H everyone..
First of all, sorry for being so inactive lately...
They blocked almost every website at work, jsp included, and it was my only high speed connection available to stay in contact with the photography forum..
On dial-up at home it is kind of painful to click on a topic with pictures....

But I didn't forget about all my photography friends and will always rely on you guys (and girls) for help

As most of you know, I recently got myself a used Canon xsi and I love t for the most part.
It came with the kit lens (18-55 mm).
But...
I seem to have a real hard time to get close-ups with dead on focus, and my landscape are not that clear either...
They all look great in smaller size, but when I want to crop something, it almost always look 'out of focus'..
Not by much, but enough to bother me

My question is...
Is it the cheap kit lens?
Is there something wrong with the camera itself?
Or am I completely failing..

My close-up or macro pictures taken with my point and shoot (Canon A570is) looked somewhat better

I plan to buy the Canon 50 mm 1.8 lens maybe today or tomorrow... hoping my problem is the kit lens..

Your input s all appreciated
Thanks in advance!

i have canon 50 1.8, i love this lens,

you should buy

Hey Marie! Close ups with a dslr body are dependent upon the lens itself. Most kit lenses have a difficult time fine focusing at such close distances from your subject. Getting a prime lens will help loads in my honest opinion. I have no experience with the Canon 50mm 1.8... But I wouldn't get rid of my Nikkor 50mm 1.4 for anything. Prime lenses are where its at. I don't think you'll be at all disappointed with that lens.

Oh yes! You will LOVE the 50mm 1.8 lens !

I wasn't a fan of my kit lens either, and I found I have been getting the same issues as you using it. I used it lately and just hate the unsharpness of it. I switched to the wide angle I have, and it seemed to be MUCH more sharp. I think it does come down to the lenses in that aspect, but I am not totally sure. I mean comparing the sigma wide angle lens to a kit lens is pretty out of space. All I know is that if I want to take nature photos, I switch to my wide angle because I get a much more clear picture.

I missed the macro part of my old camera as well. Then I just got used to the fact I can't do macro's with my equipment the way I want them done, so I stopped macro entirely until I eventually get a macro lens.

This post was edited by Chantal7 on Jul 9 2010 08:38am

the 18-55 kit lens is crap to be straightforward. it´s really a bad lens if you compare it to the medium price section and the high end lenses of canon. so you can basically say it´s the lenses fault that your 100% crops look pretty bad most of the times. you simply cannot catch alot of detail with that lens. and it´s not really sharp, especially with the old version which hasnt even got an IS.
The 50mm 1.8 is a great lens. considering it´s a prime lens, it has awesome sharpness. the price is unbeatable. cons are the bad autofocus and the poor build of the lens. but its definately a must have for entrance level DSLR users. You should be aware tho, you´re very limited with such a lens. it is awesome for portraits. in low light situations it prevents you from having to use your flash, because of the f 1.8. In well lighted situations you can work alot with depth of field and such. that´s awesome too. BUT, it´s definately not good for macros or for landscape / scenery photography. at least that´s my opinion. you wont be able to get really close to an object with that lens, because the lens just cant focus anymore. so for really small things like insects, this lens is almost completely useless. same counts for landscape. no need to explain that..... you dont shoot landscape on 50mm.....
I´ve never tried it out for sport photography, but I doubt you´´ll be able to catch any fast moving objects with it on the XSi, since both the autofocus of the 50mm 1.8 ( no usm ) and of the Body itself are rather slow.
If you´re looking for a good lens for EVERYTHING I´d suggest the Tamron 17-50mm 2.8. It goes for around 400 bucks with image stabilizer, is really really sharp and well built.
If you want a good lens for landscape photography, you might think about an ultra wideangle. the tokina 11-16mm should be your best choice then I guess.

So much for that. I kinda went all out on that, hope it helped abit

The nifty fifty (50 1.8 MKII) is indeed an excellent lens. Stopped down to f/2.2 it's ungodly sharp. Only downside is the build quality, hunts in low light conditions and the horrendous hexagon bokeh.

