Blurry Photos - 500d

[General Dave]

After a bit of advice from CS photographers..

I'm getting consistently blurry photos from my 500d and i cant figure out why, I'm not a pro with my camera but i'm pretty familiar with it and feel i know the settings fairly well but i'm still struggling with very soft focused pictures, and its frustrating me no end.

I've tried to be methodical about it and tried 3 different lenses - 17-85is - Nifty 50 and my 55-250is - I always shoot in aperture priority with ISO on auto, metering set to evaluative, picture style either standard or portrait and using jpeg not RAW, and still the problem persists.

I've read about upping the sharpness on the picture style but not advised if shooting in jpeg, I don't have any editing software that's why i shoot in jpeg.

I thought abut getting the sensor cleaned but the symptoms of dirty sensor don't really seem conducive with my issues.

Hopefully I've covered everything!
Any advice guys?

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

Any examples?

Have you tried it on both viewfinder and live view?

Did you try on one focus point or all of them? And is it blurry throughout the image?

 

[General Dave]

Any examples?

Have you tried it on both viewfinder and live view?

Did you try on one focus point or all of them? And is it blurry throughout the image?

Hi Aaron,

I've never used the live view, Since posting this it seems there's one setting that i've missed.. the AF metering where you select focus points on the "diamond" for lack of a better term!

Its blurry throughout the image mate, I have examples but I'm at work at the mo but can add some tonight.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Is the Lens on auto or manual

 

[General Dave]

Is the Lens on auto or manual :wink:

haha auto focus and image stabilising is on :tongueclosed:

 

[Typhoon]

As above, see how the images look on LV.

 

[oVerboost.]

Make sure (as already asked) that your lens itself is on Auto.

If your shooting in aperture mode, then you need to control the ISO setting, do not leave it on Auto. If you have a tripod (if you don't, get one) then your best of using the lowest ISO which would be 100. This will take longer to take the photo, but will draw in the most detail, resulting in zero grain etc. If it's at night, this is what a "long exposure" photo is, as it will take a set time to process and take the photo itself. If your shooting in the daytime, then photo will be taken a lot quicker, and you can also use an ISO up to about 400 to keep all the detail, sharpness and quality in the photo. The reason you need a tripod for low light and low ISO photos is to stop the blur you get (movement) because no matter how steady your hand is, it's not steady enough!

Metering setting you should also set to matrix metering to start with until your comfortable with the other settings, this will give you largest area when taking the photo.

Use RAW files, these are ultimately better than letting the camera create a JPEG, but you will need photoshop or something equally as good to process the photo and edit the settings etc (if your not comfortable, buy the idiots guide to photoshop - can be a very useful read, and I'm not implying anyone is an idiot lol).

The other thing to ensure is that your lens itself is clean, not just wiped over with the end of your sleeve as if rain water or anything similar has got onto it, there can be oils and all sorts on it which can create a blurry image.

If anyone needs any advice for photography for their specific camera / settings etc then I'm happy if you want to drop me a message and I'll try and help pick some settings that should enable you to at least get started and be comfortable with your camera, the lighting, the object your shooting etc.

 

[General Dave]

Im not sure i follow @Typhoon .. They look OK on the LCD screen but once i import them to my laptop they look blurry.

 

[Typhoon]

What are you opening the images in on your PC? Windows photo viewer or whatever? Also, check monitor settings etc. Your monitor will open the images at a much larger magnification than the LCD screen on your camera.

 

[oVerboost.]

Shoot in a low ISO if using a tripod, if not choose 400 if lighting is decent - the blurry element is from the slight movement of the camera between pressing the button to shoot the photo, and the shutter closing. Lower ISO's tend to generally work with a slower shutter speed to draw in more light etc. Using a higher ISO (I tend not to use much over 400, 800 if really desperate but this introduces "noise" which is what makes photos look grainy and crap).

 

[General Dave]

What are you opening the images in on your PC? Windows photo viewer or whatever? Also, check monitor settings etc. Your monitor will open the images at a much larger magnification than the LCD screen on your camera.

Yeah whatever program is installed on windows 10 mate, OK I'll have a look at some recommended settings for my laptop screen as well.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Post some examples.

Use flickr.

