Nikkor 18-135 mm

[robert_premkumar]

<p>Dear friends,<br />I am having Nikon D300 fitted with Nikon AF-S DX 18-135 f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED lense. My problem is when I try to shoot landscape with full zoom (135mm) the picture becomes very soft and sharpness is lacking. See the enclosed shot. Please give me suggestions to overcome this. Your valuable suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.</p>

[robert_premkumar]

<p>Photo attachment is here.</p><div></div>

[Matthew Brennan]

<p>This image at 700 pix wide is a little too small for me to judge sharpness.</p>

<p>I note the exposure was taken at 1/320th sec. This should be fast enough in a hand held situation to get a reasonable crispness to the exposure. You may have an unsteady hand held technique.</p>

<p>I'm no great fan of this lens, however, you should first shoot using a good tri-pod and head with camera set to mirror up to see if you can narrow the unsharp charactor of your images down to technique or a soft long end.</p>

[jose_angel]

<p>On a D300 everything should be crisp clear... certainly some lenses are sharper than others. In my experience consumer zooms at the longer end doesn`t use to be the best even at f9.<br /> Also, it looks like it was a cloudy day (flat illumination, 2D look, low contrast), taken at a distance (mist, fog, particles in suspension, check the trees&turret at the background), maybe at a wrong focus distance (the <em>infinity focu</em>s issue).<br /> Anyway as Matthew says, I`d be more comfortably with a tripod.</p>

[kohanmike]

<p>I have the 18-135 on a D70s and I'm surprised how sharp it is at all focal lengths. Maybe I got an especially good one.</p>

[elliot1]

<p><em>"the picture becomes very soft and sharpness is lacking" </em> I have the lens and agree with Michael. My suggestion (assuming your lens is not malfunctioning) is to increase the sharpening a bit in your camera prior to shooting or adjust it during post processing.</p>

[richard_sharpe]

<p>A little sharpening in post processing seems to do the trick. If you shoot jpegs, try applying more sharpening in camera as Elliot suggested.</p><div></div>

[allan_jamieson2]

<p>Had that lens a few years ago with a D80, it was sharp at the wider end but a wee bit less at the 135mm end, best used at that focal length on a tripod for any landscape type shot</p>

[ussorca]

<p>Robert, if I may piggy-back on your thread, can the sharpening as shown above from Photoshop, also be done in Photoshop Elements?</p>

[martin_neuss]

<p>Robert,<br>

the 18-135mm Nikkor should deliver really crisp results at any focal length. Just have a look at the lens reviews at <a href="http://www.lreviews.info">http://www.lreviews.info</a> .<br>

As stated before, taking a test photo on a tripod (use the self timer to avoid vibrations) is a good idea. If your photos still lack sufficient sharpness, something might be wrong with your lens.<br>

Regards, Martin </p>