As for a replacement for the 18-55 IS kit lens. I wouldn't get a tammy 17-50 VC (Vibration compensation). The VC version is proven to be alot worst optically compared to the Non-VC counterpart. I've personally had bad luck with tamron lenses i could say. I first brought a Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 to replace my kit lens awhile back, it was a good copy but the focal length didn't work for me so i returned it. A few months down the road, i brought a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 VC for a cheaper alternative to the "holy grail of walkaround for aps-c sensor" the Canon 17-55 f/2.8. After i got home, i tried the lens and the AF mechanism was DUD. I was annoyed and took it back to the shop for a replacement... They didn't have any more so i "upgraded/ downgraded" to the Non-VC 17-50.

Sadly.. the 17-50 was a disappointment. After a day out with it.. i notice the Image quality wasn't what i expected it to be. I did some testing with it vs my 18-55 kit lens at home and came to the conclusion that i either got another bad copy.. or that my kit lens was abnormally good. Even with the Tammy stepped down to f/3.5 to 5.6.. the kit lens was sharper wide open. I eventually returned it and brought a Canon 15-85 f/3.5-5.6. That lens BLEW ME AWAY with it's sharpness, color rendition, and vibrance. It's prime like sharp all around, AF is quick and build is alot better then the Canon 17-55 f/2.8. Definitely a contender for the walk around crown. It's not as fast as the 17-55 but the focal length definitely makes up for the shortcomings. Only downside to the 15-85 is some distortion shooting in the wider focal lengths.. but that's a easy two click to fix in post processing.

I know that's a lot to read, what i wanted to say is.. if you're wanting to upgrade from the 18-55 IS kit lens, i would only consider the following.

• Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 Non-VC and pray that you get a good copy. $459~
• Canon 15-85 f/3.5-5.6 (Highly recommended) Purchase before 7/10 and while Canon has it's instant rebate, couple that with Bing cashback and Mr.Rebates + eeeeeeeebay bucks. You're only paying $542 for a $720 lens. But you better hurry, rebates end 7/10
• Sigma 17-50mm F2.8 EX DC OS HSM (optical stabilization) - $669. This lens was just released recently and from early photos, it seems to be just as good as the non-vc tamron optically. A cheaper alternative to the Canon 17-55 f/2.8. But it's not as sharp as the Canon 15-85

If you want to do macro, i suggest buying a Macro lens or get a set of Kenko extension tubes to test the grounds.. Make sure it's something that you enjoy doing before throwing down the dough for a dedicated Macro lens.

Edit:


Another reason that's happening could be the way you're holding the camera. Having your elbows tucked in and hit the shutter while you're exhaling helps stabilize the camera. Are you also following the 1/focal length rule for shutter speed? Remember to multiply your focal length by 1.6 for the crop factor of the XSi.

Also, the lower the aperture, the shallower the depth of field is, and that's dof exponentially decreases at macro distances.. f/16 or more is needed to get the entire image in focus at 1:1 distances. (depending on the subject you're shooting ofc.)

Also at closeup/ macro distances, the image is more prone to camera shake, it's best to use a tripod in those situations or use a very fast shutter speed.

This post was edited by Eek on Jul 9 2010 02:12pm

I don't have it!

I've got a 50mm 1.7/f, but it's full manual. I've been considering a 1.4/f or 1.8/f auto focus, but I don't really have the money yet.

I'd go ahead and get it, I know I love my 50mm even though is manual.

70-200 f4 is likely the sharpest zoomie lens I've used, ignoring the 50 mm 1.2 L (and 85 mm 1.2 L MKII) at around 2.4 aperture.

Yes, you must keep in mind that while cropping, you are pretty much enlargening a section of your image. Remember the kids that claim "ZOMG +Megapixels DON'T MATTER UNLESS YOU ENLARGE?" They usually don't try and crop their images, and when they do, they get these results.

Get a macro lens if you want to shoot bugs

This post was edited by onepagememory on Jul 10 2010 12:34am

Ok bought the new lense..
I still have to shoot a lot more with it...
There is a nice improvement, but need to refine my skills also..
And yes, I do need a macro lens cause miss shooting bugs....

I only had time to upload one picture so far (busy busy) and although t seems to be a bad shot cause of the wind, I sort of like the effect and thought I'd share it with you

'll post more when I get more time to upload.. (dial-up sucks)