Help Me with a Close-Up

[spider]

Took this photo a couple of days ago on my back deck from about 6 feet with RebelXT and my new Sigma 70-300 APO macro lens. Shot this late in the day at 1/25 @ f5.6 using a tripod and wireless remote. Full 300mm zoom. Focused as carefully as possible on the Manual Focus mode.

Picture still looks soft. Any suggestions as to technique, or is that Sigma lens just soft, particularly at 300mm?

Thanks

[Nappalonia]

Picture still looks soft. Any suggestions as to technique, or is that Sigma lens just soft, particularly at 300mm?

ThanksI just orderd that lens Thursday:): and I just read a review that said it is indeed soft at 300, best at around 250 stopped down a bit. I'd like to some suggestions too, all I can find are pictures.

I can't wait to play with it:thumb

[Steve Cavigliano]

Spider,

This lens may be soft at full tele. Many zooms are softer at the extremes :dunno Especially the most affordable zooms.

Or, there may have been a slight breeze. 1/25 is pretty slow and those webs move very easily. Even if you just walk by too close to them. So maybe this was the issue.

I'd definitely try it out at 250mm's or so and see if you wind up with sharper results.

Steve

[tmlphoto]

A tele zoom isn't going to perform as well fully zoomed, especially at f/5.6. Part of the softness is limited depth of field. Try again stopping down to f/11 at less of a focal length. Try to get near the minimum focusing distance of the lens so your focal length is shorter. You might want to try mirror lockup depending on what your shutter speed turns out to be. Hope this helps.

I have seen that spider before :)
http://tmlphoto.smugmug.com/photos/24924613-S.jpg

[wxwax]

I wouldn't be in a hurry to blame the lens.

1/ You tried manual focus with an XT? Not easy to get right.

2/ 1/25th is really slow at 300mm, any slight shift in your subject will blur.

3/ How close were you? Nothing looks in focus. Might you have been too close?

[spider]

Thanks for the comments, several good points to consider for my next attempt.


George

[spider]

Thanks for the comments, several good points to consider for my next attempt.


George
I hope this doesn't violate the rules, but I've practiced a little with the Sigma 70-300. I couldn't find another spider on my porch to shoot, but I saw this fella about 20 feet off my back deck raiding our bird feeder, and set the camera and lens up on the tripod. Shot this at the lens' midrange, 168.0 mm, shutter at 1/15 sec at f5.0. This looks somewhat sharper than my earlier effort, but I'd appreciate some of you with better eyes taking a look.

Thanks

[eye-max]

I hope this doesn't violate the rules, but I've practiced a little with the Sigma 70-300. I couldn't find another spider on my porch to shoot, but I saw this fella about 20 feet off my back deck raiding our bird feeder, and set the camera and lens up on the tripod. Shot this at the lens' midrange, 168.0 mm, shutter at 1/15 sec at f5.0. This looks somewhat sharper than my earlier effort, but I'd appreciate some of you with better eyes taking a look.

Thanks
1/15 of a sec is pretty slow to be capturing wildlife perched on a slender metal rod. The slightest bit of wind or movement and the subject will blur. Try to keep faster shutter speeds when shooting animated subjects. When zoomed the slightest movement is exagerated. Don't despair, shoot a static object and you'll be rewarded with sharpness and that should ease your mind about the quality of the detail. Were you making your meter happy with the 1/15 & F5.0 setting? Try a shutter speed of 1/90 or quicker. Faster shutter speeds have a better chance of freezing motion.

[spider]

1/15 of a sec is pretty slow to be capturing wildlife perched on a slender metal rod. The slightest bit of wind or movement and the subject will blur. Try to keep faster shutter speeds when shooting animated subjects. When zoomed the slightest movement is exagerated. Don't despair, shoot a static object and you'll be rewarded with sharpness and that should ease your mind about the quality of the detail. Were you making your meter happy with the 1/15 & F5.0 setting? Try a shutter speed of 1/90 or quicker. Faster shutter speeds have a better chance of freezing motion.
Thanks for the input, but f5.0 was the max aperture for that lens in the available light, so 1/15 was the quickest shutter speed the RebelXT could come up with at ISO 100. I guess I could have gone to an ISO 400 or more when I'm shooting in the shawdows like that.

Thanks again.

[pathfinder]

1/15 of a sec is pretty slow to be capturing wildlife perched on a slender metal rod. The slightest bit of wind or movement and the subject will blur. Try to keep faster shutter speeds when shooting animated subjects. When zoomed the slightest movement is exagerated. Don't despair, shoot a static object and you'll be rewarded with sharpness and that should ease your mind about the quality of the detail. Were you making your meter happy with the 1/15 & F5.0 setting? Try a shutter speed of 1/90 or quicker. Faster shutter speeds have a better chance of freezing motion.
:agree Indeed, 1/15th of a second is just about the worst shutter speed to use, because without mirror lock up, the vibrations from the mirror slap are most notable about 1/8th or 1/15th sec. I try to avoid these exposure times unless I am desiring camera movement as an element of the shot. Only the very finesst long teles will be good at their max aperature also - 2 stops smaller than the max aperature will usually be the sweet spot for sharpness of most lenses.
Sounds like flash was needed for more light here.

[Steve Cavigliano]

Hey Spider,

Remember that these sort of cameras do really well at higher ISO settings. With slower lenses, or narrow apertures, you will need to embrace ISO400 and ISO800. Say it with me, "ISO800 is my friend"...lol

Seriously, you need fast shutter speeds for 2 reasons. One, to make sure the speed is at least the reciprocal of the focal length you are using (IS not-with-standing) to ensure you can handhold with no camera shake. So 300mm non-IS focal length on a 1.6 camera says your speed should be 1/500, or so, for handholding. Second, these animals move and the faster your speed, the better chance you have of freezing their motion.

Even if you are using a tripod, as PF points out, there is a band of speeds that are difficult to use without locking up the mirror. Unless you are shooting a deep DOF shot, I'd suggest trying for a speed of 1/500 or faster when shooting birds or aninmals. IMO, higher shutter speeds are also good to use when handholding and shooting macros.

After a steady hand, fast shutter speeds contribute most towards sharp images, IMO :clap

Sorry for the preaching :rolleyes but I think you will be much happier with a sharp ISO800 shot than a soft ISO200 shot :dunno Plus, you'll seldom see the noise (from using ISO800) in an 800x600 webshot, or in an 8x10 print :D

Steve