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New 7D Photos look pixelated and unsharp

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Traceybav

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I got my new 7D yesterday and today ran some shots which I am dissapointed with, I am waiting for my new 70-200 F2.8 this week so shots were taken with a sigma 80-400 F4.5 - 5.6 EX DG OS. Shot at ISO 500 (it was a darkish day), F5.6 1/1250. Shot just as Large JPegs not Raw. The photos look gritty to me and when enlarged they look pixelated very heavily.

Ok so what is going on?. I like my photos sharp and non of these look sharp at all and muddy when enlarged. Is there some secret I am missing. I have now just read a few reviews where they report what I am finding. I plan to shoot fast moving horses and do the odd portrait. Ive come from a MK2 which was lovely and sharp.

someone please help. I think I have made a huge mistake with this camera but I read so many good reviews perhaps I am missing something important.
 
Hate to say it but you need to provide a sample. This is a common issue with a new 7D owner. When you expose, it is best to expose to the plus side a bit to help avoid the noise. Lets see an example please with EXIF info.
Traceybav said:
I got my new 7D yesterday and today ran some shots which I am dissapointed with, I am waiting for my new 70-200 F2.8 this week so shots were taken with a sigma 80-400 F4.5 - 5.6 EX DG OS. Shot at ISO 500 (it was a darkish day), F5.6 1/1250. Shot just as Large JPegs not Raw. The photos look gritty to me and when enlarged they look pixelated very heavily.

Ok so what is going on?. I like my photos sharp and non of these look sharp at all and muddy when enlarged. Is there some secret I am missing. I have now just read a few reviews where they report what I am finding. I plan to shoot fast moving horses and do the odd portrait. Ive come from a MK2 which was lovely and sharp.

someone please help. I think I have made a huge mistake with this camera but I read so many good reviews perhaps I am missing something important.
Click to expand...
 
Sure, since it is a JPEG its not too large. Give us the best one you have where you are certain you did everything perfect.. :) I may not have the answers but others here will weigh in on your issue.

If you are coming from a 1D MkII, the pixel density is quite different than a 7D so when you pixel peep, (zoom into looking at the pixels), each pixel on a 7D covers a much smaller area and will look much more blurry than a pixel on MkII. Small errors appear to be magnified by more.
 
riknash said:
Traceybav said:
I got my new 7D yesterday and today ran some shots which I am dissapointed with, I am waiting for my new 70-200 F2.8 this week so shots were taken with a sigma 80-400 F4.5 - 5.6 EX DG OS. Shot at ISO 500 (it was a darkish day), F5.6 1/1250. Shot just as Large JPegs not Raw. The photos look gritty to me and when enlarged they look pixelated very heavily.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
riknash said:
Hate to say it but you need to provide a sample.
Click to expand...
I agree strongly with riknash on this point.
riknash said:
This is a common issue with a new 7D owner.
Click to expand...
That's nonsense. Heavy pixellation and muddy images are not to be expected. I've never even heard of anybody on this forum complaining about pixellation on the 7D (or any modern dSLR, for that matter) .
riknash said:
When you expose, it is best to expose to the plus side a bit to help avoid the noise.
Click to expand...
The OP did not complain about noise.. not sure why you are recommending changing exposure from what the camera is recommending.
 
Hiuh?

Do you think the OP meant "seeing big fat ugly pixels" or was it the OP's attempt at trying to describe something more like the noise one sees from a 7D when it is underexposed, as in the word "gritty"?
Topaz said:
Topaz said:
Traceybav said:
I got my new 7D yesterday and today ran some shots which I am dissapointed with, I am waiting for my new 70-200 F2.8 this week so shots were taken with a sigma 80-400 F4.5 - 5.6 EX DG OS. Shot at ISO 500 (it was a darkish day), F5.6 1/1250. Shot just as Large JPegs not Raw. The photos look gritty to me and when enlarged they look pixelated very heavily.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
riknash said:
Hate to say it but you need to provide a sample.
Click to expand...
I agree strongly with riknash on this point.
Topaz said:
This is a common issue with a new 7D owner.
Click to expand...
That's nonsense. Heavy pixellation and muddy images are not to be expected. I've never even heard of anybody on this forum complaining about pixellation on the 7D (or any modern dSLR, for that matter) .
Click to expand...
Topaz said:
riknash said:
When you expose, it is best to expose to the plus side a bit to help avoid the noise.
Click to expand...
The OP did not complain about noise.. not sure why you are recommending changing exposure from what the camera is recommending.
Click to expand...
 
riknash said:
Hiuh?

