I
idratherplaytennis
Guest
So, silly me- I've been into photography for the last 6-7 years, and shooting with a 20D and no L glass. I do have the 50mm 1.4 but that's as close to awesome as it got for me- and that's only for the last year that I haven't been shooting. The thing is I finally made the leap to the 5D MIII after lusting after the Mark II for the last several years that I've known about it and know I made a massive jump in quality of camera etc.
My question is this- what is the easiest way to verify that I have a sharp camera/lens and not need to exchange it? My 30 day window from B&H is fast approaching and I've tested it out several times with my dogs, however I don't know if it's the perfectionist or the pessimist in me thinking they might be off.
I have like a 90% certainty it truly is user error, I mean, I'm coming from a 9 pt auto focus from the 20D which was released over a decade ago, into this massive behemoth of a camera, but I'm also not technologically incompetent at 26 either. I've swapped my AF setting to the 5 pt expansion mode (The one that looks like a cross, not the 9 pt expansion one) and been attempting to focus solely on my dogs' eyes, however out of the 20-40 images I took when I could try and get them to stay still, only really 2 came out to my satisfaction. I was shooting with the kit lens in daylight and also fluorescent light, but then again- I was shooting a 1 year old golden retriever, ripe with ADD and an abundance of energy. I'll try to attach the 2 photos that I'm somewhat satisfied with, and maybe one that I'm not.
I was just curious about what else I could do to test and just ensure it's an error on my part and not a calibration issue with the camera or lens so that my over-thinking mind can rest at ease while I learn and get better at this. The only other issue I can think is that I'm not stopping it down enough or that the focus hits, only it's not hitting their eyes but rather just before or after. Then again- these images could be perfectly fine and acceptable by all professional standards and I wouldn't know, coming from way down the chain of slr's.
(Side note- the two posted are of the jpegs, and I just purchased an update for my Lightroom 3 and downloaded the 4.1 patch that supposedly allows viewing of the RAW files, however I'm not that skilled at LR which I'm slowly working on learning. Wish they had a patch for PS CS5.5 that I could get for comparisons..)
f/4 1/125s 2500 ISO 24mm focal length
f/5.6 1/125s 800 ISO 105mm focal length
This is one of the many I am not so happy with, but I think it's because she was moving, or the AF did hit, however it hit her ear where the hair is more clear than the eyes. The first image has some glossy/softness to the eyes but I don't know how acceptable it is by a pro standards. The second one I feel is pretty much the best image taken so far but it could also be due to the focal length etc??
f/4 1/3200s 400 ISO 24mm focal length
My question is this- what is the easiest way to verify that I have a sharp camera/lens and not need to exchange it? My 30 day window from B&H is fast approaching and I've tested it out several times with my dogs, however I don't know if it's the perfectionist or the pessimist in me thinking they might be off.
I have like a 90% certainty it truly is user error, I mean, I'm coming from a 9 pt auto focus from the 20D which was released over a decade ago, into this massive behemoth of a camera, but I'm also not technologically incompetent at 26 either. I've swapped my AF setting to the 5 pt expansion mode (The one that looks like a cross, not the 9 pt expansion one) and been attempting to focus solely on my dogs' eyes, however out of the 20-40 images I took when I could try and get them to stay still, only really 2 came out to my satisfaction. I was shooting with the kit lens in daylight and also fluorescent light, but then again- I was shooting a 1 year old golden retriever, ripe with ADD and an abundance of energy. I'll try to attach the 2 photos that I'm somewhat satisfied with, and maybe one that I'm not.
I was just curious about what else I could do to test and just ensure it's an error on my part and not a calibration issue with the camera or lens so that my over-thinking mind can rest at ease while I learn and get better at this. The only other issue I can think is that I'm not stopping it down enough or that the focus hits, only it's not hitting their eyes but rather just before or after. Then again- these images could be perfectly fine and acceptable by all professional standards and I wouldn't know, coming from way down the chain of slr's.
(Side note- the two posted are of the jpegs, and I just purchased an update for my Lightroom 3 and downloaded the 4.1 patch that supposedly allows viewing of the RAW files, however I'm not that skilled at LR which I'm slowly working on learning. Wish they had a patch for PS CS5.5 that I could get for comparisons..)
f/4 1/125s 2500 ISO 24mm focal length
f/5.6 1/125s 800 ISO 105mm focal length
This is one of the many I am not so happy with, but I think it's because she was moving, or the AF did hit, however it hit her ear where the hair is more clear than the eyes. The first image has some glossy/softness to the eyes but I don't know how acceptable it is by a pro standards. The second one I feel is pretty much the best image taken so far but it could also be due to the focal length etc??
f/4 1/3200s 400 ISO 24mm focal length