Help with blurry photos!

[dolewhipdreams]

Hello everyone! I could use some help with my photo quality issues.

I've been (slowly) learning my way around my first dSLR over the last few months in anticipation of using it on a trip to Scotland. I thought I had gotten the hang of it, but many of my shots from the trip turned out blurry. I've attached some and here are the settings:

Camera: Nikon D3200
Lens: Kit lens- 18-55mm F3.5-5.6G


ISO: 100
Focal length: 18mm
Aperture: 11
Shutter speed: 1/80


ISO: 100
Focal length: 55mm
Aperture: 11
Shutter speed: 1/200



ISO: 100
Focal Length: 18mm
Aperture: 11
Shutter speed: 160

One of the issues is that my LCD screen doesn't have great resolution so the shots looked fine on playback. I didn't see how poor quality they were until I got home and loaded them onto my computer.

Do you think it's just the settings? That I need a smaller aperture or quicker shutter speed?

Also a note: I realize that at first glance these don't look terribly blurry or out of focus, but zooming in a little will show that the image isn't as sharp as I would like. Now I know I've taken nice, sharp photos with this setup before so my camera is capable of it.

Any tips and advice for a frustrated newbie would be very appreciated.

 

[KVH]

The kit lens is not that bad actually. And your samples aren't that soft to make the determination obvious. So. First possibility - you have a bad copy of the lens. Second possibility - your AF needs to be calibrated. Both of those have obvious solutions. Epecially benchmarking with another lens. But, assuming those are OK . . .

At least you're stopped down. However, read this. f8 may be better for 18mm. Something else to test. Are you handholding? How is your technique? Have you tested with a tripod? That might be the quickest/easiest thing to check. Even with perfect technique, you'd be amazed how much handholding can affect clarity. Shutter speed increases could help with that.

Lastly - focus point(s). If you have ViewNX, check these. DOF only goes so far. You may have to do some mental calcs to determine whether something you expect to be sharp might not be.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

The kit lens is not that bad actually. And your samples aren't that soft to make the determination obvious. So. First possibility - you have a bad copy of the lens. Second possibility - your AF needs to be calibrated. Both of those have obvious solutions. Epecially benchmarking with another lens. But, assuming those are OK . . . I've been able to shoot crystal clear photos with this lens before so could there be a possibility that it just didn't do well in the specific circumstances for the shots that are out of focus? I've always wondered if my lens was wonky but as a newbie I didn't want to immediately blame it on the hardware and not my apparent lack of skill .

At least you're stopped down. However, read this. f8 may be better for 18mm. Something else to test. Are you handholding? How is your technique? Have you tested with a tripod? That might be the quickest/easiest thing to check. Even with perfect technique, you'd be amazed how much handholding can affect clarity. Shutter speed increases could help with that. I'll give that a read. For all of these shots I was handholding. I didn't have my tripod with me, but thought I was shooting at a fast enough shutter speed not to need one. I thought I read somewhere that the inverse of the focal length should be the absolute minimum for handheld, and these shots were quicker than that.

Lastly - focus point(s). If you have ViewNX, check these. DOF only goes so far. You may have to do some mental calcs to determine whether something you expect to be sharp might not be. I don't have ViewNX. I use Lightroom. Do you know if that's something I can check there?

Thanks for the reply! My comments are above.

 

[fractal]

Am I missing something? I don't see "blurry" shots here.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Am I missing something? I don't see "blurry" shots here.

They aren't so much "blurry", but more not as sharp as I would like (and as I've seen from this kit before). If you're viewing on your phone they actually look a lot better, but on a computer monitor you can tell the edges aren't very crisp.

 

[fractal]

They aren't so much "blurry", but more not as sharp as I would like (and as I've seen from this kit before). If you're viewing on your phone they actually look a lot better, but on a computer monitor you can tell the edges aren't very crisp.

I am viewing on a computer monitor. For a kit lens, still looks good to me. Also consider that the bottom edges are closer to you than your focus point.

 

[klmall]

I agree that they don't look that blurry to me; perhaps a bit more focus and masking would improve them. I spent about 2 minutes and came up with this. But I think you are going more for in-camera results rather than post-photo editing. BTW I love this scene and your other photos!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

I agree that they don't look that blurry to me; perhaps a bit more focus and masking would improve them. I spent about 2 minutes and came up with this. But I think you are going more for in-camera results rather than post-photo editing. BTW I love this scene and your other photos!

Maybe it was lightroom that made them look so bad to me. On my phone and even on here/Flickr the focus seems much better! I don't know if that has anything to do with these being the JPG files and the one in lightroom being RAW.

ETA: and yes, Scotland was absolutely gorgeous. That's part of my disappointment- not being able to clearly capture some beautiful scenes.

 

[AurumPunzel]

I am viewing on a computer monitor. For a kit lens, still looks good to me. Also consider that the bottom edges are closer to you than your focus point.

Was going to say the same thing. When I used to have my Nikon D3400, mine came with the same lens (only mine came with Vibration Reduction), and I achieved some great results during my NYC holiday earlier this year. I've since traded that in for a Nikon D600, and bought an older AF-Nikkor 35-70mm f/3.3-4.5 Mk.1 as my all-round lens.

 

[LYSE]

Not an expert but it seems like maybe the auto focus is your problem here, maybe think about your focus points and as mentioned learn the sweet spots in f stop at different focal lengths.

I don't have experience with your setup though, also RAW files can look not very hot until you actually process them.

 

[KVH]

There is a free focus point plugin for Lightroom. But I'd still run some test if I were you. Especially handheld vs tripod - even with a decent shutter speed, sometimes technique problems can crop up. Although that's not to say even with good technique, you can still get bad shots. And it wouldn't check to get a model and do a couple of headshots. There more questionable issues you can remove through testing, the closer you get to root cause (ie, bad copy of the lens or maybe a body AF issue).

 

[dolewhipdreams]

There is a free focus point plugin for Lightroom. But I'd still run some test if I were you. Especially handheld vs tripod - even with a decent shutter speed, sometimes technique problems can crop up. Although that's not to say even with good technique, you can still get bad shots. And it wouldn't check to get a model and do a couple of headshots. There more questionable issues you can remove through testing, the closer you get to root cause (ie, bad copy of the lens or maybe a body AF issue).

This is a good idea. I'll have to work up a plan to test it out.

 

[pjacobi]

Note that there was a slight flog in the air resulting is less than perfectly sharp pictures.

Professional landscape photographers wait for days, months and years to get the perfect weather and light for the shot. That not something you can easily do on a vacation.

-Paul