E-400 150mm kit lens

[HarryLittle]

Hi,

I have the above camera and lens, while I dont have a problem with the quality of picture when using the wide angle kit lens, I cannot say the same for the zoom. I've tried using tripod, self timer
and faster shutter speed along with a higher ISO, but the my pictures still seem to blur except when shooting a subject within a reasonable close distance, a distance where you dont realy need to zoom in much.

Does anyone else have this problem.? Or can anyone offer me some advice on using this lens.

Regards
Harry.

[chris-p]

Hi Harry, welcome to the forums.

What sort of shutter speed are you shooting with? The 40-150mm is pretty sharp generally speaking, or at least my one was. As a general rule of thumb you need to keep the shutter speed above the reciprocal of the focal length (ie at 150mm you need a shutter speed of 1/150 or faster). If this isn't enough try the reciprocal of the 35mm equivalent focal length (ie at 150mm use at least 1/300).

Having said that, if you're using a tripod and a self timer so that you don't have to touch the camera it should be pretty stable and you shouldn't get any movement. What camera settings are you using?

If you can post an example image, that would help.

[HarryLittle]

Hi Chris,

If you look at my gallery there is a landscape shot which i took at the weekend, I nearly always use
ISO 400 and shutter of 250 up.

Regards
Harry.

[chris-p]

Hi Harry

It's difficult to see because it's not very large (even the magnified view) but it doesn't look pin sharp.

Where have you focused and have you tried hyperfocal focusing?

[HarryLittle]

Hi Chris,

I usually focus about third into the picture, having said that maybe thats my problem.

I'll take some photo's this wk/end upload them and get back to you, if thats ok with you.

Regards
Harry.

[chris-p]

That sort of focussing should be fine. Post away and I'll see if I can spot anything obvious!

[HarryLittle]

Cheers Chris,

Weather supposed to be bad up hear in Durham this wkend, but hopefully it will be ok
about 8 am,

Watch this space.

Regards
harry.

[chris-p]

Hi Harry

I've just been looking at the EXIF data for your landscape photo and I think the reason this shot isn't particularly sharp around the buildings might be your aperture.

You've shot this at f/4.2 at 118mm focal length which is a pretty wide aperture for this sort of shot. Because you've shot in shutter priority mode, the camera has selected the aperture to get what it thinks is the best exposure but the DoF at f/4.2, combined with the smaller DoF at longer focal lengths could well be the reason it's not particularly sharp.

Do you normally shoot your landscapes in shutter priority? If so, go back to the shots that aren't sharp enough and see what the aperture was on each shot.

I would recommend shooting in either aperture priority or manual mode and selecting an aperture of f/11 or smaller (although Flake will be along before long to tell you all about diffraction and why you shouldn't use anything smaller than f/8 ).

[chris-p]

Just to add to this, I've done a quick DoF calculation based on aperture and focal point being 25m into the scene.

At f/4.0 your DoF is 5.4m (extending from 22.6m to 28.0m)
At f/4.5 your DoF is 6.1m (extending from 22.3m to 28.4m)

Thid would certainly explain why your images aren't sharp enough

Just for comparison, the same calculation at smaller apertures gives:

At f/16 your DoF is 26.3m (extending from 17.5m to 43.8m)
At f/22 your DoF is 45.2m (extending from 15.7m to 60.9m)

[HarryLittle]

Hi Chris,

As promised I went out this morning and took a number of landscape photos, from 3 differnt locations
around where I live. I've uploaded them into my General album here on this site.

Camera settings are on each individual photo, I did not use manuanl focus just S-AF used tripod as wheather
conditions were windy, breezy to mild blustery.

I may get out again tomorrow as wheather is supposed to be a bit better, anyway let me know what you think.

Regards
Harry.