[therightpic]

*****I should have titled this blurry and soft images. Of course, if they are blurry they are not sharp. Whoops.******

Hello,

I just got my Pentax K10D, moving over from a Sony DSC H5.

I have taken probably 500 pictures over the last couple of days with both of the lenses that I bought with it and the pictures are soft and I have yet to take a really sharp picture.

This is my first DSLR so maybe I just don't know what I am doing but even a broken clock is right twice a day. I figured I would have gotten a few good shots by now.

I also have the Magic Lantern guide and have been trying to use the advice there but in general my shots are blurred and soft. Even the ones that I think are sharp on the LCD are blurry when I view them in CS3. I have tried using different modes, hand holds and aperture and exposure settings, though I am not terribly familiar with photographic settings coming from a point and shoot world.

Does anyone have any recommendations for sharpening up my images?

My buddy just got a Nikon D80 and I shot his camera right out of the box and the pictures are very clear and sharp.

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Last edited by therightpic; 11-15-2007 at 10:15 AM. Reason: Redundant title

[kay]

Could you please post some examples? Crop a few small portions showing the blurry/soft parts from some of your images, and post it without resizing. Do you understand the relationship between ISO and shutter speed? Do you know how to judge whether a certain SS is hand-holdable? (Reciprocal rule of thumb?)

[egordon99]

Either the camera is defective (unlikely) or there is something wrong with your technique. The K10D is a fairly advanced camera and requires the user to have some knowledge of photography.
We really need to see some pictures to help you out. "Blurry" can be caused by the camera not focusing where you want, subject motion, and/or camera shake, or just too shallow of a DOF. Sharpness can be a JPG/post-processing issue. But the K10D is definetly more than capable of taking non-blurry and sharp pictures.

[ricosuave]

i assume the stabilization mode is on.

[egordon99]

IS is NOT a requirement for sharp shots ALL the time. I got plenty of sharp/blur-free shots with my trusty old *ist DS. You just have to keep the shutter speed up. But yeah, if he's trying to shoot 300mm handheld at 1/60s, he would be much better with IS on

Come on, let's see some pix!

[Miserere]

I suspect the old "K10D JPEGs are soft!" beast is rearing its ugly head.

In any case, apart from some examples, we also need to know what lenses you were using. My experience with the kit lenses is that if I want a really sharp pic, I need to shoot f/8.

[Buddha Jones]

What lens are you using, what are you shooting and under what conditions?

[therightpic]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I went out today and shot in sunlight (before I was shooting inside in dim conditions at flowers, walls, etc.) and the pictures are clear and sharp. I think I just need to learn what I am doing.

Just so you know I was shooting in RAW (Dng) mode and using both my:

SMC P-DA 50-200/4-5.6 ED

and my

DA 40/2.8 ED LIMITED EDITION

lenses. I will keep messing around with the camera and let you know if I see any more issues. I have read a couple of reviews today that said the Pentax tends to be a little softer in RAW format by default. Do any of you boost your sharpness / contrast / saturation or do you just square them away in your application?

Here are a few pictures that made me feel better. Still some things to clear up in my knowledge of how to use the camera but I think they look sharp (hopefully this works):

[mattdm]

I have read a couple of reviews today that said the Pentax tends to be a little softer in RAW format by default. Do any of you boost your sharpness / contrast / saturation or do you just square them away in your application?

The in-camera saturation, sharpening,and contrast have no effect on RAW files (except that they're stored in the EXIF data and can be used as defaults by RAW converter software). I haven't ever used the RAW converter software Pentax ships with the camera, but as I understand it, yes, like the in-camera JPEGs, it doesn't do much edge sharpening by default.

[Buddha Jones]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I went out today and shot in sunlight (before I was shooting inside in dim conditions at flowers, walls, etc.) and the pictures are clear and sharp. I think I just need to learn what I am doing.

BINGO!! I did the same thing when I first got mine, lighting is everything. If I knew how to work a flash I might be dangerous.

[Miserere]

If you're getting bad shots with the DA 40mm LE, then it's definitely you! Learn how to use the camera in good light first, then move indoors; it's a whole different beast if you're not using flash.

As for sharpness, I "develop" my RAW files with Adobe Camera Raw, and add sharpenning there if I'm not going to Photoshop it further. I find that the straight RAW images are soft, and people seeing them have actually told me they were out of focus. At the beginning I was worried that the camera or the lenses had a problem, but I've since come to realise that it's just a quirk of the K10D.

[therightpic]

Thanks for the responses.

"As for sharpness, I "develop" my RAW files with Adobe Camera Raw, and add sharpenning there"

If that is true that seems like extra work. I can never take a good sharp shot without processing? Not sure I like that.

I guess I can shoot RAW+jpg and just use the jpegs for most things but have the RAW files in case I need them.

[Miserere]

If that is true that seems like extra work. I can never take a good sharp shot without processing? Not sure I like that.

If you're shooting RAW, then it just become part of the workflow. In any case, you don't need to process each image individually; once you see what setting work for a particular shot, you can apply those settings to all the series (for example, all the shots you took in the park at midday).

If you're shooting JPEGs straight out of the camera (which many people will tell you is not advisable), then just crank up the sharpness setting as many notches as you like. Your shots won't be as sharp as if you'd sharpened in post-processing, but for medium-sized prints, or for viewing on a computer screen, it's perfectly fine (don't listen to the pixel peepers! ).

[Snowcat]

I know very well what you are talking about... I felt the same way - "what are those blurry photoes, i made better with my previous camera!". Actually all can be corrected in RAW conversion (I prefer a very sharp pics so i set Sharpening in ACR to 75), but even with in-camera JPEG you can make pretty sharp pics. See what I mean -

This is taken directly in JPEG with Sharpenss+2, Saturation+1, Contrast-2 settings. Overall - acceptable JPEG quality, at least for me. But still this camera requires alot of post-processing to get good results... That's bothers me too actually...

[PaulAndAPentax]

I don't know where the shot right above was taken, but its really very nice...

yes, low light changes the dynamics of shooting. The shutter has to stay open longer causing the blur when not using a flash.....