Lens Correction

SteveB · 01-15-2013, 12:24 PM

I agree with the f8 using the kit lens, it won't be much good below this. The K100D had more sharpening applied in camera than the K-30 I would say. 16MP does tend to show up lens issues much more than 6MP though.

I also had a K100D and I ditched the kit lens within a week as all my shots were like yours and got a Sigma 17-70 which was much better at any aperture. I think you may have been a bit lucky with your kit lens on the K100D. Whether I was fortunate to get an exceptional copy of the Sigma or not I don't know but it works fine on my K-30 and can match my 35/2.4 prime in every respect apart from size and widest available aperture, although 17mm needs closing to f4 to be sharp, 24mm and up is fine wide open. It's a good buy if you want to upgrade.

As for improving what you have now, I would try RAW if you can, I can't believe how fantastic the K-30 output is using Adobe Camera Raw. If not RAW then the other thing to try for improving JPGs is buried in the K-30 menus rather invisibly and can give you much sharper images (in a nice way, not a crunchy mess). It's called Fine Sharpening, and is not there by default. Here's how......... press MENU, select Custom Image, move the green box to your favourite e.g. Natural, press INFO, move the green box down to the bottom Sharpness slider which has an 'S' next to it, now here's the trick - rotate the back wheel one click and a small 'F' appears next to the 'S'. You can now adjust Fine Sharpness. I've also turned off all noise reduction below ISO3200, I think it helps a bit.

Last edited by SteveB; 01-15-2013 at 12:36 PM.

m112 · 01-16-2013, 06:04 AM

Steve thanks for a great answer.

I think this is the option I was after!
Indeed k100d had those option in the main menu and after checking the images I alwayes had sharpness or contrast on high hence the images were very sharp out of the camera

Astroviz · 01-16-2013, 06:05 AM

Some other things I would check.....

Switch on the Focus Peaking option in Live View mode and check focus points
Use the AF Active Area or Spot modes to select an exact point you want to be in focus and
If you are focusing by eye you need to make sure you have adjusted the Diopter settings to match your eye

Also I have noticed that different RAW processing algorithms give very different results. A quick look in say Picasa viewer, or IrfanView is invariably less sharp compared with a full process in a package such as RawTherapee or Photoshop

Chris

FruitLooPs · 01-16-2013, 05:21 PM

A very quick and easy test to determine whether the camera is focusing correctly is this:

Using the optical viewfinder the camera uses Phase Detect AF, but if you use liveview it will use Contrast Dectect AF (just as a point and shoot does). These two methods are entirely different, but all things being equal should both give you an image of the same sharpness.

1: choose an object that is on its own, somewhere easy to focus accurately on like a table - a basic object that has some detail is good.
2: put the camera something solid like a tripod pointing directly at the object, on AV and central AF point, focus on object and take photo
3: put your hand in front of the camera and half press the shutter to let the lens unfocus
4: engage the live view mode, ensure you also have central area AF and the same aperture number, take another photo

compare the two, you can try different apertures. Obviously as you stop down the lens (F8 etc) you will see sharpness increase. You want to keep all variables the same like lighting etc.

You could use the same rig to play around with the aforementioned jpg micro-sharpness adjustments too.

If the liveview image is noticably sharper it is possible the optical/PDAF focus mechanism needs adjustment with in-camera settings. You can investigate this further with search, and find dedicated focus charts etc at various places. As stated though, that kit lens is only sharp in very select situations good light stopped down etc.

Last edited by FruitLooPs; 01-16-2013 at 05:28 PM.

m112 · 01-19-2013, 05:05 PM

Hello,

It seems that all adjustments with jpeg sharpness and contrast improved pictures a lot.

However I've noticed another issue when taking photos in low light even with flash they appear blurry. I've been testing the camera in a room with low light and without a flash camera is using at 18mm f2.8 and 1/6 which is understandable.

When I open flash the camera is taking photos at 18mm f2.8 with 1/15 only. Don't you think that when taking photos with flash the stop at least be 1/60 and above. I've noticed that camera will use 1/60 when I switch the main light in the room. So right now I'm struggling to take a good photo of my 2 year old even with flash!

The camera is also using slow stop 1/15 when I tried to take some photos of my son this afternoon at home. He was sitting beside the table and playing with toys. 3 images all blurry. The day was cloudy so light was not perfect however even with flash opened camera choose 1/15 to take photos (iso400).

