[tws1098]

Hey guys,

So I'm a bit down in the dumps here, looking for a bit of advice. I feel that no matter what I do, many of my pictures lack the sharpness they should have and shooting just hasn't been fun.

I would blame myself, however, I have not had this issue using my brother in laws Canon SL1, among other cameras... Am off which seem quicker and quieter compared to my k50. And images look great whether it's in auto, aperture priority, or full manual.

It almost feels like I bought a dud, does this actually happen?

I currently have the k50 with 18-50 kit lens, Pentax 55-200 DA, Pentax 50/1.8, and a manual 50/1.4.
With all the lenses, AF is super loud, slow, and twitchy. Pictures often look soft or noisy in all different shooting modes. This has me looking at buying either a different lens or another body, k3 maybe. It doesn't seem others are having this issue and it makes me feel like a crap photographer anytime I shoot. I love photography and all that goes with it, I am certain a level of it can be blamed on me, but using other cameras and getting better results is a bit frustrating.

I appreciate constructive criticism or suggestions and welcome any questions. O, and I typically shoot raw but have gone full auto jpeg, manual with jpeg, and scenes with jpeg trying to nail down this issue.

[UncleVanya]

Get a focus chart and test the system. Perferably one you can check front and back focus with.

[VoiceOfReason]

For the noisy AF you need to get Pentax lenses with DC or SDM or Sigma lenses with HSM. Probably the cheapest would be the Pentax DA18-135 WR. It is decently sharp too.

One other thing, try your shot in both live view and through your viewfinder, both on the same subject from teh same distance. Let us know what your result is.

[Kath]

Since you're apparently using the same techniques with the borrowed Cannon and getting the kinds of results you want, my guess is that something's amiss with the K50. Others can chime in with possibilities of how to find and fix the problem, but I have three of the four lenses you mentioned and, when I use good technique and high shutter speeds, have gotten some great photos with those lenses and my K50. It may help if you can post some photos here with notes on what you DID do.

PS: We've all felt your pain. It'll get better, one way or the other.

[tws1098]

Thanks a lot everyone. I will look into the focus chart (did not know about this). And I really never use live view, so I'll check that out too.

I assumed the noise was just the lenses, so that's good to know. I was considering dumping my two zooms for an 18-135 or something similar. I'll take any suggestions (under $600 would be nice).

[VoiceOfReason]

For what you have as far as zooms go you could get both the 18-135 and 55-300 in the 600 dollar budget, have WR with both, and better quality.

[tws1098]

Yeah I would like to have WR (big reason I liked the k50 to start with). I'll look into those two.

[UncleVanya]

The 55-300 is on sale. Check the pricewatch section for details.

[ramseybuckeye]

Fair Warning, while the 55-300 is a good lens, it has a slow and loud autofocus, unless that has completely changed with the WR version.

The 50/1.8 is a decent lens, though the autofocus is loud it should be relatively quick. The reason live view was suggested is that it uses a different type of autofocus and that could nail down your problem. If possible do your focus testing on a tripod.

Also if you could post a couple of the photos in this thread (with EXIF intact) someone here may spot a problem in the settings.

[Murfy]

Fair Warning, while the 55-300 is a good lens, it has a slow and loud autofocus, unless that has completely changed with the WR version.

I have the WR version, it is very loud and yes slow

Hey guys,

So I'm a bit down in the dumps here, looking for a bit of advice. I feel that no matter what I do, many of my pictures lack the sharpness they should have and shooting just hasn't been fun.

I would blame myself, however, I have not had this issue using my brother in laws Canon SL1, among other cameras... Am off which seem quicker and quieter compared to my k50. And images look great whether it's in auto, aperture priority, or full manual.

It almost feels like I bought a dud, does this actually happen?

I currently have the k50 with 18-50 kit lens, Pentax 55-200 DA, Pentax 50/1.8, and a manual 50/1.4.
With all the lenses, AF is super loud, slow, and twitchy. Pictures often look soft or noisy in all different shooting modes. This has me looking at buying either a different lens or another body, k3 maybe. It doesn't seem others are having this issue and it makes me feel like a crap photographer anytime I shoot. I love photography and all that goes with it, I am certain a level of it can be blamed on me, but using other cameras and getting better results is a bit frustrating.

I appreciate constructive criticism or suggestions and welcome any questions. O, and I typically shoot raw but have gone full auto jpeg, manual with jpeg, and scenes with jpeg trying to nail down this issue.

You aren't the only one with this issue, I too have issues like you describe and it is frustrating. I have the K-3, and I have a nikon d200 with sigma 18-250mm lens, so I tend to get more grainy looking photos with the K3, either I got a bum camera or I did something to it, because I don't recall it being this bad when I first got the camera.

