[heliphoto]

To confirm: you use the term "focus the numeric display"...

Are you referring to the indicator light that illuminates just above "MF" in the status display? (when the object is in focus)

Regards,
Marc

I thought that too, but on re-reading, I think they're referring to adjusting the diopter while looking at the LED display inside the viewfinder (The LED info provides a target which should have crisp edges with a properly adjusted Diopter).

Personally, I just use the procedure in the manual and adjust the diopter so the lines on the focus screen are sharp (at least I think I got that from rtfm).

[Michaelina2]

I thought that too, but on re-reading, I think they're referring to adjusting the diopter while looking at the LED display inside the viewfinder (The LED info provides a target which should have crisp edges with a properly adjusted Diopter).

Personally, I just use the procedure in the manual and adjust the diopter so the lines on the focus screen are sharp (at least I think I got that from rtfm).

Yes...

I compose looking over my glasses into an O-ME53 Magnifying Eyepiece. My uncorrected vision is OK, but not that great. For me, the more complex pattern of letters & etc and contrast in the display offers a better target for diopter adjustment than the fine lines on the focus screen (per the Manual's recommendation).

That's it... clean and simple... life is now back to great!

[EricT]

Wow, this thread has really gone off in a weird direction! I think it's obvious that the problem has nothing to do with diopter adjustments, but is a simple exposure problem. If you look at the histogram for the second image, it has a lot of empty space at the left and right ends. This means that you are not capturing the full dynamic range of the scene. This can be somewhat remedied by adjusting levels in Photoshop or pretty much any other image editor, as I've done here (also did some, maybe a bit too much, sharpening):

But it is of course better to get the correct exposure to begin with.

To understand more about levels, take a look here: Photo KDE Tutorial 1-1: Levels adjust | kdedevelopers.org

[trumpyman]

Heres why.I sent my K20d in for service thinkin i had focus issues,the camera came back they said it was all ok.I seemed to get good shots and some gr8 shots some days then id get sh...t the nxt.This afternoon i tried what u said about adjusting the diopter and i cant believe the difference it made . It was late in the arfternoon just b4 sunset when i tried it so i didnt have much time to muck around with it but the quik adjustment i made i couldnt believe the difference it made.Maybe if id sent the lens in with the camera they might have picked it up,but i just wanted to say thnx for some great advice and realy appreciate your post.I cant wait to get out tomorrow and see how things go.Once again thank you very much.I use the DA 55-300MM most of the time and ive been getting some realy sharp pics with it but not consistantly,hopefuly that will change now.
My girlfriend has bought me the Magic Lantern Guide for K20D for christmas so hopefully that will help me gain alot of knowledge im missing.I just luv taking photos never got into the tech side of things but for such a gr8 camera i rekon its worth doin a bit of reading to broaden my horizons in photography.
Thnx Heaps Paul

[LeoTaylor]

To confirm: you use the term "focus the numeric display"...

Are you referring to the indicator light that illuminates just above "MF" in the status display? (when the object is in focus)

Regards,
Marc

I should have written alpha-numeric. I'm referring to any character in the electronic display at the bottom of the viewfinder, even the MF you refer to.

I claim no credit for the idea, as I wrote I read about it on this forum.

[Canada_Rockies]

I was under the impression that the way to adjust diopter was to point the camera toward some distant blank subject such as the sky or a white wall and then adjust until the lines on the focus screen were nice and crisp.

This is the system I use. It removes a possibility that the display is not perfectly at the same distance as the focusing screen.

[LeoTaylor]

...
My girlfriend has bought me the Magic Lantern Guide for K20D for christmas so hopefully that will help me gain alot of knowledge im missing...
Thnx Heaps Paul

My wife bought me the Magic Lantern Guide last December

I wish I had it sooner, by the time I had the book I had figured out a lot. The book is much easier to read then the manual.

---

Last edited by LeoTaylor; 12-09-2008 at 07:50 PM. Reason: fixed typo

[FHPhotographer]

Why dont get I those sharp and crisp images with my k10d?
I have:
18-55 kit lens and FA 50mm /1.4
And I just dont get those crisp images
My images:
http://djset.planet.ee/Kaarel/fail/IMGP0377%20(Large).JPG
http://djset.planet.ee/Kaarel/fail/IMGP0230%20(Large).JPG

Assuming the lenses are okay and no focusing issues in the camera, it could just be a "capture shaprening" issue.

