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Digital SLR / DSLR Camera Question / DSLR Thread 2

Joebar4000 said:
Me too... tho, he has the 40D, which is probably barely better than my old Rebel... the 5D Mk2 is way better, but still not what I'd call 'great', especially for moving targets :|

I usually only use manual focus when I'm using a short DOF and want to emphasize one particular object in the frame, or when the auto-focus is playing silly-buggers in low-light (often).

The 7D's auto-focus is apparently epic, from friends with that.
Click to expand...
The 40D's autofocus is actually pretty good - It was the first Canon camera that had the diagonal cross-type sensor, and it's still pretty good at picking up anything with reasonably high contrast (Eyes, hair/skin) in very poor lighting conditions. Its also pretty quick too, could handily track 600 supersports down the start-finish straight at Sears.

The digital rebels have egregiously slow autofocus, always have. Even on L-glass ultrasonic AF motor lenses, you can watch the frame creep into focus, instead of snapping in, like it ought to.
 
TylerW said:
The 40D's autofocus is actually pretty good - It was the first Canon camera that had the diagonal cross-type sensor, and it's still pretty good at picking up anything with reasonably high contrast (Eyes, hair/skin) in very poor lighting conditions. Its also pretty quick too, could handily track 600 supersports down the start-finish straight at Sears.

The digital rebels have egregiously slow autofocus, always have. Even on L-glass ultrasonic AF motor lenses, you can watch the frame creep into focus, instead of snapping in, like it ought to.
Click to expand...

Good to know :thumbup

Am tempted to get an older body and do an IR mod - maybe the Rebel but maybe something cheap from like the 40D.

Autofocus suddenly becomes really important when you can't see shit, lol!
 
Going to Coyote Point this Saturday if its not raining to take pictures. I figured if I could capture the shot of a plane thats clear and in action I may be getting somewhere. "pray for no rain"
 
Hey guys, since you guys are talking about the 40D, I have a question for you :teeth

Background, bought the camera used, pictures show up fine in viewfinder, but when zoomed in, never sharp. Not with auto-focus or manual focus. And in manual, I've even used the live viewfinder and zoomed in to help focus as best as I can.
And to top it off, this happens with the stock kit lens that was included and a newly purchased lens I just got. :dunno

Here's an example shot. Link to the full pic: here.

20% compressed shot.
helpsmall.jpg


Zoomed in.
helpcropped.jpg


Canon 40D.
f/16
ISO100
28mm

This particular picture was a slower picture (sunlight was low) but I recall that faster shutter speeds on brighter days were still a smidge blurry when zoomed all the way in.

Mirror looks shiny and smudge free. Should I go after the sensor?
Any specific tips for a newb like me who hasn't done it before?

Yeah, I could probably search in the thread, or I could ask again.
I choose to ask for some more specific help :angel
 
^ Shooting at 1/20 with the kit lens, 28-135 or the 18-55 IS, is going to produce average sharpness. You didn't bump the ISO up and at 1/20 I am almost sure IS came into effect. So some noise is possible. But you might be pixel peeping here.

Before concluding a dirty sensor, see if you can get an L glass and take some shots. Additionally, I can't tell if you shot RAW or JPEG with this. I have a 40D as well and is a great body to shoot with. AF is quick and much better than a Rebel series body and for us sports shooters very little shutter lag.

One more thing. Keep shooting. Especially if you're new to it. See what all the settings do and what happens when the exposure isn't what you expect and how and what you need to do to correct it. It's a great hobby and love to shoot. Good luck...
 
if you shoot at an aperture smaller than f/11 you may see reduced sharpness from diffraction. a small aperture and low iso means low shutter speed, which could also cause handshake blurriness
 
After shooting with my 5DMKII for a while and getting some weird shadows in one corner, it finally dawned on me during my last shoot that it was because my camera really doesn't fully sync at 1/200th of a second. :(

During my last shoot, I dialed the aperture back to 1/160th, and the minor corner shadow issue went away. Dammit! I kept reading that some 5DMKII's didn't fully sync at 1/200th, but I was hoping that I got one of the good ones. I guess I didn't. :(
 
N23 said:
^ Shooting at 1/20 with the kit lens, 28-135 or the 18-55 IS, is going to produce average sharpness. You didn't bump the ISO up and at 1/20 I am almost sure IS came into effect. So some noise is possible. But you might be pixel peeping here.

