IQ issues

[garry1366]

Hi I recently made the jump up from a Canon S2 with 1.5 converter to a 30D with 300 f4 IS + 1.4 converter. Problem is I've yet to get a shot I'd consider a keeper, or for that matter one that is anywhere near as good as I'd get from the S2, nothing is coming out sharp and won't take any zooming/cropping before quality drops right off. I've gone through the settings with Chris Galvin so I know everything should be ok, I'll post a few images and see if anyone has any suggestions.

Whinchat is without converter at 100 iso in good light

Oh nearly forgot the body was secondhand but the lens and converter were new.

G

[garry1366]

Siskin with converter @ iso 200 in duller conditions but still getting 320/s.

Both birds were @ 15-20 feet distance. Files are resized but not cropped or adjusted.

G

[garry1366]

Common Gulls without converter in very bright light can't remeber but about 1600-2000/s shutter at iso 200

[Chris Galvin]

Gary,

I have had a look at your images as you have posted them here in BF and to be honest there is nothing drastically wrong with the images.

Common Gulls

According to the EXIF info taken at 1/2500 with spot metering on a bright and sunny day. They seem to be exposed correctly I would really don't see an issue with the quality of that image. Considering that you are using Aperture Priority and two white birds on a grey background I think that you have done well. What I have done Is corpped your image to 600 x 400 @ 72 dpi and tweaked the levels a little and sharpened a tad too, nothing drastic.

Siskin

What is annoying about this image is the horrible gravel in the shot and because of the shallow depth of field at f5.6 it is blurred but there is a lot of digital noise associated with the gravel. I have attached a 600x400 @ 72 dpi and cropped out a lot of the foreground gravel and again tweaked the levels a little

Whinchat

Perhaps a little over exposed this one Garry. From the file posted on BF I have again cropped it and tweaked the levels but this image does not really take the edits too well. If you want too and of course if you have a braodband connection where you are then email me the RAW files and I will have another look at the images for you using different software to that that you use.

Not easy this photography lark is it, and damn frustrating at time too. Keep practising.

[garry1366]

Hmm now I am confused, I'm wondering if it's my monitor because to my eye they really are soft! I'll send you the original files Chris.

Cheers
G

[RJL2005]

Hi Gary,

As Chris says its practise, practise, read up a bit, then more practise! I started about three years ago and I think my photography has improved slowly since then. Its frustrating and at times bl***y annoying and I've still away to go until I feel I can compare to many who post here. However I enjoy it and to me that is what matters most.
Keep at it and post your results, ask for critique, folks on here will offer advice. Your gallery will improve over time and you will be able to look back and see that.

Good luck!

Rhod

[garry1366]

[quote=RJL2005;1507793]Hi Gary,

As Chris says its practise, practise, read up a bit, then more practise! I started about three years ago and I think my photography has improved slowly since then. Its frustrating and at times bl***y annoying and I've still away to go until I feel I can compare to many who post here. However I enjoy it and to me that is what matters most.
Keep at it and post your results, ask for critique, folks on here will offer advice. Your gallery will improve over time and you will be able to look back and see that.

Good luck!

Cheers for e words of encouragement! Trouble is I seem to have taken a massive step back from equipment that cost a fraction as much, I don't expect to get amazing results everytime but both with the S2 and when I used to digiscscope my results were pretty good so although I know I have a lot to learn the basic understanding and technique is still there. To make it worse a mate just got the same lens but a 40D and is getting good shots straight away and before he was useless with any camera!!!!

[Chris Galvin]

Gary,

I have had a go at the Whinchat and not too much wrong with the image at all. I opened up the CR2 file in Breeze Browser Pro because I prefer that convertor to the crap Canon DPP

According to BB Pro the sharpness on the camera is set to zero, I know what I said earlier but can't remember if my 20D & 10 had in-camera sharpening. The more I think of it the more I am conviced that they both had a sliding scale of 1-7 in degrees of sharpness. Any way I altered the sharpness on the CR2 file to '3' and I also reduced the exposure by 0.1 of a stop and converted to a 16bit TIFF angain It was sharpend a little more in CS3. Setting 17, 0.9 & 0 threshold cropped it then resized it to 6x4 at 300dpi, a copy of which I will email to you. Below is posted a lo-res version of my edit and before that is your original file that you posted here in the thread. See what you think.

[JohnZ]

I did originally think that there was not too much wrong with your pics. I would not worry too much about your 30D either as I believe it may be the last of the xxD series that operates correctly with a TC ?

