jdessel Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Recently I bought a Nikon D50. I chose it after months of online research that included other Nikons and other brands. The biggest factor in choosing the Nikon brand was the image quality I've seen online and the biggest factor in choosing the D50 was my wallet. I bought the body separately and added the 18-70mm Nikon lens. After about a month or so of shooting, I'm ready to say it seems incredibly difficult to get a tack-sharp image from this camera and I'm not that sure I'm happy with my choice of model. I understand I don't have the greatest lens in the world but images captured when the camera is perfectly still on a stationary surface still don't quite cut it. It's not so much that the image is actually blurry, but the edges just seem slightly soft no matter what I do. Does anyone else notice this in the D50? Is this a limitation of the camera, the lens, or both? Am I just expecting too much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davehodg Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Got any examples? What image quality? Are you doing any in-camera enhancement? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Yes, please post a couple of images to show us the softness you are taking about, and please observe photo.net image size suggestions. We need to know the aperture, shutter speed, focal length used and whether there was a flash or not, etc. There is a small chance that there is something wrong with either your lens or camera, but in most cases, soft images are caused by the photographers themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggoodroe Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 I have had zero problems with mine...D50 with Nikon 18-200...basic image fix in Nikon View for view near full size here at PN http://www.photo.net/photo/4033095 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tholte Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 "Is this a limitation of the camera, the lens, or both?" About a 10% chance that it is the camera and about a 90% chance that it the person behind the viewfinder. Read your manual a few times and do some more experimenting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nanette Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 While I don't have a D50, I do use the 18-70mm and have never had an issue with softness. I was browsing in a photo mag yesterday though (not sure which one) where five digi SLRs were being compared (Nikon D50, Canon Rebel XT, Olympus EVolt, and I think the other two were a Minolta and Fuji-like I said, I was browsing, not reading). In any case, they compared image quality and the D50 came third to Canon and Olympus. While I've had no hands on experience, in the photos they had in the mag, it appeared to me that the D50 was soft. I shoot with the D70 and never have problems with softness (just the AF). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdessel Posted February 19, 2006 Author Share Posted February 19, 2006 Thanks for your response, here's a link to 3 sample images. http://web.mac.com/jade29/iWeb/Site%206/D50%20Image%20Samples.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdessel Posted February 19, 2006 Author Share Posted February 19, 2006 And by the way, I would be very relieved to hear the problem would be with this photographer and not with my camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 The three images I see are in near-macro situations where objects fairly close to the camera were photographed. In such case the depth of field is quite shallow. If you want everything in the image to be sharp, you need to (1) use a very small aperture, and you need to (2) line up your subjects in the same plane so that they can all be in focus. I certainly don't see anything obviously wrong with your camera and lens. While it is an inexpensive model among all DSLRs, the D50 is still quite capable and the 18-70 DX is a very good pro-sumer grade lens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lex_jenkins Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 There's no EXIF data attached to your sample photos so I'll have to take a guess at what's going on here. First, it looks like you're shooting with the lens wide open in dim available light. While the 18-70DX is a good consumer grade zoom it needs to be stopped down at least a full stop for best sharpness. In the second shot, of the beer cup, it simply looks out of focus. I don't think the camera was able to lock focus on anything. Finally, digital photos must be sharpened. It doesn't matter whether the sharpening is done in the camera or during post processing, but they must be sharpened. Again, lacking any EXIF data I can't tell whether any sharpening was done. If you're shooting RAW (NEF) it doesn't matter because sharpening is best applied during post processing. But I prefer to sharpen JPEGs in the camera because it works well. I try to shoot JPEGs in the camera that are ready to go, no post processing needed, including sharpening. I shoot NEFs as backups for tricky photos that need extra work, which always includes some sharpening as a final step before output. If you got a trialware copy of Nikon Capture with your D50, try experimenting with the sharpening options. Otherwise try Nikon Editor, the simple freebie editor that comes with Nikon View. You can download Nikon View free from Nikon's website. Nikon Editor has very limited editing tools but what it offers works fairly well. If you don't need batch processing capability Photoshop Elements works well too and offers more creative tools than Nikon software and the second best NEF conversions I've seen (Nikon's the best for converting NEFs to TIFFs or JEPGs). