Canon 300d

[longhornz32]

I have noticed that the sharpness of my photos seem to be getting softer these days. I've had the original 300d for 5 years now and have taken more pictures than I would ever know. Recently I've noticed a softness to all of my pictures regardless of lenses. Could my camera just be getting worn out? Could it be that the autofocus has been damaged? Does the autofocus even happen in camera?

I've brought this up to others locally and they all say I should just shoot in manual. My eyesight really isn't that good and I rely on the autofocus feature to get tack sharpness. Any suggestions? I've never cleaned my sensor as I've heard horror stories but I don't know if it would affect overall softness of pictures.

[inkista]

Could be you knocked the camera's AF out of calibration somehow, if it doesn't matter which lens you're using. It may be time to get the camera serviced or upgraded. When I sent my XT in for repair, they offered me the loyalty program: a refurbed XS or 50D for considerably less than the going rate on a new one.

[Doug Pardee]

Originally Posted by longhornz32

Recently I've noticed a softness to all of my pictures regardless of lenses.

Can you show us some example pictures? It's kind of hard to guess based on "a softness".

Could my camera just be getting worn out?

No, the camera "wearing out" would give more obvious signs. Shutter refusing to operate, autofocus not operating at all, streaks across all of your photos, ERR 99 indications, stuff like that.

Could it be that the autofocus has been damaged? Does the autofocus even happen in camera?

The camera determines what the subject is and how out of focus it is. Then the lens makes the necessary adjustment to correct the focus.

It's certainly possible that the autofocus measurement has gotten out of calibration.

I've never cleaned my sensor as I've heard horror stories but I don't know if it would affect overall softness of pictures.

No, a dirty sensor shows up as fuzzy dark spots that appear in the same place on your photos, mostly when using small apertures (high f-numbers). Most people notice them when they appear in a blue sky like some kind of fuzzy UFO.