Soft pics with 70-300, please help

[avishek24]

Hi,

I use a canon 70-300 IS USM lens along with a canon 450 D but am somehow getting very soft images using it. I wanted to know if there is something wrong that I am doing or here is some setting that I am missing out on. I have provided an example here. Any suggestions/help would be welcome. Thanks!

EXIF Data
Camera - Canon 450D
Fstop - f/10
Exposure - 1/80sec
ISO 400
Focal Length 190 mm

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by avishek24

Hi,

I use a canon 70-300 IS USM lens along with a canon 450 D but am somehow getting very soft images using it. I wanted to know if there is something wrong that I am doing or here is some setting that I am missing out on. I have provided an example here. Any suggestions/help would be welcome. Thanks!

EXIF Data
Camera - Canon 450D
Fstop - f/10
Exposure - 1/80sec
ISO 400
Focal Length 190 mm

The image won't open for me, so, I'll just have to take your word for it. Shooting outdoors in good light you may want to drop your ISO down to it's lowest setting..ISO 100, and compensate with a wider aperture..maybe around f/5.6 - f/8. Many lenses just suck a certain focal lengths and certain f stops, especially these long lenses. You may want to identify these weaker areas of your lens, and try to avoid those settings when and where possible.

[avishek24]

Thanks for your reply Autofocus. I am sorry about the picture not showing up. Not sure what is wrong exactly. The only reason I was shooting at ISO 400 was that the light around was a little low. This was a shot I took of an eagle while on a safari through a forest in Karnataka, India. Are there any particular "weaker areas" of the 70-300 lens that you know of? If you do, please let me know and I'll try and avoid using those settings like you mentioned.

Thanks again!

[RichardTaylor]

Did you have the IS on?

If not I wouldn't be shooting be shooting below 1/400 with at lens or maybe 1/250 if you have a real steady hand and brace yourself..

I own that lens. and normally it is good up to 200+ mm & then it may drop off a bit after that especially at wider apertures.

Here are some examples. All have been sharpened during PPing of the original RAW files.

(1)

Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture f/11
Focal Length 300 mm
ISO Speed 400

(2)

Camera Canon EOS 350D Digital
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture f/5
Focal Length 200 mm
ISO Speed 400

(3) IS would have definately been on.

Camera Canon EOS 350D Digital
Exposure 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 300 mm
ISO Speed 400

(4) IS would have probably been on.


Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture f/8
Focal Length 300 mm
ISO Speed 800

[avishek24]

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

Did you have the IS on?

If not I wouldn't be shooting be shooting below 1/400 with at lens or maybe 1/250 if you have a real steady hand and brace yourself..

Yes, I did have IS on. The problem was that we were sitting inside a bus and the bus was moving while I shot this picture. So that made having a steady hand pretty difficult. Also, this was shot through the front glass of the bus.

Although I shot other pictures too standing still and with IS on but still ended up with pictures that were softer than I would like. So not sure what the issue is.

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by avishek24

Thanks for your reply Autofocus. I am sorry about the picture not showing up. Not sure what is wrong exactly. The only reason I was shooting at ISO 400 was that the light around was a little low. This was a shot I took of an eagle while on a safari through a forest in Karnataka, India. Are there any particular "weaker areas" of the 70-300 lens that you know of? If you do, please let me know and I'll try and avoid using those settings like you mentioned.

Thanks again!

I don't have that lens, so I can't give you specific areas of weakness. You, or others that have that lens will be the best judge of that. If you can find a comprehensive report/lens test for this lens it'll probably tell you the strengths and weaknesses of this lens.

[RichardTaylor]

Did you have a filter on the lens?

[avishek24]

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

Did you have a filter on the lens?

I do have a UV filter on this lens attached, yes.

This is what I found on a site with the review for this lens. Thought I would share.
"The Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens has good center sharpness wide open at the wide end. Center sharpness decreases slightly as the focal length is increased to its weakest at 300mm. The lens becomes soft beyond 200mm. Stopping down improves sharpness somewhat but it is still weakest at 300mm."

source - Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens Review

[avishek24]

Wow, those are some really nice crisp shots you got Richard!

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by avishek24

I do have a UV filter on this lens attached, yes.

This is what I found on a site with the review for this lens. Thought I would share.
"The Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens has good center sharpness wide open at the wide end. Center sharpness decreases slightly as the focal length is increased to its weakest at 300mm. The lens becomes soft beyond 200mm. Stopping down improves sharpness somewhat but it is still weakest at 300mm."

source - Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens Review

There you go, however, Richard's shots with that lens are quite impressive, so, work with it. There's one other possibility, occasionally you can get a bad example (lens) and if it doesn't get better for you after shooting a lot of tests with it you may want to return and replace it.