Superwide Angle Lens

[snips86x]

I've purchased a superwide angle lens, Tokina 11-16 AT-X Pro, and was wondering if you should be able to zoom into the image and still expect it to be nice and sharp?!

 

[snips86x]

You've bought arguably the best performing ultra wide angle lens for crop bodies so yes you can expect the shot to be sharp.

I'm a little unsure about the reason you felt the need to ask though, have you tried it at all?

Yes and it's no where near as sharp as I anticipated.

I took it out yesterday and when I put them through Lightrooms this morning, they were blurred like you wouldn't believe.

Don't know if I need practice using it or it's defective. I'm going to try it again later, but I'm not convinced.

 

[snips86x]

Is it blurred in the centre or the edges? Or both? You could do with posting an example with your exif data.

It's the entire image. I was using the AF for taking shots of the river & the snow, it looked spot-on, AF working perfectly, multiple AF points, but on the PC, it was so distorted, I was actually shocked.

Spoiler

Data:

 

[snips86x]

I have this lens and i can tell you its sharp, sweet spot is in the mid F's like f8/f11.
I usually take 2-3 pics of the same scene just so i know i have a few to play with, i find if its blury its bcos i never focused properly!

I was using AF and it's fine on my macro. Not sure what to do here.

 

[snips86x]

It also says the focus distance is only 1.5m giving you a DOF of 1m to 2.5m leaving the picture with a depth of only 1.5m in focus which accounts for the lack of focus everywhere else. it looks like it focused on the branches/twigs right infront of you rather than the river which is what you were trying to focus on by the looks of it.

On my 7D is use single point AF (or even Spot) on a pic like this (with things infront of where you want to focus) as the multiple AF points focus on the closest thing to the camera (i.e the twigs infront of the river) but through the viewfinder it looks like it's focused on the river instead (even though it hasn't).

Here's your pic with the area thats in perfect focus (the branches) highlighted with a red square -

Spoiler

Yeah, I know what you mean and it's possible, I'd not thought of that. I'll take it out later and try again. I'll try spot and use single AF point.

Looks like user error if you ask me, I've got the same lense and it's ultra sharp!

Well....since I've only really used this lens on 2 occasions as I've not had it long, I would not be surprised at all.

 

[snips86x]

Nothing wrong with the lens, incorrect use of the camera... I never understand why people use multiple focus points, especially for landscape. I leant my old 400D to my daughter once and forgot it was on multiple points, 90% pictures were out of focus.

Use centre only, then if you have an off centre point of interest manually choose the focus point YOU want it to use...... Multi point mode is like program mode, point and shoot attempt to capture something when the user doesn't know how to use the controls.
Landscapes = single point, aperture prority and exposure compensation, the key tools to perfect.

To be honest, I never really took that much notice of the multiple AF points, I saw it as a easier option than using single AF. I'll go back to using single and see how it goes. I've been using AP for most of my shots, unless low light or night shots, anyway. Appreciate your replies.

 

[snips86x]

I use http://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html (and a phone app when not on the PC) to give me a rough guide of DOF.

The far river bank looks to be 20-30m away from you so using the tables above at F3.5 and 16mm on a 7D everything from 3.5m away to infinity should be in focus so the branches will be out of focus (and maybe the trees framing the shot on the left) but the river, river bank and everything on the right side should be in focus.

If you drop the Aperture to F8 it drops the focus to only 1.7m away from you (so everything from 1.7m to infinity will be in focus) and at F11 it's only 1.2m to infinity.

Of course if I've got the rivers distance wrong it puts all the other focus figures out

Let us know how it goes!

Here are some I took earlier. Looking better I think:

Spoiler

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Still not convinced by the landscape of the river, still looks out of focus when you zoom in a little.

Not the best day either.

 

[snips86x]

I made the same mistake yesterday, went out in the snow to try and take some scenic snow shots with my new camera, got back and all but 2-3 aren't blurry, I checked the settings and I had the camera on multi AF

On the bright side I have lots of pics of in-focus branches!!!

lol

To be honest, I think some of the shots I've taken I've done so with the wrong lens. I need to use the Tokina 11-16 for landscape shots and the macro for the closer shots as that is what it's there for.

Once I've got my Canon 70-200mm F/2.8 NON IS, it should be easier as that would also do reasonable close up shots. Obviously not to the macro standard mind.

I do think however, it's learning to use the lens. All lenses are different and they cannot all be used in the same way. I'm sure I'll get there in a few weeks. Still a little confused over the comment above about the aperture & focusing distance, may have to do more reading.

 

[snips86x]

The reaosn the riverbank shot doesn't work is because once again you've used F4 and focused right in front of you. Stick it on F8 or 11 and use hyperfocal distance for wideangle landscape shots.

The issue I have with using f8 is the compensation you have to make on the shutter speed due to loss of light, hence using f/2.8-4. When you start reducing the shutter speed, you get motion blur which requires the use of a tripod.

I have this lens. It's nice but tends to vignette at full 11mm.

I found that the petal hood gets in the way too if it's put on the wrong way round. You can see it wide open.

 

[snips86x]

That's when I'd start increasing the ISO. You're shooting that middle picture at ISO200 so you could go to ISO 800 and keep the same shutter speed, although your shutter speed was 1/640th which is fast enough that you could just drop the Aperture to F8 on that particular shot and still shoot down to 1/100th quite easily avoiding motion blur.

PS I'm not sure how the petal hood can seen when it's on "backwards" as it sits behind the glass??? The only way it can be seen is when it's fitted normally like the pic on the right -

Ok, I think I may have to start experimenting.

The largest parts of the petal hood were on the right and left, not top/bottom.

 

[snips86x]

Hmmmm back to basics I think.... looking at the second shot, it was 1/640 sec, F4 and ISO200.... and 11mm focal length. Focus again was near point.
Why ?
1. Focus on the tree across the river, with centre only.
2. Set F8, this will give you two stops lower speed around 1/160th
3. Dial in +1 stop compensation, (because of the snow) will drop you to 1/80th..take shot review histogram, adjust or bracket a few extra shots.

You can always push the ISO up to 400 (or higher) to get 1 stop back if you worried.
BUT you should be able to hand hold twice the lens focal length. In this case 1/20th, let place safe and say 1/30th...... Practice your technique, and find something to lean against for support...... or take a tripod.

Yeah, think your right. Like I said though, you 'learn' the lenses you buy. You cannot just pick it up and use it like your a pro, you have to take time. This is what I think I'm missing, is the spending the time to learn the lens.

My macro is spot on, 100% with that, so it's got to be this.

 

[snips86x]

Just to be clear, by "hood on backwards" I mean like this -

I see your in Wiltshire and I'm in Swindon so if you fancy a meet up to compare 7D's at any time then my email is in the trust on the bottom right.

Maybe I didn't mean backwards, but the largest petals were left & right which is why I could see it @ 11mm.

Sure, I'll trust my details.

Hope you don't mind but I took that 2nd picture and ran it through some minor post processing (Lightroom and Photoshop) and it's not that bad - (Click for full sized 1.5Mb pic)

What PP did you use?

I simply run it through LR3 to balance any colours & lighting which may have been missed/badly balanced when I shot it in RAW. I tend not to do much editing as my personal preference. I'll keep taking it till it's right.