[slip]

how do the shots look like when they are outside in brighter light but under a tree to get good lighting?.... lower your ISO to 100 as higher ISO sometimes gives the illusion that the photo is a bit soft (usually 400 isn't to bad, though)
also if I am getting soft results I will unscrew the lens and screw it back on and "wiggle" it a bit once locked to make sure it is sitting 100% correct.
is this fails as others said try another lens.

cheers

randy

[hoanpham]

Hi,
To me seems like the FA50 has some trouble focusing in low light. Without going into detail crop, all the photos look a bit soft to me, or may be somewhat less contrast.

You have the Kx, try to set iso 640-800 and increase speed to 1/125 or 1/160. At f3.2 and close distance, the DOF still shallow. Kx does very good at iso800, 200% dynamic range, also set SR on. If you use other modes than manual set +1/3 EV or +2/3 EV. These photos are a bit under exp.

My trick is lock focus in single-mode, and shoot Hi-continuous while slowly move the camera 1-3 inches to cover the minor movement of the head. This trick works very well for manual lenses.

As for DOF, you still have 1-2 inches at close distance. With some luck, you may be able to balance sharp focus on both eyes.

Have you check for front/back focus of FA50 and your camera?

I have a split screen correctly calibrated so I can see which of my lenses has front/back focus problem.

and don't give up ;-)

[NicoleAu]

Ok, so here's a new shot I got this morning after taking onboard a lot of the advice I got on here. I changed the focal point and I set the camera for moving speed. The settings on this photo are... ISO 500 f2.0 and 1/500. I'm a lot happier with the sharpness of this one Oh and did I mention that I love you guys for all the fabbo advice??

Yes I know the focus is more on the lips than the eyes, but I'm getting closer! lol

[aleonx3]

The photos look soft to me, but that could be due to shallow DOF. To make sure there is no user error, I would stop down a little like f3.2 or f4 and do center-focus; do not recompose the frame when the focus light comes on (to avoid user error). Check the result, if it is still soft. It could be the shutter speed is too low (not likely as long as it is faster than 1/50) or it could be FF/BF with the lens which may require in-camera adjustment.

[epqwerty]

I'm just joining into the conversation so the facts arent completely in my head yet but have you tried using the onboard flash for a try. Should be able to eliminate the idea of slow shutter speed. At f4 the dof should be large enough to cover the portrait. I would avoid bumping the sharpness setting in the custom as it will also bring out the noise. Just one question are you taking the pictures in raw format or jpg? Could the problem be in the jpeg setting? One star or two star level at 6mp? Just curious didn't read anything like that in the posting. Just some suggestions.

[NicoleAu]

I take my photos in RAW. Don't like to use the onboard flash as it looks awful. Umm I keep trying to do f4 inside but it's awfully underexposed.

I reckon I'm about to chuck the camera in the bin. I just can't seem to get a nice clear photo of my son

[aleonx3]

I too join in late in this conversation. Did you have a chance to do the test outside with higher shutter speed and smaller aperture? If you still have problems getting sharp images with that say 1/300 and f8, it could be a FF/BF adjustment needed.

[Ash]

That's a bit drastic Nic.
If you can't get a shutter speed of about 1/100 or so (to reasonably stop any little movement of these little ones) at f/4 and ISO 1600 or so indoors, then you simply don't have enough ambient light to get decent images. f/2.8 is great, but the DoF will be very thin and difficult to get right with moving kids.

The K-x does great locking focus but there's much that can be said about technique when it comes to indoor kids shots. And anticipate that the vast majority of such kids shots will be binned due to any or a combination of the myriad of possible things that can stuff up kids shots that are out of your own control...

[NicoleAu]

lol Yeah I'm a bit of a drama queen Ash, but I'm just feeling so frustrated I don't expect to get a lot of perfectly focused shots, but just one would be lovely lol. The next brighter day I will take him outside and let him run amok and chase him a bit and see how I go with focusing. I think I will do as suggested and start at f4 and try to get that nailed first before I start the trickier stuff.

It all just seems so hard to do sometimes, so much to remember and so much to learn that I end up feeling overwhelmed and a bit hopeless at it all. Hubby says I'm too hard on myself, but I think I should be able to do better than I am.

[5teve]

every one is hard on themselves when they get frustrated!

Can i suggest as has already been suggested, that you use a focus chart or 3 batteries diagonally positioned and just check your lens in relation to the body. It looks like its front / back focusing.. and for the hour or so you would spend checking its worth it to save any more frustration.

Theres loads of info here about checking, and i think the k-x even though it doesnt have a lens adjustment, i beleive you can get in service mode and dial adjustment in. Of course that could mess with the tammy too... but its worth checking that too.. if you can see that it does mis focus and you arent happy using service mode you could always drop it into your local pentax service and get them to calibrate the lens with the body (if it does mis focus!)

I have to go through the whole thing with my k20 as the new tammy 70-200 i have just got needs more than +10 adjustment and the sigma 28-70 i have requires +8... so service menu time now! i guess my k20 is one of the not so good ones!

Steve

[298068467]

高速的快门很重要

[NicoleAu]

I've been testing the lens on my keyboard and the letters I am focusing on, are the ones that are the sharpest, I've been testing it at f1.4. It's obviously me I just don't know what else to do now. I wanted to become a really good photographer, but that's hardly achievable if I can't even get the focus right.

[wizofoz]

Nicole, the on board flash may look terrible, but the point is to see if it can be used to get the photo sharp. Use it as a diagnostic tool to see if it is technique or camera/lens fault.

Set the K-x to around 180th/sec in P (which is the maximum flash syc speed for the K-x IIRC) and try and get a bit better DOF. Try and find out if it is operator error, or camera error.

You might also want to have a go at making a cheap and cheerful OBF diffuser. It works well.

Hmm no pic loaded... I'll keep trying.

[wizofoz]

DIY Flash diffuser - Pentax User Photo Gallery

[NicoleAu]

Okies, I took another few with the flash on, the television on (for distraction lol) 1/180 f5.6 and 800 ISO. This one was the sharpest I think, please ignore his grubby face!