help with camara

[chrisbryn40]

ive just bought a canon eos300d and have a sigma 70-300 macro lens on my probem is that i seem to have it on full zoom all the time and set on manuel both on the camara and the lens but my pictures are blurry help please has anybody got any ideas for me what am i doing wrong as a complete novice

[sharky620ti]

if its set on manual on the lens then its in manual focus mode. if you switch it to auto (AF) on the lens, does it focus ok then?

I wouldn't bother using the manual setting on the body until you get used to it. set it on full auto or TV to start with.

[John D]

Hi Chris,

Try the following for starters - set to Av (Aperture priority) , ISO to 400 and aperture to f5.6-8. If the light allows f8 is preferential in most cases.
Keep in mind if hand holding the speed should be not less than the recipricol of the lens setting in mm. ie if set at the 300mm max as you have indicated the speed should be around 1/300sec in order to compensate for camera shake.
However it would be better if you used a monopod or a tripod for even better results.
Hope this helps. Remember practice and patience are both very important.

John D
Zenfolio | John's Wild World

[cosmicma]

i thought i would add that the problem with the sigma lens is that it's quite soft ( not as sharp ) at 300mm
if it's the 70 - 300mm f4 - f5.6 APO DG macro model it's pin sharp at 70mm and quite good upto around 200mm but anything after that it's sharp focus drops quite noticably

this is not what your experiencing by the way what you are experiencing is explained by sharky620ti in his post

let us know how you get on

[chkm8]

Originally Posted by cosmicma

i thought i would add that the problem with the sigma lens is that it's quite soft ( not as sharp ) at 300mm
if it's the 70 - 300mm f4 - f5.6 APO DG macro model it's pin sharp at 70mm and quite good upto around 200mm but anything after that it's sharp focus drops quite noticably

this is not what your experiencing by the way what you are experiencing is explained by sharky620ti in his post

let us know how you get on

Sigma 70_300 APO DG at 300mm
Not that soft IMHO

[chkm8]

Originally Posted by chrisbryn40

ive just bought a canon eos300d and have a sigma 70-300 macro lens on my probem is that i seem to have it on full zoom all the time and set on manuel both on the camara and the lens but my pictures are blurry help please has anybody got any ideas for me what am i doing wrong as a complete novice

If the lens is on full zoom all the time is it stuck on the macro setting ?
I so you need to turn this off first then return to auto focus.
Shutter speed is as mentioned above related to the length of the lens. However the canon 300D has a 1.6 crop sensor therefore at the full 300mm you should aim for 300x1.6 not 300mm x 1. These are of course guidelines and can be manipulated slightly using a tripod, shutter release, adjusting ISO etc.
Once back on auto focus just get out and shoot shoot shoot. Make notes on your settings or download a free exif reader and use it to open images and compare the settings used in both the sharper images and those you will be dumping. Read the critiques and learn from other peoples mistakes.
I have also added a link or 2 that you may be interested in.

John.

Ben's Newbie Guide to Digital SLR Photography - Canon Digital Photography Forums

How to Photograph Birds

[nightshade]

Originally Posted by chrisbryn40

ive just bought a canon eos300d and have a sigma 70-300 macro lens on my probem is that i seem to have it on full zoom all the time and set on manuel both on the camara and the lens but my pictures are blurry help please has anybody got any ideas for me what am i doing wrong as a complete novice

When you say full zoom, you mean set to the 300mm end of its range or is the little macro switch in operation? This switch is near the Sigma name on the body of the lense and says normal/macro.You may need to rock the zoom collar back and forward gently to effect the switch change over
The other tiny switch is down near the bayonet fitting and is shifted with a finger nail to display an orange dot.
Best aperture at 300 is f11 and at 200 f11 70mm is f8/9 beware of camera shake, use a tripod or bean bag

[chrisbryn40]

hi everyone,

thanks for all your great replies i have now put my camara on af normal setting on the body but kept the lens on manuel also the lens was on macro so have changed that to normal. im going to go out and snap away and keep practising thanks all

[cosmicma]

i would put the lens on auto unless you want to focus manually
if the lens is on manual and you just press the shutter without adjusting the focusing ring on the lens it will just take a photo and the focus will be wherever it was last focused and not nessessarly on the subject

autofocus is pretty accurate these days and in some circumstances better than using manual focusing

[cosmicma]

Originally Posted by chkm8

Sigma 70_300 APO DG at 300mm
Not that soft IMHO

i think the image of the frog confirms what i say about the lens

at f9 and a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second the image should be pin sharp
although the eye seems to be ok the small leaves to the lower left seem soft although they are on the same focal plain as the eye
overall the image does have a soft look to it compared to other lenses at the same apeture and focal length

i own one of these lenses and have had it for a few years and have use it on a 300d , 350d , 450d , 40d and 50d and the results above 200mm have been consistantly soft
at 70mm it's as sharp as any other lens i have tried

don't get me wrong the lens is quite good for it's price but it does have shortcomings

sorry for going a bit off topic but i felt the need to point this out