# T2i Soft pictures????



## janeJ (Oct 17, 2011)

So I own the XT, XTI and just recently got the T2i. They all have the kit lenses. with the t2i For some reason my pictures appear soft and I get more blurry ones while working events than I do w/ my old XT. I tried changing the lenses around, using a 550 flash, using the built in flash... I usually set it on the general green square setting. I have shot at Mfine, Lfine and raw and most of the images are not worth blowing up over 8x10... from what i understand at 18 mega pixels it should be sharp at 6 feet tall..... so any ideas.... ??  I have a friend that owns a Xsi and all her pictures are soft too..


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## gsgary (Oct 17, 2011)

Forget about green square, and learn how to take control because your camera is adjusting the settings and not you. It is all user error why do people always blame the camera ?


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## Big Mike (Oct 17, 2011)

janeJ said:


> So I own the XT, XTI and just recently got the T2i. They all have the kit lenses. with the t2i For some reason my pictures appear soft and I get more blurry ones while working events than I do w/ my old XT. I tried changing the lenses around, using a 550 flash, using the built in flash... I usually set it on the general green square setting. I have shot at Mfine, Lfine and raw and most of the images are not worth blowing up over 8x10... from what i understand at 18 mega pixels it should be sharp at 6 feet tall..... so any ideas.... ??  I have a friend that owns a Xsi and all her pictures are soft too..


9 times out of 10, it's user error.

Can you show us some examples of the blurry shots your getting?


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## janeJ (Oct 17, 2011)

i uploaded a picture from insert image button and I am not sure how to post it ??


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## Big Mike (Oct 17, 2011)

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...15-how-do-i-do-pictorial-guide-using-tpf.html


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## janeJ (Oct 17, 2011)

ok lets see if this worked


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## janeJ (Oct 17, 2011)

they are not blurry just not as sharp as i would expect from this camera.... and in response to the first poster.. i do use it in other settings, when i have time too... working weddings can be very fast paced....   the last venue gave me 30 minutes to take about 100 different group pictures...


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## Big Mike (Oct 17, 2011)

I can see the photo...but it's too small to make any judgement on sharpness.


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## janeJ (Oct 17, 2011)

yeah the tutorial had me add it in using photo bucket..that's what it gave me... basically whne u zoom in they are soft looking around faces etc... some arevery sharp.. most soft... u would not notice at 5x7..


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## janeJ (Oct 17, 2011)

I also read on another forum that the 18-55 kit lenses just are not doing the newer canon cameras proper justice...  but i really would not know what lens to buy to optimize my cameras abilities..


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## nickzou (Oct 17, 2011)

It's probably a lens issue. I had similar problems with the kit lens on my XT a year ago. I would have to stop it down to f11 before I got anything "sharp".


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## Tomasko (Oct 17, 2011)

Give us some real details, not this. This is useless and too small for any real judgment. What are your exposure settings? What are your picture style settings? What is your PP?
Dunno what do you expect us to see from a 300x200 image.


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## Bitter Jeweler (Oct 17, 2011)

You shoot weddings?


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## janeJ (Oct 17, 2011)

calm down Tomasko... i new to this forum as of a few hours ago and don't know how to upload a bigger picture.. i'm working on it


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## janeJ (Oct 17, 2011)

bitter- yes..as of last weekend 32 i have shot so far.. i have one booked every weekend for ever pretty much...


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## Bitter Jeweler (Oct 17, 2011)

Neat!

Oh, and if you are new to photobucket, it may auto resize the image smaller, and you can change the default to whatever size you what, including "Original"


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## Tomasko (Oct 17, 2011)

janeJ said:


> calm down Tomasko... i new to this forum as of a few hours ago and don't know how to upload a bigger picture.. i'm working on it


I can assure you I'm 100% calm janeJ  However, I still can't see any details. You could at least provide us a little bit more info while you're figuring out the forum


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## janeJ (Oct 17, 2011)

details- 1/80s  f4.0  focal length 18.o iso 800

bitter- yeah photo bucket is telling me i have to go pro if i want to change the size they upload..bastards... let me pull one up on my smug mug i pay for...


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## Tomasko (Oct 17, 2011)

janeJ said:


> details- 1/80s  f4.0  focal length 18.o iso 800
> 
> bitter- yeah photo bucket is telling me i have to go pro if i want to change the size they upload..bastards... let me pull one up on my smug mug i pay for...


and picture style? PP? How did you sharpen your image?


