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EOS M50 - images feel soft. Is there settings I can change?

Started 3 weeks ago | Questions
Ritualnet New Member • Posts: 12
EOS M50 - images feel soft. Is there settings I can change?

I have an EOS M50, with kit lens, the zoom, 22mm and 28mm macro. I traded in all my old tech for this (sadly... the OM-D E-M5 I had was beautifully sharp, but had an issue with high shutter speeds jamming the shutter), and never been happy with it.
It was new out of the box, I've not really changed settings much as I'm not... good at that kind of thing. Jpgs SOOC feel soft, like it's missed focus, and I've always put it down to the fact that the camera gods hate me, or I had a bad model.
Now I've seen that the kit lens can be soft if not stepped down (which could be part of the problem), and I'm wondering if settings are another factor.

The reality is, this forum is full of people that praise the EOS M range, so it's either (most likely) that I'm doing something wrong, or that the hardware is wrong (much less likely), so I wanted to ask, is there any settings I should look into changing for the M50, to get sharper better images out of it?

I can (when it's not lightly snowing, in the midlands UK no less) go outside and take some sample pictures to attach, I haven't got anything deliberate to hand.

I have been trying to sell this to get either a A6x00 or maybe an A7, but the reality is, if this camera is actually great at taking pictures, why waste the money on moving systems, especially with an EF-M to EF adapter to add some sharp fast glass from the DSLR ranges too?

Thank you

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Sittatunga Veteran Member • Posts: 5,406
Re: EOS M50 - images feel soft. Is there settings I can change?
1

Which zoom? My 22mm is good, my 28mm is very sharp. You don't need to do or in the cold, cold snow to give us a sample, a bookshelf would be ideal, as the 28mm has IS and the 22mm at f/2 would show if the problem is focussing, camera shake or just general softness.

As you're using out of camera jpegs, have you tried changing the Picture Style settings? My M100 lets me choose (in the Shoot6 menu) between Auto, Standard, Portrait,  Landscape, Fine Detail, Neutral, Faithful (for daylight), Monochrome and User Defined 1, 2, & 3. In each of them I can adjust Sharpness (sharpening strength, fineness, threshold), Contrast, Saturation and skin tones. Hours of fun if you can't be bothered to shoot RAW.

OP Ritualnet New Member • Posts: 12
Re: EOS M50 - images feel soft. Is there settings I can change?

Edit: I wonder if the settings are not good, because these are all a bit blurry, I'll try it again.22mm - P mode, focus is on "Eye of Zoltar" book.

22mm P mode, focus is on the Laser Squad box front

22mm P mode, focus is on "New Fantasyland" pin (below alice)

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MyM6II Senior Member • Posts: 2,424
Re: EOS M50 - images feel soft. Is there settings I can change?

Seems to be camera shake. The shutter speeds are way too long for this lens. And why ISO 100? Try to set ISO to Auto.

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OP Ritualnet New Member • Posts: 12
Re: EOS M50 - images feel soft. Is there settings I can change?

Was trying to edit it but failed!

Here's round 2.

Eye of Zoltar

Fantasyland (specifically the start of the word)

Middle of the box

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Ricoh GXR P10 28-300mm F3.5-5.6 VC Ricoh GR III Pentax K100D Super Canon EOS M50 Olympus PEN E-P7 +5 more
Larry Rexley Senior Member • Posts: 1,238
Re: EOS M50 - images feel soft. Is there settings I can change?

MyM6II wrote:

Seems to be camera shake. The shutter speeds are way too long for this lens. And why ISO 100? Try to set ISO to Auto.

Agree with this, the images show camera motion. The images should be sharp if taken, say, at 1/125s at ISO 800.

The EF-M lenses are generally quite sharp, especially the 22mm and 28mm macro you have.

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MyM6II Senior Member • Posts: 2,424
Re: EOS M50 - images feel soft. Is there settings I can change?

Much better, but 1/60 is also a bit slow if you don't have very steady hands. (This lens doesn't have IS). You could try setting the mode to Tv and 1/125 (or faster) and ISO Auto. And test for yourself what speed you need for steady shots.

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JRET
JRET Contributing Member • Posts: 840
Re: EOS M50 - images feel soft. Is there settings I can change?
2

I always thought my hands were steady as a rock - and perhaps they were, 40 years ago.

After noticing softness in many of my M50 images and blaming the equipment I had occasion to use a tripod for a few images and was astounded at the improvement in image sharpness.  Ahah!  User error.  I changed shutter speed to at least 1/250 (faster on telephoto lenses) and corrected the problem.

Experiment with the same scene 3 ways: 1) hand held @ 1/60 2) tripod @ 1/60 and 3) handheld @ 1/250.
If needed change your ISO to auto.

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OP Ritualnet New Member • Posts: 12
Re: EOS M50 - images feel soft. Is there settings I can change?

Ok I tried again with 1/250, but we had a power cut so couldn't upload.

I don't feel like there's any difference between this and the 1/60 one?

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Larry Rexley Senior Member • Posts: 1,238
Re: EOS M50 - images feel soft. Is there settings I can change?
2

Ritualnet wrote:

Ok I tried again with 1/250, but we had a power cut so couldn't upload.

I don't feel like there's any difference between this and the 1/60 one?

Much better results, this is about what I'd expect from any camera in this lighting, with s similar lens.

The 22mm f2 lens, when used at f2, is going to have a very shallow depth of field (focus zone from front to back) especially when used on subjects that are close to the camera.

In your new shots, the bottom of book in the middle is now in sharp focus, that must be what the camera focused on. The books behind it and the shelf in front of it are slightly unsharp because they aren't in focus.

The zone of sharp focus may be only 1/2 inch deep or so for these shots. The book may have been leaning back slightly, or the camera angled so that the whole 'plane' of the book wasn't at exactly the same distance from the camera. Same for the shots with the pins.

In addition, there will be a little bit of 'noise' which make the image look less clear, from shooting at a higher ISO.

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Mark3794 Forum Member • Posts: 63
Re: EOS M50 - images feel soft. Is there settings I can change?

Now your ISO is a bit high for an aps-c camera, so it looks a bit soft. Try 1/100.

Also if you didn't do it already change your profile picture to fine detail.

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