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don_cooper Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 It appears all 3 images show a depth of field problem, not a camera,lens, or focus problem. To properly evaluate a camera/lens combo you should be looking at shots where the subject is square to the film plane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greglyon Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 try taking some shots at ISO 200 in Aperture priority using f8 or f11 either outdoors or use flash. This will help mitigate image softening issues not tied to the camera (Shallow depth of field, mis-focus, camera shake, lens not at optimal aperture, etc). All your sample photos are at low shutter speeds in low light with the aperture pretty wide open. And finally, as Lex stated, all digital photos need a bit of sharpening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josphy Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Hey, J, you're shooting at really show shutter speeds at the longest end of your zoom and focused pretty close where depth of field is going to be very shallow and any slight mis-focusing will be very apparent and with the lens wide open. Also, all digital requires a dab of sharpening. So all of those things combined = pictures that aren't quite tack sharp. I think the main culprit is probably 1.) slightly out of focus, 2.) little bit of shake from slow shutter speed and 3.) for optimum sharpness out of pretty much any lens stop down at least a stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdessel Posted February 19, 2006 Author Share Posted February 19, 2006 "Finally, digital photos must be sharpened. It doesn't matter whether the sharpening is done in the camera or during post processing, but they must be sharpened." Ok. Thanks- I have been using Photoshop CS on most images. I just wasn't aware that sharpening was generally needed across the board for digital images. Thank you for all the responses. I guess I just have more to learn than I realized. George Goodroe, thank you for posting that image, it's gorgeous (not to mention it renewed my confidence in my little D50). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tri-x1 Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 If you weren't using a tripod and were shooting at 1/10 sec the reason for the soft photos is easy to ascertain. There are few people who can handhold any camera a get sharp photos at 1/10 sec, especially shooting close up and especially shooting eith a camera as light as the D50. There are plenty of people who claim they can hand hold at such speeds but they are living in an imaginary kingdom where donkeys can fly, too. Once you are below 1/30th sec (and that's too slow for most people) you better have a tripod or some sandbags. Otherwise any lens will produce soft photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steakandale Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Its not a point and shoot and all digital images require some post processing. This one was with a small amount of unsharp mask.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steakandale Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Not as impressive as what I see here at home, I think it got compressed during upload. The chest fur on the full size is razor sharp as are the eyes and whiskers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steakandale Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 your examples are below handheld speeds IMO heres a 100% crop of the above photo that hopefully shows more sharpness<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 J. Dessel: I should point out that in your 3 sample images, in each image there is an area that is in focus, but there are a lot of areas that are outside of the plane that is in focus. Therefore, IMO it is mainly a lack of depth of field issue. Now you have added aperture info to your images, this problem is not helped by the fact that you were using the lens almost wide open. Incidentally, I rarely sharpen my digital images. In your case no amount of sharpening would fix the serious lack of depth of field. If you want multiple subjects in your image all to be in focus from such a short distance, you need to arrange them to be on a plane and then you need to orient your camera such that the plane of the sensor is parellel to the plane of the subjects and use a smaller aperture, which may mean you'll have to use a tripod with a slow shutter speed or use a flash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrengold Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 As Shun said your problem is lack of depth of field. This photo was shot from about 10 cm away @ f32! Even then the foreground is blurred. Manipulating this depth of field to your advantage is the very reason you bought an SLR. If you want everything in focus you need a point and shoot with a tiny 1/3.6" sensor. Keep playing with it and use the extraordinary amount of info on this site to help you. Best wishes.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjmurray Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 I'll re-emphasize what Wayne said: your shutter speeds are way too slow for handheld shots! You are blurring your images with movement. Its that simple. As others mentioned, you depth of field is very shallow too, but without a steady camera, nothing will be sharp, even if it was well focused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan park Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 To get sharp handheld pictures use the reciprical of the focal length. If your shooting at 70mm then the min shutter speed is 1/60 plus. On a digital you might need to also multiply the 70 by 1.5 to get 105. So you might want to shoot at 1/125. Or up your iso, or get a tripod or a nice flash. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincenzo_maielli Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 Generally, in digital cameras the default image quality is soft. Use the sharpening for improve the sharpness. Best regards Vincenzo Maielli Bari Italy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdessel Posted February 20, 2006 Author Share Posted February 20, 2006 Thanks for all the replies. I was pretty convinced before posting here that there should be no reason to not expect tack-sharp images the way I was shooting. Yesterday I picked up a Sigma 50mm EX macro lens and the next addition I plan is a Nikon 50mm f/1.4. I already see an improvement just using the macro- of course I realize it's an entirely different lens but I'm just saying, there's an improvement in the clarity of what's supposed to be in focus with this lens compared to the zoom. I don't like to use the flash, I prefer available light and therefore need to get a better grip on the best settings to use under those circumstances. So thanks for taking the time to reply. And I can't wait to see the results with the f/1.4... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdessel Posted February 22, 2006 Author Share Posted February 22, 2006 I just wanted to add to this thread that I received my 50mm f/1.4 and took some shots and I'm absolutely floored at how sharp and clear these shots are! Attached Image: Exposure Time: 1/20 secShutter Speed: 1/20 secF-Stop: f/2.2Focal Length: 50mmISO Speed Rating: 800Flash: Did not fire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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