I did a lot of testing and my camera always focuses better with live view. It always nails it, no matter what. It does not with autofocus and I am not sure what the issue is because it doesn't seem to be front/back focus issues. I think I dropped it and it must have thrown something off? I have been plodding through trying to figure out the issue because I fear if I send it off without something precise, they will check it and say it looks good. It is very frustrating because I feel like I should be able to figure it out. I have had a lot of suggestions, but I try them and it doesn't seem to fix things.

I took photography classes all through high school and it was my major in college, bachelor of fine art degree in photography, so I understand the basics of how to use many cameras and different format cameras, so not being able to figure out how to get a decent shot with this camera really irks me. I am convinced it is something really super easy setting that I can change, but as of yet, haven't figured it out. I say that because I get better shots with my manual lens

[dakight]

I can tell you from experience that if you don't like the noisy screw-drive autofocus, you will hate the 55-300. I sent mine back and got an 18-270 and I ma much happier with it. It is sharp from end to end and utterly, eerily silent. I am a believer in lenses with built in focusing motors. You will find that if you let your iso range up a bit and keep your shutter speed faster you will have better results. You can deal with the additional noise in post processing. Shake reduction helps with camera shake but it does nothing for subject motion. If you use a tripod be sure the SR is turned off or it will introduce motion blur that wouldn't otherwise be there. Stopping down helps with depth of field and overall sharpness but of course it also works again the goal of keeping the shutter fast. You'll have to find a sweet spot that give you the best compromise between the two. With many lenses the image will tend to be softer if the lens is wide open. Other than these things, it is practice, practice, practice.

[Sliver-Surfer]

Can you post a picture ? That would help diagnose

[CarlJF]

You aren't the only one with this issue, I too have issues like you describe and it is frustrating. I have the K-3, and I have a nikon d200 with sigma 18-250mm lens, so I tend to get more grainy looking photos with the K3, either I got a bum camera or I did something to it, because I don't recall it being this bad when I first got the camera.

Actually, it seems Nikon uses a much more agressive noise reduction system. And you can find Nikon users complaining for the reverse reason: their images are too smooth right off the camera...

For the rest, I think everybody should check their lenses for front/back focus issues and microadjust accordingly. This can make a big difference! You can do the 45° ruler test or check this article to get reapidly through it with the "moire pattern" method: Checking for front/back focus and fine-tuning camera autofocus. It took me about 30 minutes to check and adjust five lenses with this last method...

[C_Jones]

A simple test might be to put the camera in TAV mode, AF point to Center, Metering mode to Spot (center), an F stop between F9 and F13, and a shutter speed of 320. Try that with some still signs, buildings, or perched birds. If you have something fast moving like a bird (example seagulls), F8 and 1000 shutter speed would be effective. The F stop could be adjusted for your light, and if you wanted you could boost or dim your light a little with EV compensation (ex. + .3 or - .3). Also, obviously the Pentax cameras are capable of clearly focused images if the settings are right, just as other brands of cameras are. If I were you and were interested in effective shooting with a little bit more advanced capability, especially with a camera that has an LCD screen on the top of the body to perform settings changes on the go, I would opt for the K-5IIS or K-3II models which are going to show you output. The settings I mentioned above are generally very effective, and your K-50, if not damaged should show you results with effective settings. But having the LCD will enable your routine to handle different situations quickly and learn from that experience. I shoot JPEG and RAW. If I were you I would include JPEG. As someone else has already mentioned, the Pentax SDM and Sigma HSM lenses have silent autofocus.

[narual]

Do you have the problem with manual focus, too, though? How about LiveView? Focus adjustment only applies to the viewfinder AF, not live view.

In the custom menu - I think it's C3 - there should be a "reset" option which you can use to reset any settings you might have changed back to the default. do that.


Put it on a tripod, turn off shake reduction. Use your 50/1.8. Set itthe camera to "natural" color, RAW+JPG, low ISO (100-400), f/5.6, and light your target object well. Use Aperture priority or manual. Use a remote or the timed photo function, focus through live view with focus peaking turned on, zoom in to adjust via MF if you need to. Take the picture. Zoom in on the picture and see if it has the same details you saw in live view. Import it to your computer and see if it has the same problems you're experiencing with normal usage.

If it does - what software are you using for importing and reviewing images? Does it have any settings on import (in Lightroom, those can be camera-specific, so using a different camera would not necessarily have the same import settings applied)? clear any settings that were applied on import and view the straight-out-of-camera image - see if that's better. You can compare the JPG in the default image viewer for your computer and the raw file in the import software to see any differences there.

Also: Could you be confusing contrast and vivid color with sharpness? Canons seem to me to have a punchier default color setting, which isn't really relevant when you're shooting raw, but it does affect what you see on the screen and any JPGs you create.