canon 60D softness

BlastedGlute

Something I've been noticing about my 60D. The images seem very soft. Very. Even with a Sigma 50mm 1.4, a Canon 17-55mm, Tokina 11-16mm. I'm getting very soft images. I constantly need to post process everything I do and the first place I go to is sharpness. I've just gone through canon 60D sample images online and much to my sadness I'm not getting anywhere near this level of sharpness. I reckon my Sony Alpha 2series was better with the 18-55mm kit lens attached. I cant get hold of the receipt now either It was bought in conns as a gift, what do you think I can/should do?

hbr

BlastedGlute wrote: »

Something I've been noticing about my 60D. The images seem very soft. Very. Even with a Sigma 50mm 1.4, a Canon 17-55mm, Tokina 11-16mm. I'm getting very soft images. I constantly need to post process everything I do and the first place I go to is sharpness. I've just gone through canon 60D sample images online and much to my sadness I'm not getting anywhere near this level of sharpness. I reckon my Sony Alpha 2series was better with the 18-55mm kit lens attached. I cant get hold of the receipt now either It was bought in conns as a gift, what do you think I can/should do?

It would help if you posted a photo as an example. You have some good lenses
so you should be able to take very sharp images. Reset the camera to default
settings, just in case something is screwed up. Take a few shots at f8 to f11
preferably with the camera on a tripod or firm support. If you aren't happy with
the results, post a few here so that we can have a look at them.

Are you shooting JPEG or RAW? Is your image editing or RAW conversion
software doing anything strange to your pictures?

gloobag

It's probably dodgy auto focus to be honest. Your lenses and camera may be slightly out of whack with each other. Recalibration should be covered by your warranty, but the camera and lenses really need to be calibrated together.

If it was me, I'd just bring it back and ask for a replacement and see how you get on. Problem could be your lenses also, but I doubt all three would be out of whack at the same time.

CabanSail

Conns should have a record of the sale, even if you have lost the receipt.

emrys

before you bring it back:

test the camera using a tripod at f8 or higher

What Dof were you shooting at? The sigma 50mm 1.4 is a great lens but your depth of field wide open is only .16 feet at a subject distance of 5 feet - and that can be hard to nail the focus even in good conditions http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

When i started playing around with dslrs my first lens was a nikon 50mm 1.4 D and i was always disappointed about the sharpness wide open. Reading this article opened my eyes : http://robertmitchellphotography.com/demos/dof/dof.html

DougL

Are you shooting in RAW? RAW images always need sharpening in post-processing. In-camera JPEG is sharpened by the camera during conversion to JPEG.

When I first started shooting in RAW, I was convinced there was something wrong with my camera/lens as well because everything was soft out of the camera.

Ricky91t

I know that all cameras have a certain sharpness(well focus) threshold they can be within( when manufactured ) to be sold, and I did notice once moving from a 20D to a 1DMKII that there was a huge difference in sharpness with some lenses(all sigma) except my 50mm which was identical. I think Canon and Nikon has the best quality control for glass and then the rest follow.

Try and meet up with someone else with a 60D and test the lenses on that, See if there's a noticeable difference with all the lenses. If there it then it's probably a 60D issue, where as If one or two lenses are better and others aren't it could well be the sharpness threshold thing.