 

[General Dave]

Shoot in a low ISO if using a tripod, if not choose 400 if lighting is decent - the blurry element is from the slight movement of the camera between pressing the button to shoot the photo, and the shutter closing. Lower ISO's tend to generally work with a slower shutter speed to draw in more light etc. Using a higher ISO (I tend not to use much over 400, 800 if really desperate but this introduces "noise" which is what makes photos look grainy and crap).

The reason to post this was yesterday, My wife & I and our daughter went out for the day, Bright sunny day well lit outside and i was snapping pictures of my daughter, trees/landscapes etc, some deer (that were laying down) and none of them came out sharp what so ever.

 

[General Dave]

Post some examples.

Use flickr.

I need to make an account mate, I'll do it, I've been meaning to do it.

 

[oVerboost.]

The reason to post this was yesterday, My wife & I and our daughter went out for the day, Bright sunny day well lit outside and i was snapping pictures of my daughter, trees/landscapes etc, some deer (that were laying down) and none of them came out sharp what so ever.

What settings did you/do you have the camera on? List down ISO / Metering and to make it easier what "F" number you have it on? Should be displayed as f5 f5.6 f4.2 etc...

 

[General Dave]

What settings did you/do you have the camera on? List down ISO / Metering and to make it easier what "F" number you have it on? Should be displayed as f5 f5.6 f4.2 etc...

I was shooting in aperture priority, I always aim for the lowest f-stop possible (no reason why but i always do it) ISO on auto & evaluative metering

 

[Addicted]

Sounds to me like shutter speed is too low and you need a tripod to take said photos in the conditions you are taking them in

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

I was shooting in aperture priority, I always aim for the lowest f-stop possible (no reason why but i always do it) ISO on auto & evaluative metering

Bright sunshine ?

Sunny 16 !

Bet you were shooting at f/4 or bigger and its just missed the focus point.

I always shoot in point focus as the auto just guesses.

Anyway .. post some pics up and leave the info on the image so we can interrogate

 

[General Dave]

Sounds to me like shutter speed is too low and you need a tripod to take said photos in the conditions you are taking them in

Not arguing or anything, but surely i don't need to take my tripod out on a bright sunny day to get a sharp picture?

 

[Addicted]

Not arguing or anything, but surely i don't need to take my tripod out on a bright sunny day to get a sharp picture?

Sunny or dark - if your shutter speed is too high it wont make a difference :smile: it'll be blurry from you shaking as it takes the shot.

I'm assuming it wouldn't be that on a bright sunny day, but without info of shutter speed we can't tell. Upload some of them to Flickr

 

[General Dave]

Sunny or dark - if your shutter speed is too high it wont make a difference :smile: it'll be blurry from you shaking as it takes the shot.

I'm assuming it wouldn't be that on a bright sunny day, but without info of shutter speed we can't tell. Upload some of them to Flickr

OK :up: I've just created an account on flickr so i'll upload some pics tonight.

 

[oVerboost.]

Try shooting in f5.6 or even 7.1 to help the camera out when there's lots of light. Regardless of what settings your using, I would say NEVER let the camera choose the ISO.

 

[General Dave]

Try shooting in f5.6 or even 7.1 to help the camera out when there's lots of light. Regardless of what settings your using, I would say NEVER let the camera choose the ISO. :smile:

Ok mate cool, As per usual this forum has been hugely helpful, I'll pop some pics up later on Flickr for you guys to dissect!!

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

I wouldn't worry about making sure you shoot at ISO 100 at the time being. Shutter speed is key at this moment for figuring out the blurry-ness.

I shoot night scenes at 5000 iso and the foreground is generally sharp so for a day time scene in bright sunlight, the iso will be the last of your worries imo.

 

[General Dave]

Morning all, Thanks for your input yesterday and I apologise I didn't get time last night to put the pics on flickr but a mate of mine who's handy with a camera ( http://www.dzecp.com/ ) came over to see me and we ran through some things on my camera and he agrees with what some of you have said that it mainly looks like miss focus on my part, The AF point was set smack in the bottom centre of the "diamond" so it looks quite simply like it was focusing on something i didn't want it to!! for example we were looking through my pics and grass in the foreground was in focus, or my daughters jacket or her shoes etc

I've never had this problem before with it and don't know how/when the AF point was changed.. but now i can move on and I've learnt a bit more about the camera!

And i need to practice practice practice.

Thanks again to @Aaron.. @oVerboost. @Addicted @TheEvilGiraffe @Typhoon :up:

 

[oVerboost.]

Sweet, glad you managed to sort it and it wasn't anything too tricky.