These came out of the kit lens!

ksc6000 · Dec 3, 2013

Rest of the photos here: http://kaser.smugmug.com/Other/Temp-watch2/n-9qpr6

These were taken with my NEX-C3 and the 18-55 kit lens. Yes I did do some PP in lightroom to make the colors pop more, but nothing was done to adjust the detail except some noise reduction. I'm impressed w/ the sharpness I was able to get by following the tips people gave me here: shoot in raw, turn NR off, keep ISO low.

I would love your opinions, and tips on how I could make these better my next vacation, like better framing, better settings...

Jerry R · Dec 3, 2013

The lens is defiantly out of spec. According to the reviewers the lens is not capable of producing excellent images. Must have slipped through Sony QC. Return it for one that produces images inline with the reviews. I took a pic lat week and the quality surprised me. Now I'm thinking it will be fine and I may not "need" the Zeiss 16-70.

Here is the pic:

--
Canon A2E, Sony R1, Panny TZ5, NEX C3 & 5R + Zeiss 24mm E Lens, Nikon D5100

ksc6000 · Dec 17, 2013

Jerry R said:
The lens is defiantly out of spec. According to the reviewers the lens is not capable of producing excellent images. Must have slipped through Sony QC. Return it for one that produces images inline with the reviews. I took a pic lat week and the quality surprised me. Now I'm thinking it will be fine and I may not "need" the Zeiss 16-70.

Here is the pic:

Canon A2E, Sony R1, Panny TZ5, NEX C3 & 5R + Zeiss 24mm E Lens, Nikon D5100

Agreed

Keit ll · Dec 17, 2013

Look more closely , the landscape shots have heavy CA which should be amenable to correct post processing.

edwardaneal · Dec 17, 2013

these came out of the 18-55 kit lens on the original NEX-5

fact is people around here worry way to much about numbers and gear in my opinion

ksc6000 · Dec 17, 2013

Keit ll said:
Look more closely , the landscape shots have heavy CA which should be amenable to correct post processing.

Can you show me specifically? I'm not that experienced so I don't know if I see it or not.

Keit ll · Dec 17, 2013

ksc6000 said:
Keit ll said:

Look more closely , the landscape shots have heavy CA which should be amenable to correct post processing.

Click to expand...

Can you show me specifically? I'm not that experienced so I don't know if I see it or not.

OK , this is a 100% crop from the first photo.

100% crop showing red/ green CA fringes

Here is your photo with further processing. You are right ,however , in saying that the kit lens gives quite good results

Had some difficulty in posting this image , don't know why ?

osv · Dec 17, 2013

ksc6000 said:
Keit ll said:

Look more closely , the landscape shots have heavy CA which should be amenable to correct post processing.

Click to expand...

Can you show me specifically? I'm not that experienced so I don't know if I see it or not.

he's referring to the first pic, where the palm tree trunk and branches have the grey sky behind them, you can see a wide band of color outlining one side or more of the subject matter.

given modern technology and modern manufacturing techniques, that heavy amount of ca is rather discouraging.

however, the shot of the guy in the blue shirt is a keeper, it came out fine... just be careful with the aperture you use.

ksc6000 · Dec 17, 2013

Keit ll said:
ksc6000 said:

Keit ll said:

Look more closely , the landscape shots have heavy CA which should be amenable to correct post processing.

Click to expand...

Can you show me specifically? I'm not that experienced so I don't know if I see it or not.

Click to expand...

OK , this is a 100% crop from the first photo.

100% crop showing red/ green CA fringes

Here is your photo with further processing. You are right ,however , in saying that the kit lens gives quite good results

Had some difficulty in posting this image , don't know why ?

So what did you do to reduce the CA ?

ksc6000 · Dec 17, 2013

osv said:
ksc6000 said:

Keit ll said:

Look more closely , the landscape shots have heavy CA which should be amenable to correct post processing.

Click to expand...

Can you show me specifically? I'm not that experienced so I don't know if I see it or not.

Click to expand...

he's referring to the first pic, where the palm tree trunk and branches have the grey sky behind them, you can see a wide band of color outlining one side or more of the subject matter.

given modern technology and modern manufacturing techniques, that heavy amount of ca is rather discouraging.

however, the shot of the guy in the blue shirt is a keeper, it came out fine... just be careful with the aperture you use.

