Help with wide angle lens with out of focus photos

[OldBoy]

Looking at those photos they don't seem to be to bad, considering the conditions. F9 to F11should be the sharpest with the lens. You used a tripod but did you use a remote release, and if you camera has it mirror lock-up, to make sure the camera as mirror slap could cause the problems.

[polarmagnus]

I notice that people have different views on what the sharpest f-number is. So I'll try between f9 and f16 and see which is the best to use.

[polarmagnus]

Photos as promised. These are processed. So there's no point in putting some information about them.

The sky is a little odd on this photo, because I use layers and I didn't merge it in properly with the horizon and its a bit difficult when you have trees on the horizon.
http://www.photoradar.com/files/imag...us/mg-1584.jpg

http://www.photoradar.com/files/imag...us/mg-1609.jpg

[jet_kit]

Hi Polarmagnus,

Before looking at anything else in image 1584 I felt as if I was falling off the edge of the world. Straighten up your horizon, man!

OK, the next trick after mastering the tripod is the spirit, or bubble level. You need to make sure your horizons are level, most particularly when using a super-wide. As far as sharpness is concerned, I couldn't find anything in the image that was crisp and sharp. Where is your focus point?

Have you sharpened the image in Photoshop? All digital images need sharpening, it's one of the laws of nature. For Landscapes I use Unsharp Mask, Amount 100%, Radius 1 Pixel and 5 Levels of Threshold. Play around with these numbers until you get the result you want. But be careful, it's very easy to go nuts and end up with halos round everything. If you're working in RAW you can use Amount 40, Radius 1, Detail 50, Masking 0. That will give you pretty much the same result.

Keep at it. You show promise.

[polarmagnus]

They were both hand held. I couldn't use the tripod because the bridge side was too high. I always shoot in RAW. And I've sharpened it up. I always sharpen my photos in Unsharp Mask, unless they don't need it.

I really need a better, sturdier tripod. But I can't afford one this year.

I don't know where my focal point is. I use all of the AF Selection Points, so it'll focus where it wants to. I have it set on Evaluation Metering.

[jet_kit]

OK,

Sorry, you're earlier post said that you would be using the tripod, so I assumed that's what you had done. Nonetheless, the pic is not straight and that's very off-putting. You can still straighten it up by using the Rotate Image function in PS. I would suggest it needs about 5 degrees counterclockwise. Then crop to straighten up the edges.

On the sharpening front, digital images [U]always[U] need sharpening. The nature of the subject will dictate how much and you should always do this as the last bit of editing on your list. Personally, I can't stand this multi-point focus malarky and always use single point focus and adjust the location to suit my subject, or use manual focus. I understand that multi-point is good for high speed action, but I don't do any of that. I think the difficulty here is that the camera was unable to get a lock on the moving water and has settled for the distant background and thrown the foreground out. You need to decide what is important in the shot and arrange the focus point to give you the depth of field you want. A large aperture will give you a very restricted DoF, whilst a small one will give you a lot of latitude.

Try to do as much editing, including sharpening in ACR as possible. There are one or two things which are easier as JPEG images, but the more you can do in RAW the better.

[polarmagnus]

Wish I'd looked into sending the lens back to Sigma. Its a little late now and I need the lens for the end of October.

I've used the lens more since starting this thread and the photos are still out of focus. I'm not at all impressed with the lens and I wish I had saved my money and looked more into other lenses which are available.

[KeithT]

If you want to control your aperture settings you will need to work in AV mode (see top of your camera). I have always worked this way as it gives complete control over the depth of field. Best read up on it though until you become comfortable working that way. Your manual will explain it, but there are loads of tutorials on the web. See this Youtube tutorial for instance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB7g7Qhpw6g

[greenwing]

polarmagnus, I've taken the liberty of uploading edited versions of the files you posted above to my gallery. Given that you don't know what was supposed to be the focal point, I don't think they've come up too badly. I can't say I think there's much wrong with your lens that a bit more skill in use and post-processing can't improve.

Click the pictures for the large versions






Chris

[silversnapper1]

THIS may help you work out your depth of field and get front to back sharpness.