eskillawl From Sweden, joined Jan 2012, 73 posts, RR: 0 Posted (7 months 2 weeks 11 hours ago) and read 3300 times:
Good morning, I've got a problem that I would need to fix, but actually cant.
So, for the first I got a Canon 70-300 IS USM lens that i bought on B&H in New York last month. When I frist tried the lens at JFK, it worked out just fine, the pictures was sharp even trough it was cloudy and the photos was taken trough a window. I'll show i a photo.
But when I got home to Gothenburg, Sweden and started to spot at my local airport (GOT) I noticed how the photos were imo really bad sometimes. Almost every photo is now blurry and dark, and it seems the photos get more worse every time i take photos. I'll show you a photo from the last week. And also, the settings is almost the same in booth photos.
What do you think the problem is? It's really sad, cause beofre I bought the lens i read all over the internet about it, and everyone told me it would work better than ex Canon 55--250 IS.
Thanks!
Photo equipment: Canon EOS 60D | Canon 70-300 1:4-5:6 IS USM | Canon 28-90 1:4-5:6 | Canon 18-55 3:5-5:6 |
vikkyvik From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 8228 posts, RR: 28 Reply 1, posted (7 months 2 weeks 11 hours ago) and read 3298 times:
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Well, according to the EXIF data, the 2nd shot was taken at 235mm, while the first was at 200mm. My copy of the 70-300 IS USM got very soft at long focal lengths (mine was basically unusable beyond 260mm, but maybe yours gets softer earlier).
With that said, even at 300mm on my lens, I don't think I ever saw anything quite as soft as your Thomas Cook shot. Even the Delta shot is quite a bit softer than I would get at 200mm.
Obvious things to check:
1.) The lens is on autofocus (or that you've manually focused correctly).
2.) Focus mode is Servo (assuming you want to use that, otherwise you'll have to keep refocusing as the airplane moves toward/away from you). The Thomas Cook shot might be out-of-focus, rather than soft-but-in-focus.
3.) IS Mode - for moving targets, it's better to use Mode 2. You don't want the camera trying to correct for your panning.
4.) You're using the correct focus points. I usually only use the center one, so that as long as I keep that point on the airplane, I should be fine. If you use more than that, make sure the camera is focusing on the airplane.
"Two and a Half Men" was filmed in front of a live ostrich.
eskillawl From Sweden, joined Jan 2012, 73 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (7 months 2 weeks 10 hours ago) and read 3289 times:
That's what i noticed. When searching on this lens on A.net, you'll get several of great photos, with the same type of camera as me, not as near as bad as my photos.
I've always used AI Focus, I'll try AI servo. Also I use IS mode 1, booth on moving and not moving aircraft, I'll go for mode 2 tomorrow. May theese factors be the problem? I'll defenitively try this when i go spot tomorrow! Thanks
Photo equipment: Canon EOS 60D | Canon 70-300 1:4-5:6 IS USM | Canon 28-90 1:4-5:6 | Canon 18-55 3:5-5:6 |
trvyyz From Canada, joined Oct 2004, 1311 posts, RR: 11 Reply 3, posted (7 months 2 weeks 5 hours ago) and read 3241 times:
I have used that lens from when it was released to 2009 and was very happy with it. It was plenty sharp and acceptably sharp even at 300 mm for my copy. The lens is one of the best non L zoom lenses from Canon, much better than a 75-300mm or 55-250mm IS, I have owned all these at different times.
From the above shot the AF didn't lock on to the subject correctly. It could be the user (or settings), camera or the lens.
try the lens with a different body also if the trouble shooting with the settings doesn't workout.
eskillawl From Sweden, joined Jan 2012, 73 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (7 months 1 week 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 3021 times:
Thanks, but the problem is i shoot at AV, and than i cant choose shutterspeed at my own, and the camera always choose very very low of some reason. Does anyone know why?
Photo equipment: Canon EOS 60D | Canon 70-300 1:4-5:6 IS USM | Canon 28-90 1:4-5:6 | Canon 18-55 3:5-5:6 |
trvyyz From Canada, joined Oct 2004, 1311 posts, RR: 11 Reply 6, posted (7 months 1 week 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 3017 times:
Quoting eskillawl (Reply 5): Thanks, but the problem is i shoot at AV, and than i cant choose shutterspeed at my own, and the camera always choose very very low of some reason. Does anyone know why?
In Av mode you can increase the shutter speed by reducing F stop, increasing ISO or decreasing EV.
But, I'm not sure how you shoot, you should be in control of the shot rather than the camera controlling the shot.
The camera does a lot of things to determine the optimum shutter speed (ie, algorithm done by canon engineers depending on your settings), I don't want to go into details. but to check the lens try manual exposure mode and check sharpness for different apertures and focal lengths (keep the shutter speed faster than the reciprocal of focal length ie; 1/200 @ 200mm), have a well illuminated subject and reasonable ISO preferably below 400.
There are also videos on youtube showing how to check the AF precision, whether it is backfocus or front focus etc.
vikkyvik From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 8228 posts, RR: 28 Reply 7, posted (7 months 1 week 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 3002 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW PHOTO SCREENER
Quoting eskillawl (Reply 5): Thanks, but the problem is i shoot at AV, and than i cant choose shutterspeed at my own, and the camera always choose very very low of some reason. Does anyone know why?
Well, the very basic answer is because the camera doesn't see much light coming in, so it lengthens the shutter speed, since that's the only variable it controls in Av mode.
Trvyyz's post discusses what you can do about it. A quick test would be very simple - shoot in full manual mode. You're already controlling aperture and ISO in Av mode; it's not much of a jump to take control of shutter speed, too.
"Two and a Half Men" was filmed in front of a live ostrich.
unattendedbag From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 2240 posts, RR: 1 Reply 8, posted (7 months 1 week 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 3002 times:
dazbo5 From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2005, 2580 posts, RR: 2 Reply 9, posted (7 months 1 week 4 days 14 hours ago) and read 2962 times:
An even simpler method is to just take a few shots of anything static in Av, Tv, manual or automatic, it doesn't matter. It doesn't need to be an aircraft, just anything. If there's a problem with your lens, any shot will come out out of focus or display whatever the problem is. I would be surprised if motion blur is an issue in your example above given the shutter speed was 1/400, but how's your panning technique? It takes practice to acheive good panning even at moderate shutter speeds, especially at longer focal lenths and where some heat haze may make it difficult for the camera to lock on to subjects. There might not be anything wrong, it could simply be you were pushing your lens too much given the conditions. Have a go at a few static test shots and report back.
Darren
Equipment: 2x Canon EOS 50D; Sigma 10-20 EX DC HSM, 50-500 EX APO DG, Canon 24-105 f/4 L, Speedlite 430EX
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