All the above were taken on P mode with iso 400-1600

Please let me know.

Astroviz · 01-20-2013, 04:29 AM

Originally posted by m112

Hello,

It seems that all adjustments with jpeg sharpness and contrast improved pictures a lot.

However I've noticed another issue when taking photos in low light even with flash they appear blurry. I've been testing the camera in a room with low light and without a flash camera is using at 18mm f2.8 and 1/6 which is understandable.

When I open flash the camera is taking photos at 18mm f2.8 with 1/15 only. Don't you think that when taking photos with flash the stop at least be 1/60 and above. I've noticed that camera will use 1/60 when I switch the main light in the room. So right now I'm struggling to take a good photo of my 2 year old even with flash!

The camera is also using slow stop 1/15 when I tried to take some photos of my son this afternoon at home. He was sitting beside the table and playing with toys. 3 images all blurry. The day was cloudy so light was not perfect however even with flash opened camera choose 1/15 to take photos (iso400).

All the above were taken on P mode with iso 400-1600

Please let me know.

Hi. I had problems with the flash at first. Firstly, I would say to check you are shooting in the simplest flash mode. If you are in any of the SLOW mode options you will get both the flash gun and a longer exposure time.

Also, if you are shooting with the flash I see no reason to push the ISO settings so high. Why not use ISO 100?

Finally, if you can attach an image it would help people see the nature of the problem :-)

ddharriman · 01-22-2013, 06:05 PM

Hello m112

With your camera flash, try this: activate your camera flash, choose on the camera the manual option (M), select the speed to 180 and the aperture to 5.6, select the ISO to the lowest your camera has and dial your flash to -1.0 or -1.3 (my Kx settings, in the K30 it can be different) and shoot something focused between 2 to 5 meters away (you can use any lens, your kit one if you want).
You can shoot handheld, no problem.

How did it got?

Experience with flash -1.0 or -1.7, and or aperture 6.3, 7.1 or 8.0. Once more how did it go?

Best regards,

Last edited by ddharriman; 01-23-2013 at 06:30 AM.

01-16-2013, 06:05 AM	#18
Astroviz Inactive Account Join Date: Dec 2012 Photos: Gallery Posts: 12	Some other things I would check..... Switch on the Focus Peaking option in Live View mode and check focus points Use the AF Active Area or Spot modes to select an exact point you want to be in focus and If you are focusing by eye you need to make sure you have adjusted the Diopter settings to match your eye Also I have noticed that different RAW processing algorithms give very different results. A quick look in say Picasa viewer, or IrfanView is invariably less sharp compared with a full process in a package such as RawTherapee or Photoshop Chris

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01-15-2013, 12:24 PM	#16
SteveB Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: U.K. Posts: 685	I agree with the f8 using the kit lens, it won't be much good below this. The K100D had more sharpening applied in camera than the K-30 I would say. 16MP does tend to show up lens issues much more than 6MP though. I also had a K100D and I ditched the kit lens within a week as all my shots were like yours and got a Sigma 17-70 which was much better at any aperture. I think you may have been a bit lucky with your kit lens on the K100D. Whether I was fortunate to get an exceptional copy of the Sigma or not I don't know but it works fine on my K-30 and can match my 35/2.4 prime in every respect apart from size and widest available aperture, although 17mm needs closing to f4 to be sharp, 24mm and up is fine wide open. It's a good buy if you want to upgrade. As for improving what you have now, I would try RAW if you can, I can't believe how fantastic the K-30 output is using Adobe Camera Raw. If not RAW then the other thing to try for improving JPGs is buried in the K-30 menus rather invisibly and can give you much sharper images (in a nice way, not a crunchy mess). It's called Fine Sharpening, and is not there by default. Here's how......... press MENU, select Custom Image, move the green box to your favourite e.g. Natural, press INFO, move the green box down to the bottom Sharpness slider which has an 'S' next to it, now here's the trick - rotate the back wheel one click and a small 'F' appears next to the 'S'. You can now adjust Fine Sharpness. I've also turned off all noise reduction below ISO3200, I think it helps a bit. Last edited by SteveB; 01-15-2013 at 12:36 PM.