If you are working with Photoshop and RAW files, I've found the first step, before any other modification, is to apply capture sharpening, and the older Unsharp Mask method still works very well for me on the K100D (it could vary by model?):
Filter>Unsharp Mask> Sharpening 20%; Radius 50; Threshold 0
Brian

Assuming the lenses are okay and no focusing issues in the camera, it could just be a "capture shaprening" issue.

If you are working with Photoshop and RAW files, I've found the first step, before any other modification, is to apply capture sharpening, and the older Unsharp Mask method still works very well for me on the K100D (it could vary by model?):
Filter>Unsharp Mask> Sharpening 20%; Radius 50; Threshold 0
Brian

If you're using unsharp mask it's the LAST thing you want to do before saving.

[Andreas]

This image is sharp IMO because (a) the guy is in focus, and (b) you can sharpen this kind of scene until infinity so to say. If you had made a close-up picture of his face, incl. the eyes, you could not sharpen so much, since everyone would notice that it was overdone. We humans are very sensitive to faces, eyes, ... things we know best.

Every picture should be sharpened a bit, to compensate for the loss during RAW conversion and the loss caused by resizing. The amount depends on the final output size (among other factors). I would say: don't overdo it unless it's for demonstration purposes.

Mmmhhhh... what was the question? ;-)

I'm using:
18-55 Kit lens
50mm /F1.4

I mean sharp like this picture
http://djset.planet.ee/Kaarel/fail/14.-juuni.jpg

[FHPhotographer]

If you're using unsharp mask it's the LAST thing you want to do before saving.

Sorry, but that runs contrary to just about everything I've read online about capture (input) sharpening, i.e., apply capture sharpening first to offset the camera anti-alias filtering, then amend the image, then use (if you need/want) either USM or Smart Sharpening at the end of the process for output sharpening. If you have come across a different workflow that works, please share it,
Brian

[Ivan Glisin]

Sorry, but that runs contrary to just about everything I've read online about capture (input) sharpening, i.e., apply capture sharpening first to offset the camera anti-alias filtering, then amend the image, then use (if you need/want) either USM or Smart Sharpening at the end of the process for output sharpening. If you have come across a different workflow that works, please share it,
Brian

Sharpening should certainly be the last step if you resize for web and best results are if you do not sharpen prior to that point. However, if you keep the size it really should not matter and may be the first step.

My Photoshop workflow for web-sized images is as follows:

1) Tonal and color corrections, B&W conversion (no sharpening at this point);
2) Crop/rotate if necessary;
3) Resize to smaller size;
4) USM for local contrast (30-50px, 10-20%);
5) USM for edge sharpening (0.3-0.5px, 100-150%);
6) Add small border (just to separate image from the rest of the web page).

In Lightroom it is a bit different since you don't really control the order of adjustments so there is no right order of steps to follow but all adjustments are still there. (BTW, local contrast is called "Clarity" control in LR). For resizing, sharpening and adding borders I use LR/Morgify on "Export".

BTW, I have never heard or read about offseting anti-alias filter by sharpening. What is that? If you have any reference to it I'd like to take a look.

[FHPhotographer]

Sharpening should certainly be the last step if you resize for web and best results are if you do not sharpen prior to that point. However, if you keep the size it really should not matter and may be the first step.

BTW, I have never heard or read about offseting anti-alias filter by sharpening. What is that? If you have any reference to it I'd like to take a look.

Here's one link
Capture Sharpening - Photo.net Digital Darkroom Forum
and you can find more by googling capture sharpening anti alias filter and/or check out some of the links below:
LightroomNews Sharpening
Adobe Forums - Capture SHARPENING in ACR?????????????
http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop/?id=vid0005
Brian

[Marc Sabatella]

My impression is that "capture sharpening" is something that *some* people are into, but pretty much all of them also recognize the distinction between it and *output* sharpening, which is indeed the last thing you generally do after all other processing and resizing. On the other hand, quite a few people do not bother with capture sharpening, or have never heard of the concept, or have heard of it but think it's a bunch of nonsense, and pretty much all of these people do output sharpening only - again, pretty much as the last step in PP.

Which is to say, virtually *everyone* who does sharpening does output sharpening and does it last. At least, virtually everyone with any understanding of the matter at all would agree on this. *Some* people also do capture sharpening and do it first, but this isn't something you'll find nearly much agreement on.

I don't do any capture sharpening, my scanner and all other input devices have sharpening turned OFF. I know that 99% of my finals will be worked to some degree. Sharpening messes with the pixels. Every seminar instructor I've listened too since PS 5 has said to sharpen as a last step. I've tried both ways. The instructors are right. And it's not just stuff going to the web. 99.972% of my stuff goes to press/digital output.
Oh yeah, Smart sharpening in CS3 is awesome.