely that the exposure will be taken whilst the lens is activating the IS system?

 

Are you "point and shooting" and thus not getting the full benefit of the IS in the lens?

 

Mike Smith

[bellavance]

Henry,

 

I suggest you keep IS on even at high shutter speeds, so you won't forget to turn it on when you really need it.

 

This lens is very capable, but it should probably be stopped down to f/8 (at the short end) or f/11 (at the long end) to get optimal results.

 

It's also probably better at 100mm than at 135mm, as these consumer grade lenses usually become softer at the long end.

 

Pierre

[bobatkins]

<em>I want to know if anyone has any specific tips on how to get maximally sharp pictures from a Digital Rebel and 28-135 IS lens</em>

<p>

<ol>

<li>Put it on a tripod

<li>Stop it down to f8, maybe f11

<li>Turn the IS off

</ol>

[gary_ferguson1]

The 28-135 IS keeps improving as you stop down, especially out towards the edges, f11 or f16 seem to be the optimum and f5.6 is for emergency use only. The second thing is that the edge performance even stopped down is well below that of the centre, so compose accordingly. Finally the bokeh, or quality of the out-of-focus areas, really isn't that great, so avoid shots where you need a creamy smooth background as an important ingredient.

 

This sounds like a counsel of despair, it's not. I like the 28-135 and often carry it in preference to a heavy bag of "L" glass, but it's got weaknesses and it's best to work around them where ever possible.

[henry_minsky1]

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

One thing I was wondering if there was some trick whereby as you start to take the picture, you allow the camera to swing a little in one dimension, in order to give the IS system a constant rate of acceleration to work against, instead of the random motion of trying to hold steady, if you see what I mean.

[jon_austin]

Henry: I can't speak to the "swing a little in one dimension" technique, and whether it will help the IS achieve a sharp image.

 

However, a good hand-holding technique for digital, that has been posted here on more than one occasion and that has worked for me, is to put the camera in continuous drive mode, and fire off several shots in succession. It's easier to keep the camera steady with the shutter release button fully depressed, than through the half-depress, fully-depress, release cycle. In post-processig, you simply select the best image(s) from the sequence.

[chip]

Henry,

 

Bob A. took the EXACT words out of my mouth! This is what it takes to get really good images out of most ANY lens even good ones and the EF 28-135IS needs all the help it can get.

 

HTH

[jimstrutz]

You may already know this, but...

 

Another thing to consider is that digital SLRs don't apply much sharpening in the camera, and usually require some USM to be applied in post processing. The 300D's defaults are set at +1 for sharpness, which is more than the default settings on a 10D, but it still often needs additional USM applied later. If you are not into post processing, you can turn the sharpnes controls up to +2 for a fairly sharp image right out of the camera. But for even better sharpnes, turn it down to 0 or -1 and then use more USM later.

[steve_dunn2]

<cite>One thing I was wondering if there was some trick whereby as you start to take the picture, you allow the camera to swing a little in one dimension, in order to give the IS system a constant rate of acceleration to work against, instead of the random motion of trying to hold steady, if you see what I mean.</cite>

 

<p>Not with this lens. Many of Canon's IS lenses have mode 2, which is designed to be used while panning (i.e. constant rate of motion in one plane, random shaking in the other). This lens does not; it expects that you will be trying to hold the lens as steady as you can and it will be helping you by trying to counteract any motion it detects.</p>

 

<p>As Bob said, for <em>maximal</em> sharpness, you want the lens stopped down and mounted on a sturdy tripod, and since the IS version in this lens doesn't have tripod mode, IS should be turned off.</p>

 

<p>I find IS + monopod to be a very effective combination. The monopod gets rid of the big shakes and IS gets rid of the small ones. It's certainly not as stable as a tripod but it's a heck of a lot better than even handheld IS.</p>

 

<p>I did a simple lens test of the 28-135 against two other lenses I had and you may find it useful in figuring out how much sharpness improves as you stop down. See <a href="http://www.stevedunn.ca/photos/writings/eflenses.html">http://www.stevedunn.ca/photos/writings/eflenses.html</a> for the results.</p>