Issues with Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS

Hi

I am a long time lurker, first time poster. I recently acquired a Canon 10-18mm lens and used it for the first time today. Unfortunately the photos it is producing are quite awful. This could very well be user error, however there is always the possibility that it isn't as I have never experienced this issue with other lenses on the same camera body. I have included a sample image which has not undergone any post-processing apart from a conversation to JPG from CR2. As you can see from the images below the trees, leaves, etc. in the distance are not at all sharp, they look pixelated and smudgy (if that's a word) if anything.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

Seconded.  Was it a completely calm day?  Did you try increasing the ISO and going to a higher shutter speed?

p5freak wrote:

AnthonyK82 wrote:

Hi

I am a long time lurker, first time poster. I recently acquired a Canon 10-18mm lens and used it for the first time today. Unfortunately the photos it is producing are quite awful. This could very well be user error, however there is always the possibility that it isn't as I have never experienced this issue with other lenses on the same camera body. I have included a sample image which has not undergone any post-processing apart from a conversation to JPG from CR2. As you can see from the images below the trees, leaves, etc. in the distance are not at all sharp, they look pixelated and smudgy (if that's a word) if anything.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

I think your lens looks ok, left side is a bit soft. Dont expect to much from a zooms lens for ~200. Also good detail from anything far away depends quite a lot on the weather conditions, there might be hot air rising, fog, haze, wet air, atmosperic distortions, etc.

These photos were taken the day after a tropical low pressure system had moved through the area so maybe the weather could have played a role.

Dave wrote:

Seconded. Was it a completely calm day? Did you try increasing the ISO and going to a higher shutter speed?

It felt reasonably calm where I was stood. I didn't increase the ISO as I assumed with the high level of available light the camera would have chosen an appropriate shutter speed. Maybe this is something I need to be paying more attention to as the shutter speed may not have been enough to freeze the motion of the tree leaves, etc.

bent christian wrote:

Also, keep in mind that RAW photo files will always need some sharpening. Unprocessed, CR2's will almost always look soft.

Thanks, I was aware of that. I'm just used to my RAW images starting out much sharper.

It might be a question of expectations, those shots don't look bad; search for a comparison of ultra wide lenses, you could spend 10 times more and the corners will still look smudged, that's just the nature of ultra wide, you need to step into $10,000 Leica primes to get everything sharp, and at more normal wide focal lengths.

I had the same nagging impression until I took shots of perfectly straight lines (buildings and such) and couldn't see any smudges. Also take into account that leaves and grass move with the wind. Of course it could be that your lens is decentered, I found that my 10-22 was really out of focus on the left side, Canon fixed it for very little, out of warranty. Take it as an opportunity not to pixelpeep!

Get very close to a leaf at minimum focusing distance and take a picture. You'll be able to see the details of the left. Back up and take a picture, and you'll see less details on the leaf. The more you back away the less amount of pixels there will be to resolve each leaf. The lens is so wide at 10mm that there's just not going to be enough pixels to resolve details on each leaf and that's why they look pixelated when you zoom in.