Again about AF issues on 450D. My own test

[Steve Dudley]

Hi Kiitos,

I looked at your example and downloaded it. It's very small so it's
hard to determine a lot from it. Here are some thoughts.

The image was taken at 1600 which will never be as sharp as lower
ISO. Actually considering it's 1600 and a tight crop, I think the
image is darn nice. Canon's are designed to focus on the highest
contrast item in the focus area you select. In this case, I think
it's the brown where it meets the color of the petal rather than the
center as you'd wanted. Here is a good post explaining it.
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic2/241524

I'd suggest you take some more pictures with a normal (100-400) ISO
and good shutter speed of a variety of different subjects that have
high contrast. That will determine if your camera is working
correctly in day to day use. If you still have problems, do the test
suggested above.

Also, the 450 is a little soft straight out of the camera when
shooting JPG's. Try changing picture styles or better yet, create a
custom one that has the "pop" you want. It;'s very easy to do. I'd
suggest that you consider doing a little post processing. Faststone
Viewer is free and excellent. You can download from your camera, do
batch conversions and processing etc. If you need to correct white
balance etc. then other software works better but Faststone Viewer
will handle the vast majority of processing quickly, simply and
efficiently.

HTH

Jim

Kiltos

i can show you similar photos of flowers with Af that I have taken exactly the same and I think you really are as Jim said getting good results. DOF is very shallow and Jim has given you some good advice and i think if you follow it you will only improve.

 

[kiitos]

Hi Kiitos,

I looked at your example and downloaded it. It's very small so it's
hard to determine a lot from it. Here are some thoughts.

The image was taken at 1600 which will never be as sharp as lower
ISO. Actually considering it's 1600 and a tight crop, I think the
image is darn nice. Canon's are designed to focus on the highest
contrast item in the focus area you select. In this case, I think
it's the brown where it meets the color of the petal rather than the
center as you'd wanted. Here is a good post explaining it.
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic2/241524

I'd suggest you take some more pictures with a normal (100-400) ISO
and good shutter speed of a variety of different subjects that have
high contrast. That will determine if your camera is working
correctly in day to day use. If you still have problems, do the test
suggested above.

Also, the 450 is a little soft straight out of the camera when
shooting JPG's. Try changing picture styles or better yet, create a
custom one that has the "pop" you want. It;'s very easy to do. I'd
suggest that you consider doing a little post processing. Faststone
Viewer is free and excellent. You can download from your camera, do
batch conversions and processing etc. If you need to correct white
balance etc. then other software works better but Faststone Viewer
will handle the vast majority of processing quickly, simply and
efficiently.

HTH

Jim

1) Why do you say it's very small? Have you downloaded the flower picture on your PC (not the thumbnail, but the 1200x800 crop)

2) I agree that ISO1600 is not really the best in such case, but the 450D is claimed to provide very good results even at ISO this high. My complain is about the low details on the pistils

3) very good post the one you gave me. I could read it all, but I immediately noticed interesting sources of information. It's in my Explorer favorites now

4) Creating my own custom picture style (of course with increased sharpening) is another thing I was thinking of for the weekend. But again, this looks like tinkering with post processing while I'd rather expect to have sharp images with such piece of hardware which costed several hundred bucks to me :-(

Thanks for all your suggestions
Bye

 

[HappySnappy]

Well 1st it's important to bare in mind that no camera can expose perfectly all the time. Current sensors do not see what we see and have to calculate exposure based on a much narrower dynamic range.

I just quickly ran through a couple of your shots.

This image was over exposed and the highlights are blown in the background, I took off approximately -2/3rd EC (might even be better with -1) to balance the face but there's not much that can be done with the blown areas, + 2 tone for the face.



-1/3d EC, touch of saturation (+10)



Blowing highlights can be tough to retrieve while increasing a slightly under exposed image isn't.

Why underexpose the shot if the camera processor says it is able to
obtain a properly exposed image (apart from artistic reasons)? Please
explain, maybe I miss something in your words.
Cheers

--

 

[KALEL33]

4) Creating my own custom picture style (of course with increased
sharpening) is another thing I was thinking of for the weekend. But
again, this looks like tinkering with post processing while I'd
rather expect to have sharp images with such piece of hardware which
costed several hundred bucks to me :-(

It's not a point and shoot. If you want it to do higher sharpening, in camera, then you need to boost the setting. You're expectations seem to be very high for this camera. It's a great camera, but that doesn't mean that an ISO 1600 will produce just as good of a an image as an ISO 100 on a tripod. It'll take you time to get used to it, know how to use it properly, and know the limitations(yes it does have limitations....that's why there are higher models and lens out there and even they have limitations).

 

[Jim Holtz]

kiitos wrote:
Responses inline:

1) Why do you say it's very small? Have you downloaded the flower picture on your PC (not the thumbnail, but the 1200x800 crop)

Yes, I did download the flower. It's basically a 100% crop which will highlight every issue and defect. The thing is, images aren't normally printed or viewed at that size. I suspect that the original would print nicely as an 8x10. Also, everytime a JPG is saved, the image is degraded.

2) I agree that ISO1600 is not really the best in such case, but the
450D is claimed to provide very good results even at ISO this high.
My complain is about the low details on the pistils

Yes, the 450D is very good at 1600 but that doesn't mean you should shoot there unless necessary to get the shot. As good as it is, it still won't have the detail of a shot taken at ISO 100-400.

3) very good post the one you gave me. I could read it all, but I
immediately noticed interesting sources of information. It's in my
Explorer favorites now

I'm glad you liked it. It explains why many have focusing issues.

4) Creating my own custom picture style (of course with increased
sharpening) is another thing I was thinking of for the weekend. But
again, this looks like tinkering with post processing while I'd
rather expect to have sharp images with such piece of hardware which
costed several hundred bucks to me :-(

Actually, you have it backwards. The more expensive and sophisticated the camera, the more is expected of the photographer. If you want "pop" straight out of the camera and want to just pop batteries in the camera and shoot, the new XS or a Nikon D40 are what you're looking for.

The images are heavily processed at least in the D40 and i'm guessing the XS will be close to it. It is designed for P&S users that want to have a more responsive camera that will take better pictures under more difficult conditions. If you're going to shoot in the sun every time, a good P&S will turn out nice images. DSLR's are at their best when the image get's harder to take but it also requires a more knowledgable person operating the camera.

Try playing with picture styles. If that doesn't suit you, take it back and get an XS, D40 or even a G9.

Jim