Bryn Loc: Connecticut

I have been using a Nikon D40X with the 18-50mm kit lens for a couple of years but about 2 months ago I bought a new D5100 body. Since then I have been struggling to obtain images that look as sharp as I got on the old body and wonder what I am doing wrong? I have included a couple of typical pics from the new camera

sinatraman Loc: Vero Beach Florida, Earth,alpha quaudrant

i do not see any lack of sharpness. rember most photos are going to be seen either in an album or on a wall and people will be 2-3 feet away and will not notice minor imperfectios.

sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

I have a D5100 and sometimes wonder myself. I think it is the focus dots that sometimes throw the photo off. When there are multiple focus dots, which one focuses where ?

Sarge

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

What setting do you have your focus set to? Try spot and only nine points. In the one with the boy, looks like the swing set is sharp. If you want to have the boy in focus you have to focus on him , lock focus and reframe to get the big picture. Also what were your settings on these? An aperture around 5.6 will make the front part of the picture slightly off if you focused on the swing.
Erv

ace-mt Loc: Montana

I agree that multiple focus points is your problem. Luckily an easy fix. Just change to single point. I got an excellent piece of advice once, that has really helped me. I was told to practice moving the focal point until I could do it without taking the camera away from my eye. Easier than it sounds, and it comes in handy.

senad55verizon.net Loc: Milford, NJ

Your pictures are not unsharp.

There are lots of image qualities that contribute to the impression of sharpness, and you can control those easily in post-processing, How you do that exactly is a function of the kind of processing software avaialble to you.look specifically for adjust ments like sharpening, clarity, mid-range contrast and the like.

coatachrome

Hello Bryn, Coatachrome here.

Try changing your autofocus function in the camera's set up menu. Check the af-area mode and change the setting from whatever it is, generally the default is Auto Area, to the Single Point mode. Then the single point can be selected by using the multi-function button on the back of your camera. Move the single point to the center of the screen.

MWAC Loc: Somewhere East Of Crazy

Yep switch it to single point, you will be much happier with the results you get from your camera when you take contorl instead of letting the camera decided what is important.

senad55verizon.net Loc: Milford, NJ

I'm not sure why everybody's telling you're going to improve the sharpness of your images by using center spot focussing. (Of course, it's a good idea to use center spot, but that's not the point here)

I'm posting three 100% views form or near the center of your posted shots. At risk of repeating myself, your images are not unsharp.

If you want more apparent sharpness than this, you need to learn how to get it in post processing software. In a well-designed workflow, the last step in post-processing almost any digital image should sharpening.

MWAC Loc: Somewhere East Of Crazy

We are telling her to use single point focus, you can move the center point to any of the camera's multi focal points, the key is to control where the focus is going to fall, not letting the camera pick the areas with the highest contrast.

BigBear Loc: Northern CT

I think a lower shutter duration would help a bit too.
Something @ 1000 or more based on the amount of available light I see.

senad55verizon.net Loc: Milford, NJ

C'mon, everybody, let's get real. Here's the young lady's post:

"I have been using a Nikon D40X with the 18-50mm kit lens for a couple of years but about 2 months ago I bought a new D5100 body. Since then I have been struggling to obtain images that look as sharp as I got on the old body and wonder what I am doing wrong? I have included a couple of typical pics from the new camera"

She wants to know what she's doing wrong. The answer: she's not doing anything wrong. She thinks she has unsharp pix but actually she doesn't, and we need to point that out if we're going to do her any good at all.

She's not going to get better sharpness than this, no matter what she does with her camera. You can see the boy's eyelashes in the 100% view, for heavens sake!

If she wants better apparent sharpness, she's going to have to do something other than change her camera technique.

Almost all digital cameras have an anti-aliasing screen over the sensor, and that produces a minimal level of blur in the image. It's a thing that has to be dealt with in post processing software.

Don't want to be shrill or overbearing, but this Forum is supposed to offer advice that's to the point and helpful to the OP.

senad55verizon.net Loc: Milford, NJ

Yours is a much more contrasty image with more saturated colors and has, agreed, much better apparent sharpness. But she's certainly not going to get this very different kind of image from her camera by changing to center spot focussing or shortening exposure time.

The only way true sharpness can be judged is by the amount of fine detail that can be resolved in a 100% view (ie, image and screen, pixel for pixel. In Photoshop it's called "actual pixels".)

You may not be impressed by the fact that you can see eyelashes on a kid that's 20 or 30 feet or more from the camera, but that's what real sharpness is all about.

MWAC Loc: Somewhere East Of Crazy

No but changing her camera settings to single point focus where she controls where the focus falls compaired to letting the camera pick the focus point will improve her sharpness.



And I'm sorry I don't the eyelashes you are referring to, I see light brown blurs.

oh and before you say it (cause your thinking it, and it's ok, cause I admit it freely) yes I am a photography snob. :)

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

The photos are sharp, they're just sharp in the wrong places. In the first, everything seems just a bit out of focus. In the second, check the ladder on the swing set, it's in sharper focus than the boy, or the grass next to him.

Using a single point to focus and locking it in is certainly worth trying. In the first photo, could there be some camera movement? I didn't see the shutter speed in the camera info.

Since this is a new camera for you, have you adjusted the diopter setting on the viewfinder for your eyesight?