Today I had a revelation to begin using my Canon EF-S 18~55mm, IS, II Lens. I took a few photos of some of my wife's flowers in our backyard. Initially, I was quite impressed with the lens' performance as the rear monitor clearly indicated some wonderful colors, sharpness and exposure. However a disaster struck as soon as I uploaded the images onto my computer. They turned out soft, underexposed and the colors were way off. I used the auto-focus and IS on the lens so I cannot imagine the poor results I achieved. Any and all assistance with this issue will be greatly appreciated. By the way, I do use a Canon EOS Rebel t5. (Refurbished).
Yes, WHAT THE HECK is going on? Is this happening only with this lens? Are other lenses OK? When I received my ancient 20D it had no lens and I bought an identical brand new 18-55mm on eBay from a guy who obviously didn't want a kit lens. It has performed perfectly for me with AF on, IS on & AWB but I now underexpose by 1/3 stop and I have set up my own Parameter set with Contrast, Sharpness and Saturation set to +1 and it takes images of flowers like these: If other lenses are OK then it is not your memory card. Otherwise I would try using another card. Apart from that I can't think of what it might be.
I recall it was a slightly breezy day and perhaps I caught a slight movement of the subject. But every flower? Could be I need to use a tripod even with IS on. I do not have any such problems with my other lenses. I will give your settings a try and will report back on my results. Many thanks Ray. Tony
Ray, I just uploaded three photographs taken with the t5 and kit lens. These were taken in March, 2018. Not too long ago. Let me know what you think of these. Thanks again, Tony They are entitled,"Canon Macro Photographs."
Ah, now I see them. Sorry about my misunderstanding. Well, clearly there is nothing wrong with any of those. Same camera, same lens?
Yes, same equipment. I had indicated that in my description. That was the whole purpose of showing you how well the Canon kit lens works for me. Well, this evening I decided to give my Canon filters and lenses a good cleaning with liquid lens cleaner instead of just using a micro-fiber cleaning cloth. Those cleaning cloths work great on my eyeglasses but I do not believe they are very good for camera lenses. Micro-fiber tells me there is potential for scratching the lens, front and rear. Thanks again for your assistance, I will take more photos in the morning with clean lenses. Regards, Tony
I think that is a great way to go. Let's see what happens after the clean. I use microfiber cloths on all of my equipment and have never had any issues with scratching of lenses. And I am obsessive about cleaning my stuff.
So you have shot sharp images with this lens, so it is more likely an issue with settings. I imagine you could have a slow shutter and some movement of the object. How shallow was depth of field? Could this be an issue with slightly missed focus on shallow depth of field? It is also possible that the lens is at the edge of what is considered calibrated and your lens could be ever so slightly back focus or front focusing which can show under some conditions more than others. Does the T5 allow you to set micro adjustments to focus for your lenses? You could get a chart and do some calibration tests. There are tutorials online.
Hello johnsey and thanks for your reply. I just now uploaded an image in Post Your Photos. The images I took came out much better than those of yesterday. I gave my filters and lenses a good cleaning with lens cleaning fluid and even the viewfinder is brighter on a cloudy day. The images did not come out as sharp as I had expected. While shooting I did notice a problem and that is I do not believe the IS is working all that well. Even with the IS on, my sitting in a chair and resting my elbows on my knees, there was some movement. With my Canon EF-S 55~250mm, IS, II lens the IS just freezes everything so that sharp photos are pretty much a given. Admittedly this kit gear is a bargain basement issue and I suppose after all this time, it isn't realistic to expect it to function properly forever. Given the fact that it is a refurbished lens, it seems I am better off using a tripod with the IS Off. Anyway, thanks for reading and again, for your assistance. tony
Hi Tony, I read your response and I looked at today's image. That image looks pretty good to me. Does it make any difference with IS on or off? I don't have much experience with IS as my 18-55mm is the only Canon lens that I have which has that feature.
Hi Ray, I did not try it with the IS Off. The purple petals turned out soft and that is where I focused on so I expected them to be sharper than they are. In truth, I added some sharpness to the flower, but still not what I was shooting for. I believe I will have to do this with the IS Off and my gear on a tripod. Back to the Drawing Board Tomorrow. ) Thanks for you comment. Tony P.S. I do think the images look better and brighter since cleaning the filter and the lens. Ciao.
I think its important to clarify what IS actually does, it introduces movement (counter movement) to correct hand held shake at slow shutter speeds so you can for example hand hold a heavy 200mm L lens at 1/50 of a sec and get a sharp image. I typically only rely on it for an extra maybe two stops, it has its limits. Due to the nature of how it works, that can make moving objects blurrier. If you have it mounted on a tripod it should be off as the system is still, if it is turned on it actually is adding vibration to the shot. If your not shooting slow shutter speeds where it is needed I would make sure it is turned off. You want to make sure you lens is focusing sharp take a image with a faster shutter speed than the length of the lens and you won't need IS to counter hand shake. For testing the IS....this is a small zoom lens ( I wouldn't have worried about getting one with IS), but lets go with trying maybe 1/8 or 1/15 hand held with and without the IS on and you will see how well it is working.
Hello johnsey and thanks again for your assistance. I totally agree with everything you have stated. I will go ahead and attempt the suggestions you offered and will post the results here. My take on everything is that the lens is an el cheapo, I knew it when I bought it, but it came with IS and I was and still am impressed with the IS on my Canon EF-S 55~250mm IS, II Lens. So I believe the elements of the lens, electronics, mechanics are bottom drawer, therefore it is on its last leg so to speak. Hopefully my using your suggestions will prove me wrong, so we will see. Again, many thanks, Tony
Here is a photo I took yesterday. The weather was very cooperative, overcast skies, virtually no breeze and natural lighting was ideal. Other than a little cropping and resizing, this image is essentially straight out of camera. Hope you like it. Tony Canon T5 with Canon EF-S 18~55mm IS, II Lens. 1/250s, F/8, ISO 800, Manual Exposure Mode, Focal Length 55mm with CWA Metering. Thanks for viewing. TT
