AF problem....need to know what to do!! Colin, this might be up your alley

[KHarmon]

It seems, that even with my camera set on auto focus, my pictures still appear to be coming out soft. I'm not sure what to do or how I need to fix the problem. Any advice or help is greatly appreciated. Collin mentioned at one point that it might be an issue with the camera itself, but I can't remember exactly what he said the problem might be.



Blake 3 by KHarmon1971, on Flickr


011 -1 by KHarmon1971, on Flickr


Blake 2 by KHarmon1971, on Flickr

[Dons]

Hi Kris, what camera are you using?? If nikon then you can sharpen of your pictures by making some adjustment in your camera setup..

[Colin Southern]

Hi Kris,

A number of things come to mind ...

1. What AF mode were you using? In my experience, the ONLY way to go is to have a single AF point selected (preferably the one closest the eyes) - then pop that AF point over the eye - focus - recompose - and take the shot

2. Avoid the likes of servo mode for subjects that aren't moving

3. Avoid letting the camera choose the AF point

4. Be sure to apply the correct sharpening techniques (RAW captures are unsharpened, and require ideally at least 3 passes before posting an image online.

5. Sometimes camera AF just plain gets it wrong

6. Need to be aware of shutter-speed -v- focal lengths to minimise camera shake.

Love to help more, but need to know more about how you're applying some of the above first.

Hope this helps

[Colin Southern]

Hi Kris, what camera are you using?? If nikon then you can sharpen of your pictures by making some adjustment in your camera setup..

Not when he's shooting RAW

[KHarmon]

I know for sure I have the camera in single AF mode.....I will have to check on the rest tomorrow when I come in from work. If the camera is in single AF, does that mean that the camera doesn't automatically select the AF point? I need to know how to check and see if the camera is in servo mode. It's a canon eos rebel if that helps. As far as the images go, I shoot everything in RAW.

[Colin Southern]

I know for sure I have the camera in single AF mode.....I will have to check on the rest tomorrow when I come in from work. If the camera is in single AF, does that mean that the camera doesn't automatically select the AF point? I need to know how to check and see if the camera is in servo mode. It's a canon eos rebel if that helps. As far as the images go, I shoot everything in RAW.

Hi Kris,

A single AF point usually means the centre AF point by default, but one can usually manually select other points -- not sure how on a Rebel (been a while since I've used one). It'll probably have 1 Shot and Servo for AF modes. Might be time to invest in a nice new camera

Shooting in RAW gives you the most safety margin, but the images are completely unsharpened. You might like to have a read of a post I made the other day with regards to the different types of sharpening.

[Dons]

Not when he's shooting RAW

Aahhh yes, i forget about it.. Thanks for correcting Colin..

[Colin Southern]

Aahhh yes, i forget about it.. Thanks for correcting Colin..

Hi Donny,

No worries - sorry if it sounded a little "nit picky", but quite a few folks don't realise that the in-camera settings are only applied to the in-camera JPEG (not the RAW) - and I think it's part of the reason that we see so many incorrectly sharpened RAW images (or people dissatisfied with RAW captures in the first place), hence the reason I like to chip in and remind people.

[Black Pearl]

Not when he's shooting RAW

Assuming you're using third party software.

If you use Nikon software then any adjustment you set in-camera - including sharpening - will still be there. You can then switch it off when processing a RAW file but the sharpening you've set will appear by default.

[Colin Southern]

Assuming you're using third party software.

If you use Nikon software then any adjustment you set in-camera - including sharpening - will still be there. You can then switch it off when processing a RAW file but the sharpening you've set will appear by default.

I didn't know Nikon software honoured metadata tags from Canon cameras

[Black Pearl]

Does the Canon DPP software do the same?

[jambin]

I don't know if my experience is relevant but just in case. I'd been using my Canon for a couple of years before i discovered Luminance noise reduction - lowering that in DPP took away a lot of the fuzziness-

[Markvetnz]

We still don't know if these are raw captures. What lens is being used. The rebel series is middle of the road in terms of what Canon puts out and the perceived poor quality might just be a reflection of the limitations of the gear. Sorry, I don't mean that to sound condescending, but we all need to be realistic about what our gear can do. There is a difference between a 400f2.8L and a 100-400f5.6L. Other things to consider might be DOF issues. I reckon if you applied sharpening as recommended in the tutorial (capture, creative and output) these images would be fine.

[Colin Southern]

We still don't know if these are raw captures.

As far as the images go, I shoot everything in RAW.

Oh yes we do

[Colin Southern]

Does the Canon DPP software do the same?

Yes it does, but Kris uses Corel software.

[KHarmon]

OK...I'm going to list each setting on my camera individually to see if you can see anything that needs to be changed;
Shutter/AE Lock Button set to AF/AE lock
Auto focus/Drive Mirror Lockup : Disabled
Auto focus/Drive AF during Live View Shooting : Quick Mode
Auto focus /Drive AF-assist beam firing : enabled
FNII: Image Auto Lighting Optimizer : enabled
Image High ISO speed noise reduction: Off
FnII: Image Long Exposure Noise Reduction :AUTO
Exposure Flash sync. speed in Av mode : AUTO
FnI: Exposure level increments : 1/3 stop
FnIV: Operation/Others Add original decision data : OFF


White Balance is set to AUTO

Metering Mode: set to Evaluate Metering

Picture style : Portrait

AF Mode: AI focus AF

AF Point Selection: Manuel Selected to center AF point

Don't know if this will help, but these are the selections that I have the camera set on. Let me know if there's anything that I might change to help with the soft focus issue

Thank you.

KHarmon