Before concluding a dirty sensor, see if you can get an L glass and take some shots. Additionally, I can't tell if you shot RAW or JPEG with this. I have a 40D as well and is a great body to shoot with. AF is quick and much better than a Rebel series body and for us sports shooters very little shutter lag.

One more thing. Keep shooting. Especially if you're new to it. See what all the settings do and what happens when the exposure isn't what you expect and how and what you need to do to correct it. It's a great hobby and love to shoot. Good luck...
Click to expand...

BrassPremier said:
if you shoot at an aperture smaller than f/11 you may see reduced sharpness from diffraction. a small aperture and low iso means low shutter speed, which could also cause handshake blurriness
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips :)

With some more sunlight, I went outside to snap a few more pictures with faster shutter speeds to hopefully counter any motion-related blur.
These pictures have been cropped down keeping a 1-to-1 ratio to avoid extra compression hopefully.
I tried to focus on my motorcycle, along the closest fairing edge above the headlight. The last three pictures were done using manual focus, taking advantage of live view (with zoom) to get me as focused of a picture as possible. But after taking each picture, I noticed that the picture came out blurrier than the live view preview showed.
Also, each picture was shot at ISO100, as light was aplenty. (hopefully this is good reasoning)

Picture 1: 1/1600, F/3.5, 28mm, auto focus
1autob.jpg


Picture 2: 1/1600, F/3.5, 28mm, manual focus
2manual.jpg


Picture 3: 1/200, F/9.0, 28mm, manual focus
3manual.jpg


Picture 4:1/800, F/6.3, 300mm, manual focus
4manual.jpg


And from what I can remember, shooting with the 18-55 kit lens is just about as blurry. Granted I'm currently using a long-range telephoto (28-300) and I don't expect it to be as sharp as a prime, this is a bit too blurry for my likes. And considering the blur is pretty consistent among lenses, it makes me think.

But it could also be that the test shots were at both extremes of the range of the lens, and from what I remember reading, they aren't going to be the sharpest.

I used EOSinfo and just found out that the 40D has 77,440 clicks. Seems pretty high. Could that be a culprit? If so, what's the reasonable solution? I hope it doesn't involve tossing it, as I just got it :dunno

I'm going to see if I can borrow my housemate's 50mm 1.8 prime lens later tonight/tomorrow to help confirm if it's a lens or body issue.

In the meanwhile, I'm open to suggestions :)
Maybe I need to play with aperture more? I understand as the aperture decreases (f-stop increases), more things will be in-focus.
So could I just be not shooting at a high enough F-stop? I'm confused! :blush
 
The shutter count isn't bad

Maybe cameras autofocus needs to be adjusted, as manual focus shot seems more in focus.

Large zoom like the 28-300 won't be sharpest lens ever especially at 300mm. Try shooting f/8 or 11 for maximum sharpness
 
BrassPremier said:
Is that with alienbees? Common to not be able to sync at sync speed with them
Click to expand...



Nah, it's not the Alienbees. I had the same issues when I used my EX430 off camera. It's not very noticeable on a location shoot, but when I do a studio shoot, I can totally see it. Such the real bummer. :(

But, except for the weight, I LOVE my 70/200L 2.8 IS MKII. :thumbup It focuses faster than any of my other lenses. It's almost as if it focuses faster than I think. It's been wonderful shooting sports with this lens.
 
Well damn....I guess I'm not gonna be able to capture the most awesomeness full Moon tonight!! Damn weather! :p
 
finally ordered a decent tripod, night shots in sf here i come! i ordered a Manfrotto 190XB tripod and a Manfrotto 496RC2 Ball head. got pretty good reviews for the price. 188 shipped for both
 
hey everyone.. advice needed..

i currently have a canon rebel xt.. i love it but want to upgrade. i was thinking of either going used and buying a 30D or.. save for a lil while longer and go with a 7D... thoughts?

if i go with the 30D, i can buy a few lenses sooner, as i only have a nifty fifty and a sigma telephoto .. i do lots of drag racing photography, but also shots of my family and stuff like that.
 
1sicv8 said:
hey everyone.. advice needed..

i currently have a canon rebel xt.. i love it but want to upgrade. i was thinking of either going used and buying a 30D or.. save for a lil while longer and go with a 7D... thoughts?

if i go with the 30D, i can buy a few lenses sooner, as i only have a nifty fifty and a sigma telephoto .. i do lots of drag racing photography, but also shots of my family and stuff like that.
Click to expand...

I'd get the lens first.
 
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