some help

[Kilvik]

I am fairly new to the digital world. I have been working on learning the canon 7d. I am using a EF-S canon lens. 18-55. I recently used the auto feature for some quick point and shoot. It seems that I am unable to get a general focused picture. Can you take a look and recc. some options.

[3bayjunkie]

it looks in focus to me. however if your camera is set to auto aperture there is no telling what you will get. If you want more of the photo in focus you should set your f/stop to f/8 or f/11 for this.

[Kilvik]

It's focused in the front but the two guys on the left side are somewhat blurry. I tried recalibrating it but it didn;t fail any of the calibration tests.

[SwissJon]

By the looks of things, you have depth of field issues, and perhaps some movement blur. It looks like you focused the camera on the front people in the group, so the rear ones went out of focus, it also looks like there's a bit of movement blur on a couple of people in the background.

Unfortunately, without the Exif data, it's impossible to tell you what to adjust, but I'm assuming you're shooting in Auto mode, so there's probably nothing you can adjust.. Post the exif data and we'll give you a more in-depth analysis.

[sk66]

Agree, DOF.
I don't think it's motion blur due to flash being used and softness of pictures in BG.

BTW, your lens/sensor needs cleaned too.

[Kilvik]

The lens is a Canon EF-S 18-55, iso 400, 23mm, f / 3.5, 1/60 sec.
It was set on auto. I was just pointing and shooting.

[sk66]

f/3.5 and a working distance of about 6-8 ft..that's the problem.

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by sk66

f/3.5 and a working distance of about 6-8 ft..that's the problem.

+1, you also may have some corner sharpness fallout with that lens, especially at f/3.5

[autofocus]

You may be interested in this little clip from The Digital-Picture.com. It underlines some of the issues you are experiencing.

The Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II Lens is somewhat soft (not sharp) wide open, especially at the longer half of the focal length range. The 18mm corners are extra soft while corners at 55mm are unique to this lens' performance - they are quite sharp wide open. For the most part, if you can shoot at f/5.6 (or f/8 at the long end), this lens does an OK job with image sharpness. The image begins getting softer at f/11 - this is not unusual as diffraction begins to affect image quality at this point.

Link to rest of review:
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II Lens Review

[3bayjunkie]

thats why i said to put it on f/8 or f/11