# 50D Soft Focus



## Volk359 (Sep 1, 2013)

Greetings All,

A couple years ago I purchased a Canon 50D and although it gave great reviews and was affordable I can't say that I've ever been satisfied with it.  Regardless of what I do I cannot get a tack sharp image with it even when using a tripod, turning IS on/off, autofocus on/off, flash, using a remote shutter, "spray and pray", etc, etc.  The best images I can capture seem to have a real soft focus to them.  When zooming in to the attached picture the pixelation is quite obvious.  In addition, there seems to be a ghostly halo around white objects against a dark background. (yes, the lenses & filters are clean) The halo was first noticed and grossly compounded when using a 70-200 f2.8 and I initially blamed the lens however the attached photo was taken with a kit lens and the halo wasn't noticeable until I zoomed in.  I understand that pixelation will occur when you zoom into a picture too far however at 1:1 (100%?), as this photo is, I feel there should be very little, if any, pixelation.

The 50D has a smaller sensor than other rival models but it seems to me that the images should be much clearer than I've been getting.  The 70-200 is a fine lens but the problem seems to be worse with it.  It now makes me feel that something is wrong with camera rather than the lenses.  The attached image is typical clarity for my shots and if I remember correctly I had focused on the house in the background.  It was a nice sunny evening and the distance was +/-200 yards but I can't be certain.  No corrections have been made to the photo other than contrast, highlights and shadows.

I've been using film cameras since I was a kid and digital cameras, albeit smaller ones, for many years so I feel I'm competent enough to create clear images but I am frustrated as I had high expectations for this camera and my budget doesn't really allow the purchase of another.  When I view photos from other websites, on here for example, the clarity is obvious but tack sharp does not seem to be capable with this camera.

I've done a fair amount of research on the web and the only thing I can find is that other 50D users are experiencing the same problem but no remedies seem to have been mentioned.  I guess my question is, am I expecting too much from this camera?  Will "calibration" from a competent camera shop help? Is the halo an effect that can be corrected?

Sorry this is a bit long winded.

Thanks,

Keith


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## iolair (Sep 2, 2013)

The screenshot of the image does look soft.  On that particular example, was it on a tripod or with stabilisation?  The exposure shown is too slow to reliably expect sharp results hand-held.

I don't believe this is inherent to the 50D; I've only had mine a few months but feel I've got some great results from it - some examples below which seem sufficiently sharp to me:

1. Wedding Group Shot - through a Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8



Group Shot by Neil Gratton, on Flickr

2. Wildlife Park Lioness - through a (dirt cheap) Kodak Gear 80-200mm f/4.5-5.6



Lioness by Neil Gratton, on Flickr

3. Landscape - through the Kodak Gear zoom again



Road by Neil Gratton, on Flickr

So, the problem appears to be with your particular example of the camera.  You seem to have tried most of the things that would improve this situation.

A couple of questions/ideas

- if the focus is off, the situation would improve if you decrease the aperture.  Are you usually shooting wide open?  Does the issue improve if you stop down to say f/11 or f/16, to make sure you've plenty of depth of field.  If so, then it looks like a focus issue.

- I've never felt the need to check it out, but doesn't the 50D have lens micro-adjustment/auto-adjustment.  Have you tried this?

- have you had your sensor cleaned?  It seems to me that a layer of grease or fine dust on the sensor could cause this kind of issue.

- you mention the 70-200, but imply that the problem is equally bad with any lens - is that correct?

- what is your image format?  Are you shooting largest JPEG and high quality, or RAW and then converting?  If you're not doing one of these two, then try doing so.


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## grafxman (Sep 2, 2013)

The first thing I would do is look at a newspaper page taped to a wall through the live view mode magnified while mounted to a tripod. Use auto focus for this. That will raise the mirror and get things that might be causing your problem out of the image path. The human eye can instantly recognize a problem with text because that's what we use all the time. If things look soft with both lens then you probably have a lens problem. If things look OK, and I'm betting they will, then you likely have a camera problem. If it's a lens problem then they can be sent to Canon for adjustment or you can try the micro adjustment procedure however I'm not sure how that works with a zoom lens. If it's a camera problem then I would buy something like this:

Lenspen SensorKlear Loupe Kit NSKLK-1 B&H Photo Video

or get it to a camera repair facility for cleaning/repair. Although discontinued now, the 50D has been around for quite a while and all I can say is mine worked fine with Sigma lenses for thousands of photos. Hope this helps. Good luck.