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## janeJ (Oct 17, 2011)

My Smug Mug - SummerfordPhotography's Photos


i think it looks soft around the priest face and the grooms head.. will try and post another.. smug mug is on the fritz.....  i took 1770 pix that day the only info i have is what picasa tells me which is what i use to edit.. i do not use any kind of sharpening??  just color correct, contrast if needed and blk n white... 

every thing else in this albumn was taken w/ an older different camera.. there is one other gallery unlocked becky and tom.. most of there stuff is pretty sharp... i didn't change any settings between weddings.. of coarse being inside a church always sucks for lighting..

1/60s  f/5.o   flength is 41. iso is 1600....


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## janeJ (Oct 17, 2011)

here is another one.. soft around the faces...1/60s fl 30.mm f/4.o   iso 1600
My Smug Mug - SummerfordPhotography's Photos


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## mangtarn (Oct 17, 2011)

this is most likely focusing error. i would stop down to about 8 to 10 to ensure i get (mostly) a sharp focus throughout the scene. and i wouldn't suggest green box when you are using a DSLR because it's no difference from using a point and shoot. (i use av mode on my G12)

the 18-55 kit lens is not very sharp wide open to begin with. I used to have one.


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## janeJ (Oct 17, 2011)

mangtarn said:


> this is most likely focusing error. i would stop down to about 8 to 10 to ensure i get (mostly) a sharp focus throughout the scene. and i wouldn't suggest green box when you are using a DSLR because it's no difference from using a point and shoot. (i use av mode on my G12)
> 
> the 18-55 kit lens is not very sharp wide open to begin with. I used to have one.




i will have to try av.... i like to use p for dark receptions find it works well there, out door pictures are no problem it's these dark inside venues killing me... what lens would you recommend.. i like the focal lengths of the 18-55 for my purposes... something more wide angle that went up to 55 would be nice but sharper..


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## pgriz (Oct 17, 2011)

There are lots of reasons you could be having soft pictures.  Some of them...
1)  focus not at right place due to operator error (wrong point focused on)
2)  focus not at right place due to camera making the focusing decision (camera was allowed to pick the focus location, and picked wrong)
3)  focus not at right place due to either front or back-focusing by camera (needs repair center adjustment)
4)  Sharpness of focus not achievable with lens (soft lens or poor copy of lens)
5)  camera shake (too slow a shutter speed)
6)  motion blur (too slow a shutter speed)
7) DOF too thin to allow all areas of interest to be in focus (aperture too wide)...

I'm sure there are other reasons/causes, but to figure out what the problem is, you need to tackle each possible cause on its own.  For instance, to eliminate camera shake, put the camera on a tripod for test purposes, use a remote trigger, and perhaps even use flash.  To achieve critical focus, use the live-view function on a clearly defined target with lots of detail, using manual focusing.  If this gives you good sharpness, then you know it's not the lens.  Next, set the lens from manual focus to autofocus, select the center point,  and let it focus on the same target you shot earlier.  If the camera's autofocus is working well, you should have exactly the same point in focus.  If not, then the camera is either front- or back-focusing.  If this test passes, then switch the focus selection points to auto and see what it focuses on. Chances are the camera will focus on the brightest or highest contrast or the closest point, which may or may not be the point you wanted the focus on.


By approaching this systematically, you can figure out where the problem is, and address it.


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## mjhoward (Oct 17, 2011)

Since you say that you've used this lens on Canon XT and XTi and got sharp images and are now getting soft images on the t2i, I would suspect that you've reached the resolving limit of the kit lens.  Camera lenses have a limit on what they are able to resolve.  Generally, lens manufacturers test this ability and present the results via an MTF (Modulation Transfer Function) chart which shows how well a lens can preserve contrast between line pairs of a given size.  Your Canon XT and XTi had 8 and 10MP sensors which had a pixel pitch of 6.31µm and 5.62µm.  Your new body, the t2i, is now 18MP with a pixel pitch of 4.17µm.  This is a much smaller spot that the lens has to resolve and apparently it isn't able to very well.

For reference, a pixel pitch of 6.31µm is equal to 79LP/mm and a pixel pitch of 4.17µm is equal to 120LP/mm.  MTF charts supplied by Canon are measured at 10LP/mm and 30LP/mm.


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## jaomul (Oct 18, 2011)

Some default picture styles in the camera are fairly soft, portrait especially to smooth out tones. Disregard if you are using raw files and processing yourself but if you customize a picture style from standard and increase the sharpness a little it might solve your issue.


