What is wrong with my photos?

OS, it’s freeware.

Cheers. The pop-up window to upgrade seemed to indicate I had X days left. Not seen it since though.

Oh, and Robbo. The Exif thing worked. Is that on a time-trial or can I use it in non-pro mode forever?

Well done, Robbo! 🙂

Yes indeed. I never realised turning the sharpness to a minus value had such an effect (probably because I’ve never done it!) You live and learn. 🙂

Superb images by the way, Augburgeagle!

Paul

There goes a satisfied customer.

Well done, Robbo! 🙂

Nice!
It’s like a different camera!

Love that engine, what is it?

Thanks,
I’m very pleased with the results now, amazing what a difference one setting makes! I believe the engine is a Rolls Royce RB211, it is on a 757 currently parked up at hamilton, I managed to have a good crawl around it this morning again but alas did not have my camera, will have to store it all in my head!

Nice!
It’s like a different camera!

Love that engine, what is it?

Taken today

External images still need a bit of work on my part but much better overall

Is “soft” quite the same as “no sharpening” in Nikonspeak?

Hmm… Perhaps not on the D70s, but then again, as I say even the DoF looks wrong. Either way something doesn’t make sense to me!

Paul

My manual Settings are:
Sharpening-none
Tone comp-Normal
Colour mode IIA
Saturation-Normal
Hue Adjustment-0

I prefer to shoot the camera in manual

what I will do next is put the 300 lens on and take some test shots with that to compare

EDIT
HOLD THE PRESS

Robbo you are my new favourite person, I went back into my settings and set sharpening from none to normal and it looks as though that is the winner, I owe you one big time!!! All this wasted time and bad shots due to the difference between normal and none, I have had some great opportunities wasted due to this little mistake so thanks so much for the help!!!!!!!

It’s also great to know I’m not completely barking there was something fishy!

I have, it was a cr*p lens!

Must have been really crap! 😀

Paul

Meaning no sharpening, which is exactly how I run my DSLR’s. I’ve shot with a whole host of cameras ranging from the D50 to the D2x, always with all in camera sharpening turned off and never had images this soft!
Paul

I have, it was a cr*p lens!

Maybe this is it……but hangonnamo, haven’t we seen soft and hard shots with same f/length?

There’s a rather obvious clue in the exif data of the first and last shots, the sharpness setting is “soft”. In the second and third shot’s it’s “hard”.

Wallace, the exposure’s set to Manual in the Exif data.

Where are you getting that data from in exif?
I’ve downed the file, opened in CS2 and checked the file properties and cannot find a reference to Soft. Not doubting you, just want to know.

There’s a rather obvious clue in the exif data of the first and last shots, the sharpness setting is “soft”.

Meaning no sharpening, which is exactly how I run my DSLR’s. I’ve shot with a whole host of cameras ranging from the D50 to the D2x, always with all in camera sharpening turned off and never had images this soft!

Paul

Further to the furthermore, we need to know if any of the gimmick settings are being used in the User control menu’s (Saturation/tone etc.) all of which will degrade the image.

They won’t soften it, though. Certainly not like this. Even with all internal processing bypassed I’d expect the image to be sharper using the settings shown here. Images from my Tamron 28-300 (a lens often wrongfully slated for being soft) are sharper than this out of the camera. Even the DoF here looks wrong. The place where the prop blades mount to the engine (whatever it’s called) is sharper than the horizontal stabiliser which simply shouldn’t happen at f/10, especially at a focal length like 40mm.

Perhaps the lens is back focussing slightly? I have to admit I did think that in an earlier example, although if it is indeed back focussing the problem can be in either the lens or the camera body. The only way you can really tell is by trying a different lens on your body. If the same problem is still there then it’s quite possible the camera is at fault and a trip back to Nikon may be needed. Don’t rule out technique, though. Are there any maybe slightly more experienced photographers you know who can take a few shots on your camera so you can compare them with yours?

Paul

I assumed that back in Post #3, Grey Area.

Furthermore, if it’s RAW and straight from camera, it is bound to be softer.
Further to the furthermore, we need to know if any of the gimmick settings are being used in the User control menu’s (Saturation/tone etc.) all of which will degrade the image. Image degradation should be at the process stage in PS or similar.

Are these images straight from the camera, without any post-processing?

I ask because this took me literally two minutes work in Photoshop:

That is very definitely ISO 100 light! That said, pushing it to ISO 400 wouldn’t give the softness we’re seeing here and that problem is nothing to do with the sensitivity setting. It’s either poor technique or a very soft lens.

Do you have any other lenses you can use and compare the results to the ones you’ve posted here?

Paul

Is looks to me as if you could be using your camera in Program mode.

There is no reason why you should want to use a high ISO 400+ in daylight. No reason why you should want to use 1/1000 on a static shot.

Basically the higher the ISO the faster your shutter will be able to operate. The higher the ISO the noisier your photo is going to be. The faster the shutter goes the more open your lens will go and you will loose depth of field and hence more of your photo will not be in focus. On a bright sunny use 100 or 200 ISO.

Aim to use an aperture of around f8 and work your speed out from there maybe even go onto Av mode at f8

I really don’t understand why you’re using 400ASA in that light.

Bright sunshine, low evening/morning sun and clear blue skies usually mean 1/640 sec at f/8 or thereabouts for me. At 200ASA.

Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I think you need to buy a book or DVD about digital photography and go through it (and your camera manual) carefully before you bin your camera.

You’re looking for a quick fix, but there are no quick fixes. You simply have to take the time to learn to use your equipment.

Just like the rest of us are still doing. 🙂

That’s a fair appraisal, I can usually pick things up very quickly and become very good at them but i’ve been taking photos with the camera for a while now and still have problems with sharpness, perhaps there is more art to producing excellent photos that I am appreciating! To solve my problem I have tried to Technically replicate the circumstances that should give good photos but I’m just not getting it and I just don’t know what else to do! This morning the 400 was plainly because I forgot to switch it it 200 and only found out once back home so that was purely an oversight, I would have used 200 if I had checked! The reason I am getting a bit desperate is that I have tried lots of things, I seem to be doing the right things, exposure is fine, white balance good (except forgetting to set 200 ISO although that wouldn’t make too much difference) and yet the photos are all not sharp enough! If the photos were bad due to me not having any artistic insight or flair (not that I do!) then no problem and I could understand that but the fact with everything supposedly set up correctly I am not getting sharp shots is very disheartning and i don’t know what else to do!

I really don’t understand why you’re using 400ASA in that light.

Bright sunshine, low evening/morning sun and clear blue skies usually mean 1/640 sec at f/8 or thereabouts for me. At 200ASA.

Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I think you need to buy a book or DVD about digital photography and go through it (and your camera manual) carefully before you bin your camera.

You’re looking for a quick fix, but there are no quick fixes. You simply have to take the time to learn to use your equipment.

Just like the rest of us are still doing. 🙂