Amamba · Dec 17, 2013

I have two of them. One is silver, ca. early 2012. Another is black, recent manufacture. Both are made in Thailand. The early one is extremely prone to misfocusing. It's also rather poor wide open. I need to be at f8 and if the focusing gods decide to smile at me I may get a nice photo. The other (black) one is good wide open, very sharp at f7 and above, and the focus is much more reliable. I don't think it's the color of the lens, as all lenses made in Thailand are likely assembled on the same line by the same workers. Either Sony corrected their initial assembly quality issues, or I just got lucky the second time.

I still prefer to use Sigma 30/2.8 as my main lens, it's still sharper accross the frame and better in low light. But a decent copy of kit lens is a solid and reliable performer. Hopefully Sony corrected their initial QC problems and all kits are decent copies now.

aSevenArr · Dec 17, 2013

Kidding

But seriously if you are happy with the lens then IMHO that is all that really matters.

S3ZAi · Dec 17, 2013

there's nothing wrong with kit lenses. If you are going to watch the photos on a computer screen, they can be downsampled, even if you would like to print at a4 format, they would still look really good. Only time when kit lens wouldn't be good enough is when you would like to sell your photo for some commercial work and they need to pixelpeep. Or if you would like to make very large prints for art works or something. I know many people at my work who bought a nex camera after seeing my nex and they never bought any other lens but the kit lens and they are all very very happy with it.

forpetessake · Dec 17, 2013

I got the new black SEL18-55 from NEX7 kit and it was significantly better than the old silver one from NEX5N kit. It still has soft corners at 18mm, but nothing as bad the old one.

--

There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people. -- Thomas Jefferson

forpetessake · Dec 17, 2013

The lens is pretty bad, but you overdone with the PP as well, which only underscored the lens problems, such as heavy CA. The colors also look out of whack and even the noise is visible.

Mel Snyder · Dec 17, 2013

Keit ll said:
ksc6000 said:

Keit ll said:

Look more closely , the landscape shots have heavy CA which should be amenable to correct post processing.

Click to expand...

Can you show me specifically? I'm not that experienced so I don't know if I see it or not.

Click to expand...

OK , this is a 100% crop from the first photo.

100% crop showing red/ green CA fringes

Here is your photo with further processing. You are right ,however , in saying that the kit lens gives quite good results

Had some difficulty in posting this image , don't know why ?

Keith - you did a beautiful job PP'ing that image. Lightroom, I assume...?

ksc6000 · Dec 17, 2013

"I can do better" ? "Try again" ?

Firstly thanks to everyone that replied civilly, but to the others, I'm not saying your input isn't valuable but there's something called tact. It's like the internet has taught us that that isn't important anymore.

It's pretty clear I'm a beginner from the top post. I've had lightroom for a couple months maybe and used it about a dozen times tops.

And you know what? I gotta say that I'm still pretty happy and d@mn proud of myself for those pics. These are the best photos I've taken on vacation yet. They were handheld, unplanned.. taken in pretty dark light and I'm only going to get better.

My point is that when people talk like that, it can discourage others, not help them. Luckily for me, I feel great about how my photography is progressing.

Now if someone could actually help me find how to get rid of chromatic aberration that would be great

I've attached the original photo.

kaku · Dec 17, 2013

In Lightroom's Development module, find "Lens Corrections" panel on the right side. Under the "Basic" tab, you'll have a checkbox for "Remove Chromatic Aberration." You can further refine it by messing with the controls in the "Color" tab.

Keit ll · Dec 17, 2013

Mel Snyder said:
Keit ll said:

ksc6000 said:

Keit ll said:

Look more closely , the landscape shots have heavy CA which should be amenable to correct post processing.

Click to expand...

Can you show me specifically? I'm not that experienced so I don't know if I see it or not.

Click to expand...

OK , this is a 100% crop from the first photo.

100% crop showing red/ green CA fringes

Here is your photo with further processing. You are right ,however , in saying that the kit lens gives quite good results

Had some difficulty in posting this image , don't know why ?

Click to expand...

Keith - you did a beautiful job PP'ing that image. Lightroom, I assume...?

No CS6 & also used NIK color efex 4 plugin. It has to be remembered that processing web posted images introduces a extra level of problems due to the image compression.

captura · Dec 17, 2013

I suggest that you trade your C3 for one of the newer bodies which have distortion correction built-in.

The 18-55 is a very capable lens, if you keep it within some limits:

- shoot between 24mm and 45 mm only, and at f5.6 or f8.

These came out of the kit lens!

Well-known member

Forum Pro

Attachments

Well-known member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Well-known member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Leading Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Senior Member

Well-known member

Leading Member

Veteran Member

Forum Pro

Keyboard shortcuts