01-16-2013, 06:04 AM	#17
m112 New Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Edinburgh Photos: Albums Posts: 21 Original Poster	Steve thanks for a great answer. I think this is the option I was after! Indeed k100d had those option in the main menu and after checking the images I alwayes had sharpness or contrast on high hence the images were very sharp out of the camera

01-16-2013, 05:21 PM	#19
FruitLooPs Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: New Zealand Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 440	A very quick and easy test to determine whether the camera is focusing correctly is this: Using the optical viewfinder the camera uses Phase Detect AF, but if you use liveview it will use Contrast Dectect AF (just as a point and shoot does). These two methods are entirely different, but all things being equal should both give you an image of the same sharpness. 1: choose an object that is on its own, somewhere easy to focus accurately on like a table - a basic object that has some detail is good. 2: put the camera something solid like a tripod pointing directly at the object, on AV and central AF point, focus on object and take photo 3: put your hand in front of the camera and half press the shutter to let the lens unfocus 4: engage the live view mode, ensure you also have central area AF and the same aperture number, take another photo compare the two, you can try different apertures. Obviously as you stop down the lens (F8 etc) you will see sharpness increase. You want to keep all variables the same like lighting etc. You could use the same rig to play around with the aforementioned jpg micro-sharpness adjustments too. If the liveview image is noticably sharper it is possible the optical/PDAF focus mechanism needs adjustment with in-camera settings. You can investigate this further with search, and find dedicated focus charts etc at various places. As stated though, that kit lens is only sharp in very select situations good light stopped down etc. Last edited by FruitLooPs; 01-16-2013 at 05:28 PM.

01-19-2013, 05:05 PM	#20
m112 New Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Edinburgh Photos: Albums Posts: 21 Original Poster	Hello, It seems that all adjustments with jpeg sharpness and contrast improved pictures a lot. However I've noticed another issue when taking photos in low light even with flash they appear blurry. I've been testing the camera in a room with low light and without a flash camera is using at 18mm f2.8 and 1/6 which is understandable. When I open flash the camera is taking photos at 18mm f2.8 with 1/15 only. Don't you think that when taking photos with flash the stop at least be 1/60 and above. I've noticed that camera will use 1/60 when I switch the main light in the room. So right now I'm struggling to take a good photo of my 2 year old even with flash! The camera is also using slow stop 1/15 when I tried to take some photos of my son this afternoon at home. He was sitting beside the table and playing with toys. 3 images all blurry. The day was cloudy so light was not perfect however even with flash opened camera choose 1/15 to take photos (iso400). All the above were taken on P mode with iso 400-1600 Please let me know.

01-20-2013, 04:29 AM	#21
Astroviz Inactive Account Join Date: Dec 2012 Photos: Gallery Posts: 12	Originally posted by m112 Hello, It seems that all adjustments with jpeg sharpness and contrast improved pictures a lot. However I've noticed another issue when taking photos in low light even with flash they appear blurry. I've been testing the camera in a room with low light and without a flash camera is using at 18mm f2.8 and 1/6 which is understandable. When I open flash the camera is taking photos at 18mm f2.8 with 1/15 only. Don't you think that when taking photos with flash the stop at least be 1/60 and above. I've noticed that camera will use 1/60 when I switch the main light in the room. So right now I'm struggling to take a good photo of my 2 year old even with flash! The camera is also using slow stop 1/15 when I tried to take some photos of my son this afternoon at home. He was sitting beside the table and playing with toys. 3 images all blurry. The day was cloudy so light was not perfect however even with flash opened camera choose 1/15 to take photos (iso400). All the above were taken on P mode with iso 400-1600 Please let me know. Hi. I had problems with the flash at first. Firstly, I would say to check you are shooting in the simplest flash mode. If you are in any of the SLOW mode options you will get both the flash gun and a longer exposure time. Also, if you are shooting with the flash I see no reason to push the ISO settings so high. Why not use ISO 100? Finally, if you can attach an image it would help people see the nature of the problem :-)

01-22-2013, 06:05 PM	#22
ddharriman Pentaxian Join Date: Feb 2009 Photos: Gallery Posts: 345	Hello m112 With your camera flash, try this: activate your camera flash, choose on the camera the manual option (M), select the speed to 180 and the aperture to 5.6, select the ISO to the lowest your camera has and dial your flash to -1.0 or -1.3 (my Kx settings, in the K30 it can be different) and shoot something focused between 2 to 5 meters away (you can use any lens, your kit one if you want). You can shoot handheld, no problem. How did it got? Experience with flash -1.0 or -1.7, and or aperture 6.3, 7.1 or 8.0. Once more how did it go? Best regards, Last edited by ddharriman; 01-23-2013 at 06:30 AM.