15-85mm Lens Blur

omri2 wrote:

Hi,

I'm new here and would appreciate some help.

After having a 500D for five years, half a year ago I finally got my second lens - Canon 15-85mm. I really enjoy both the wide and medium-telephoto ranges of this lens.

However, right from the start I began noticing that in many of my pictures the right side was heavily blurred - and attributed it to me being a beginner (Thought maybe out of focus, or small DoF). I was in Zurich last week and finally got to a conclusion that this must not be the case. Attached is a sample picture which illustrates the problem clearly (notice how, when viewed 100%, the buildings on the right are really blurred).

So I made a test and took some pictures near my house with a tripod and the same parameters. Once with the usual UV filter on, once off, and once with my old kit lens.

Apparently, the UV filter had a lot to do with the blur. Yet I am still pretty sure the right side of the picture is not as sharp as it should be. The pictures are attached.

So basically few questions:

1) Do you also notice any difference in sharpness from the left side and the right side of the picture (without the UV filter)? Or is this just me being too critical? I guess lens softening should at least be symmetrical...

2) Is this normal for UV filters? Mine is this one from Hoya. Are the more expensive ones better in this regard? Or should I just go without one if I want ultimate sharpness?

Thanks.

Does not look so good, looks like you have a skewed/tilted lens. In the first picture, it looks like the focus on the foreground trees is sharper on the right, but in the background its not sharp, while on the left the background is sharp. More difficult to say with the other shots, but overall I do suspect something is not right with your lens.

Try shooting a brick wall straight on, then turn the camera 180 degrees upside down. If the blurriness moves with the camera, it's the lens.