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## mangtarn (Oct 18, 2011)

janeJ said:


> i will have to try av.... i like to use p for dark receptions find it works well there, out door pictures are no problem it's these dark inside venues killing me... what lens would you recommend.. i like the focal lengths of the 18-55 for my purposes... something more wide angle that went up to 55 would be nice but sharper..



Try shooting with Av and once you are comfortable with that learn to shoot in M. That's when you have true control over your photos.

Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 (non-VC) is my lens of choice here. it is a very good lens for the price. very sharp even wide open. *However I do recommend trying a narrower apature next time before you go out and by a lens. *After all it's not about the gear, it's about you-know-who.


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## Clarke (Oct 18, 2011)

Is anyone else not shocked that the OP is shooting weddings with a Canon T2i + kit lens?

I don't know if it's just me, but I have the same set up as OP (except I have a 430 EX II) and I could not imagine doing weddings.

But I'm sure OP has a reason.


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## mrelsewhere (Oct 18, 2011)

Clarke said:


> Is anyone else not shocked that the OP is shooting weddings with a Canon T2i + kit lens?
> 
> I don't know if it's just me, but I have the same set up as OP (except I have a 430 EX II) and I could not imagine doing weddings.
> 
> But I'm sure OP has a reason.



Agreed. I have the same kit, and I don't think I'd feel comfortable shooting weddings. But then, janeJ's pics aren't that bad.


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## mangtarn (Oct 19, 2011)

mrelsewhere said:


> Agreed. I have the same kit, and I don't think I'd feel comfortable shooting weddings. But then, janeJ's pics aren't that bad.



Let me quote myself.


mangtarn said:


> After all it's not about the gear, it's about you-know-who (*the photographer)*.


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## 2WheelPhoto (Oct 19, 2011)

Throw a truck load of money at the problem. That always fixes things,  right


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## mrelsewhere (Oct 19, 2011)

I was trying to be kind, mangtarn... Sometimes it is about the gear. Which is what the OP is complaining about.


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## mrelsewhere (Oct 19, 2011)

janeJ said:


> So I own the XT, XTI and just recently got the T2i. They all have the kit lenses. with the t2i For some reason my pictures appear soft and I get more blurry ones while working events than I do w/ my old XT. I tried changing the lenses around, using a 550 flash, using the built in flash... I usually set it on the general green square setting. I have shot at Mfine, Lfine and raw and most of the images are not worth blowing up over 8x10... from what i understand at 18 mega pixels it should be sharp at 6 feet tall..... so any ideas.... ??  I have a friend that owns a Xsi and all her pictures are soft too..



janeJ, if you're really serious about getting sharp focused shots, you should experiment with the creative zone on your Rebel and you should learn back button autofocus. Canon DLC: Article: Back-Button Auto Focus Explained

Then invest in a quality lens like the Canon EF 17-55mm f/2.8L or the 24-70mm f/2.8L. As an Amazon reviewer wrote: "It shoots images that are very sharp and have excellent contrast and  saturation.  It's sharp wide open and only gets better when stopping  down.  The USM (Ultrasonic Motor) focuses very fast, and full-time  manual focusing is allowed."


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## Zrock (Oct 20, 2011)

What has been said above open up your Fstop and manually set your focus point. On the second picture that looks like what happened it focused on his face and left hers soft


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## TenaciousTins (Oct 22, 2011)

I have a T1i and I get sharp photos with the 18-55mm kit lens, and a 430EXII flash. And I have shot about 5 or 6 weddings on request of the bride and grooms. I have warned them that I don't have all that fancy equipment. But they love the photos and for what I have the photos have come out well, most of them sharp and clear. It really is about the photographer and not about the gear. Also, knowing how to work your camera and lens inside and out is helpful. Keep trying different things. I couldn't tell you what settings I used because I changed them based on each shot and what I was trying to accomplish.


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## dakkon76 (Oct 22, 2011)

Clarke said:


> Is anyone else not shocked that the OP is shooting weddings with a Canon T2i + kit lens?
> 
> I don't know if it's just me, but I have the same set up as OP (except I have a 430 EX II) and I could not imagine doing weddings.
> 
> But I'm sure OP has a reason.



She didn't come here asking for advice on what venues she should be shooting, nor for opinions regarding whether or not people should pay her for the work she's doing. She came here asking for advice on a specific problem. She identified her problem well, she knew how to address it intelligently, and she seems to be getting plenty of business. Yes, it's consumer grade gear. Apparently she has the confidence to shoot with it, and has enough people happy with her product that she's encouraged to continue.


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## AkiliBunny (Oct 24, 2011)

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