[Nikon Kid]

I don't want to put a mocker on things, but I think the the 3 shots lacked colour and brightness, this is just from my point a view, or am I being too harsh.

[AC/DC]

Personally, for 3 unedited images they look fine. The whinchat doesn't seem overexposed to me. I think 1/250th of a second is a bit too risky for 420mm - ISO 400 on a 30D shouldn't be a problem at all, so If I were you I'd bump the ISO up. It's a similar story for the other 2 shots; try a higher ISO to increase the shutter speed and help get rid of the possibility of motion blur causing the shots to appear soft.

[JohnZ]

Yes I suspect you are Terry. Especially if you look at that which Chris has done with the pics.

[ikw101]

Just a thought Garry next time you're out in reasonably good light try a few shots at 1/1000 with IS switched off and the TC removed. If you can stop down to f7.1 even better. This should give you a a better illustration of what the camera and lens are capable of.

[gazpic]

[quote=RJL2005;1507793]Hi Gary,

To make it worse a mate just got the same lens but a 40D and is getting good shots straight away and before he was useless with any camera!!!!

Could just be that this at last has identified a mayor issue..... your eyes !! (big yellow smiley thing that I dont know how to insert)
They look fine to my untrained eye mate, no different to the results Im getting really. Perhaps us novices are spoilt by the fantastic shots that are so readily available & now can understand the time, effort, skill & touch of luck that goes into em.... that and being 20 yards closer than digiscopers !!!!!!!!! :-)

Chris
Are you aware of any free downloadable converters better than DPP, or would you recommend getting the wallet out again. DPP seems easy to use if not a little basic. Miss not having a full screen preview though to weed out the many crap shots.

[Chris Galvin]

Gareth,

Breeze Browser Pro is a free download for a trial version but will oly preview about 12 images in the trial version I think. I like the interface of this software and prefer to the Canon or even Adobe Bridge and think that it is worth the money

[GYRob]

I don't want to put a mocker on things, but I think the the 3 shots lacked colour and brightness, this is just from my point a view, or am I being too harsh.

im with you on this , iv had a go at a shot hopefully its better
Rob.

[Chris Galvin]

im with you on this , iv had a go at a shot hopefully its better
Rob.

Too much of a colour boost/saturation for me I'm afraid

[garry1366]

Just a thought Garry next time you're out in reasonably good light try a few shots at 1/1000 with IS switched off and the TC removed. If you can stop down to f7.1 even better. This should give you a a better illustration of what the camera and lens are capable of.

At the risk of sounding really ignorant can someone explain this to me please!

G

[Nikon Kid]

At the risk of sounding really ignorant can someone explain this to me please!

G

I think basically hes telling you to up your speed, if i had of done the shot it would need to be at 1/500 handheld or leaning on something or oneclick down
from 1/500 if not enough light lift the ISO up to get better speed. Or get your jungle gear on paint your face camo, I now only go out in Camo gear
hat trousers top., it does get you that bit closer. (No I dont paint my face but if i did it would look better) :t:

[garry1366]

I think basically hes telling you to up your speed, if i had of done the shot it would need to be at 1/500 handheld or leaning on something or oneclick down
from 1/500 if not enough light lift the ISO up to get better speed. Or get your jungle gear on paint your face camo, I now only go out in Camo gear
hat trousers top., it does get you that bit closer. (No I dont paint my face but if i did it would look better) :t:
Righto cheers couldn't understand why I should use it with IS turned off, it just seemed a bit, well, defeating the object!

G

[Chris Galvin]

At 250th you should still be ok for most shots Garry as that lens has a 3-stop IS system as long as you take all reasonable efforts to minimise shake. Feet at shoulder width and elbows tucked into chest etc, etc.

[garry1366]

Hi Chris,
Did some more comparison shots on Sat with Gareths and my body and my lens, then his lens with both bodies and they looked much softer with my body. They were tripod mounted IS swithed off and same camera settings. Then we went to Bempton and my results are pretty sharp!!!! I'm totally confused it was really sunny by then and I'm now wondering if it's that the faster shutter is hiding my poor technique?????

G

[AC/DC]

Garry,

I think to begin with, you should effectively ignore I.S. I know that sounds really stupid, but it will encourage you to develop a good handholding technique - you still need this with I.S. It's no good seeing that you have 1/250th and thinking that I.S will do all the work, if you know what I mean.
And don't be afraid to step up the ISO to 400 or 800 - the 30d can handle that - it will help take camera shake out of the equation.