Do you think the OP meant "seeing big fat ugly pixels" or was it the OP's attempt at trying to describe something more like the noise one sees from a 7D when it is underexposed, as in the word "gritty"?
Click to expand...
Hm, you could be right. Impossible to know until we see the pictures. I assumed "pixelated" meant "pixelated" (i.e. big fat ugly pixels). But maybe as you point out, "gritty" could mean "noisy", and perhaps that's also what he meant by "pixelated".

If the OP is making up his own creative terminology and also not posting samples, there's not a hell of a lot we can do other than make wild guesses.
 
Thanks...

A slight plus EC is a common suggestion to noisy images. Certainly we need to see a sample..:)
Topaz said:
If the OP is making up his own creative terminology and also not posting samples, there's not a hell of a lot we can do other than make wild guesses.
Click to expand...
 
You have to remember that your camera body is also a computer with 2 processors. It’s just like when you have a problem with your desk top PC, the first thing a tech person will ask is “Do you have latest version of software installed” or “Do you have the latest Driver install for your hardware”?

--
Thanks, Ed
http://edwardintoronto.smugmug.com
 
Do hope we didn't scare her off. We may have been a bit harsh...

Although the latest firmware is a good question for some image issues, (recently D7000 has light spots in video). the OP's description is very similar to the many new owners of 7Ds who are rather taken back by what they perceive as poor image quality, appear on this forum looking for help.

Its easy to get poor images with the 7D as it is quite demanding in some situations.

The OP referenced fast moving horses, wanting the 7D to help accomplish capturing great photos. If the OP returns with a few good samples where the best photos still resulted in a poor image quality, we have a great starting point to analyze the issues at hand.

Possibilities are;
-bad camera, good photographer
-good photographer, bad camera
-bad camera, bad photographer -- :(

Ideally it would be;
-good camera, good photographer ... :)

Ok, ok, I'm not so funny!
 
no no you havnt scared me off.. I live in australia and it was bed time !! . I consider myself a good photographer and have a good grasp on manually working with my camera. I use an apple power mac and process in lightroom and then Photoshop PS4. I did just read a new post that perhaps 7D images look soft and mushy because of the high pixel count and our computer not being able to read them properly. I still feel the images dont look right to me. I will admit its first day with a new camera and I need to throughly go through to adjust the camera for the use I have which is animal photography.(yes it was on AI Servo) I rarely get to shoot a still object. But I also see many people are commenting on the same sort of issue I am so know its not a one off. My new 70-200 2.8 series 2 will be here this week so I hope the technology in the new lense with the new camera will produce great results. If I had gone to the 1D Mk4 I wonder if I would be seeing the same results?. Im running off to work but will load an original file when I get back in this evening.

+++++
 
Two more things to consider, if you haven't done so already:

1. Read up on the autofocusing system in this camera. Coming from simpler units, I found this one quite different, at least in terms of what I need to do to make use of it.

2. If you're shooting in raw mode and rendering these on your monitor via DPP, are you waiting long enough? I'm on a slower computer - a small laptop - and it took a while before I realized that I wasn't giving the system enough time to "clean up" the image.
Traceybav said:
I got my new 7D yesterday and today ran some shots which I am dissapointed with, I am waiting for my new 70-200 F2.8 this week so shots were taken with a sigma 80-400 F4.5 - 5.6 EX DG OS. Shot at ISO 500 (it was a darkish day), F5.6 1/1250. Shot just as Large JPegs not Raw. The photos look gritty to me and when enlarged they look pixelated very heavily.