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## Overread (Sep 2, 2013)

The horses in your example photo do look odd and if you've had this problem for a good while there is a chance that your camera is not in the best of health and it could have an out of calibration or very extreme set sensor calibration (manufactured goods are made within tolerances of calibration not to an exact figure). 

Best you can do is to send your kit to Canon/service centre for calibration. They can then test your camera with your lenses and ensure that you're getting the best possible calibrated performance.

If the 50D has micro focus adjust remember that that only corrects AF performance and placing; it won't affect the maximum possible sharpness.


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## Volk359 (Sep 2, 2013)

This shot was hand held with IS on, shot raw.  Most likely a tripod with IS off would have given the same results.
I typically shoot wide open unless I'm shooting closeups, flowers or something.  I've been experimenting with smaller apertures but it doesn't seem make any difference.
I've never cleaned the sensor but I've always been impeccable in cleanliness with my equipment.  You never know, of course, so I will follow up with grafxman's suggestion with the sensor kit.  I think I also saw that on one of Kelby's videos and it looked like a good product, easy to use and effective.
The issue seems to be prevalent with all of my lenses, it just seems to be more noticeable with the higher powered lenses.
I used to shoot nothing but high res jpegs but I recently saw the light and started shooting raw. One thing I noticed is images seem to be a bit sharper once I started shooting raw, but not by much.
 
A buddy of mine suggested it's because of the smaller sensor on the 50D and a camera with a full frame would make a huge difference.  I might agree with the latter but I've seen plenty of photos made with crop sensor rigs and they still look great.

Thanks for the suggestions, any thoughts on the halo effect?

When I suspected the big lens I rented another same 70-200 f/2.8 to compare with mine and had more or less the same results.  Again, I'm really starting to suspect the camera is the problem and will try giving the sensor a good scrub (so to speak) and the newspaper trick.  If that doesn't seem to improve things I'll send it in to Canon and in the meantime start negotiations with my better half for an upgrade.  :mrgreen:


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## TCampbell (Sep 2, 2013)

The "sensor" itself is like a movie screen... if the image on it is blurry... it's not the screen that's the problem, it's the projector -- or the lens.

BUT... if this is happening with multiple lenses, there is another possibility...

Directly in front of your sensor is a filter (technically there are two filters stacked together but it's not possible to access the rear filter and generally never necessary to do so).  If you've got a haze built-up on the filter then it can scatter the light -- think "frosted glass".  

You could have it professionally cleaned, but if you'd prefer to do it yourself, order:

Eclipse cleaning solution (by Photographic Solutions).  Here's a link to the Amazon page with the product:  Amazon.com: Eclipse Cleaning System Solution: Camera & Photo

Eclipse solution is nearly pure methanol and, as such, it evaporates almost immediately and leaves NO RESIDUE (which is what you want.)  Most every true camera/photography store (not a big box store that happens to sell cameras) will stock the stuff as it's probably the most popular cleaner used.

The same company (Photographic Solutions) makes the swabs used to clean the sensor.  For an APS-C size sensor you need the "Type 2" size.  Here's the link:  Amazon.com: Sensor Swabs Type 2 (Box of 12): Camera & Photo

Follow directions... you'll put your camera into manual cleaning mode (so it holds the mirror up and shutter open but powers down the sensor).  Put about 2 or 3 drops on the swab.  Swipe across the sensor in just one direction (don't rub back and forth).  Discard the swab (basically they don't want a swab to pick up a piece of dirt and have you dragging it back and forth as that could possible scratch the filter.)  I tend to do a very light swab so there's no pressure to scratch anything.  I use a "sensor scope" (a lighted magnifier that allows me to inspect the surface) to verify there's nothing on it.  If you need to go back again, use a clean swab.

Good luck!


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