Ok so what is going on?. I like my photos sharp and non of these look sharp at all and muddy when enlarged. Is there some secret I am missing. I have now just read a few reviews where they report what I am finding. I plan to shoot fast moving horses and do the odd portrait. Ive come from a MK2 which was lovely and sharp.

someone please help. I think I have made a huge mistake with this camera but I read so many good reviews perhaps I am missing something important.
Click to expand...
 
Hi, the best advice I can give when using these new cameras is not to jump to conclusions too quickly after only a few days use, and not to read too much into all the threads here bemoaning about the 7D's flaws. You have to seive through alot of the 'noise' to get to the truth. Alot of the threads here (but not all of course, there are some genuine issues out there) are people new to advanced cameras, using them for only a few days, and then coming on to a website like this and complaining. It just adds to a self-perpetuating cycle that fuels more doubts when instead, effort would be better spent learning the gear and learning photography.

The 7D is capable of great images - and this is more obvious when you do prints than when looking at a computer screen. It will reward you if you put the time in.
 
Hi just got my 7D last week this camera can produce a good image!!!!here a sample taken with the kit lens 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM....









Canon 7D BG-E7 580EX II 25-35mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM
Traceybav said:
I got my new 7D yesterday and today ran some shots which I am dissapointed with, I am waiting for my new 70-200 F2.8 this week so shots were taken with a sigma 80-400 F4.5 - 5.6 EX DG OS. Shot at ISO 500 (it was a darkish day), F5.6 1/1250. Shot just as Large JPegs not Raw. The photos look gritty to me and when enlarged they look pixelated very heavily.

Ok so what is going on?. I like my photos sharp and non of these look sharp at all and muddy when enlarged. Is there some secret I am missing. I have now just read a few reviews where they report what I am finding. I plan to shoot fast moving horses and do the odd portrait. Ive come from a MK2 which was lovely and sharp.

someone please help. I think I have made a huge mistake with this camera but I read so many good reviews perhaps I am missing something important.
Click to expand...
 
Traceybav said:
I got my new 7D yesterday and today ran some shots which I am dissapointed with, The photos look gritty to me and when enlarged they look pixelated very heavily.
Click to expand...
Have you checked to see what Image-Recording Quality your camera is set to?

Check p.58 of the manual and make sure you are set to the finest quality (i.e. highest quality). There is simply no reason to shoot JPEGs in any other quality.
 
all excellent points. I also have my AI servo tracking set to fast and I have been told it may be a bit twitchy at this setting. Possibly alot of user error on my part I just set this one the same as the MK2 and expected to same results, Not so it would seem. I have a friend who emailed me some raw images off her 7D which I have seen printed and they look just like mine. We are going to do some test shots with the two cameras so we can do a good comparison to make sure there is nothing amiss with the camera. I will refine the settings as best I can and see what comes out of it. I will wait unti lI get the new 2.8 lense though as this will be my primary shooting lense. Fingers crossed. :) I am so lookjing forward to getting some beautiful shots with this great little camera! Here are 2 of the shots taken in the try out phase yesterday. they were shot as jpegs. Dont really know why as I shoot mostly in raw but not for shooting animals so I can run off multiple shots especially with the horses. these are low res images.







 
should mention i was playing with the colour settings so these were shot in landscape colours which seem very rich. I did no sharpening as such on these images just a quick touch up in lightroom and photoshop. I just see alot of softness around the dogs face (shot at ISO 400, F5.6 at 1/1250 in overcast conditions). The cats tail is mega soft in the original. Maybe they just beed a bit of sharpening or maybe not !! LOL
 
I can only see low-res images from here, but it looks like a long focal-length and DoF may be a factor. Can you post some untweaked jpegs?
 
The cats tail may be just outside the DOF .

I went out yesterday with my new 7D and 70-200 MK II IS and I don't like the DOF . I think I took 10 pictures with it and realize it is a lot different from my XTI . I don't know if I need to do the MA thing .

By the way - exif data missing from your shots









--
1st - it's a hobby

XTI - gripped , Canon - efs 10-22 , efs 17-55 , efs 18-55 IS , 28-90 , 28 @ 2.8 , 50 @1.8 , 28-135 IS , 35-350L ,Quantaray lens 70-300 macro , life size converter , KSM filters for all , kenko auto tubes , 7D , 70-200 MK II IS
 
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