 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| PhotoKB HomeDiscussion Groups Digital Photography Digital PhotoDSLR CamerasZLR CamerasPoint & Shoot CamerasFilm Photography 35 mmLarge FormatMedium formatDarkroomFilm and LabsOther EquipmentPhoto Technique Nature PhotographyPeople PhotographyTechnique GeneralGeneral Photo Topics General TopicsAustralian PhotographyUK PhotographyDirectoryPhoto Clubs |
Photo Forum / Digital Photography / DSLR Cameras / May 2008Pictures seem sharper with flash.
I have an OlympusE500 with the standard kit lens and I notice that the results are in better focus when I use the pop-up flash. Is there any reason for this? PJ > I have an OlympusE500 with the standard kit > lens and I notice that the results are in > better focus when I use the pop-up flash. Is > there any reason for this? PJ Smaller aperture for more depth of field plus most lenses don't do so well wide open. The flash gives more light for shorter exposures (less blur from shaking the camera) and/or closing the aperture (larger number). Sorry if that was too abbreviated but those are the basic factors involved. > > I have an OlympusE500 with the standard kit > > lens and I notice that the results are in [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Sorry if that was too abbreviated but those are the basic factors involved. and very important, flash 'shutter speed' is 1/100-1/1000th of a second, which eliminates or reduces motion. pure flash it is obvious, even fill flash the effect shows. > I have an OlympusE500 with the standard kit > lens and I notice that the results are in > better focus when I use the pop-up flash. Compared to what? Daylight? Indoors? Dark side of the moon? >> I have an OlympusE500 with the standard kit >> lens and I notice that the results are in >> better focus when I use the pop-up flash. > > Compared to what? Daylight? Indoors? Dark side of the moon? Not with flash a smart man would probably assume! >> I have an OlympusE500 with the standard >> kit [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Compared to what? Daylight? Indoors? > Dark side of the moon? I have 3 lenses for this camera, and the sharpness is variable - even when I use a tripod for shots over 1/60th sec. The lenses are: The kit lens 14-45mm F3.5-4.5 Zuiko 7-14 F4, And just acquired 50mmMacroF2.0. The first two seem to produce sharp results on good sunny days with a tripod. In cloudy weather, when I shoot cityscapes to avoid shadows, the sharpness is not so good. Is it necessary to have a deep histogram for good focusing? I am still assessing the 3rd lens, and though it gives good results so far, the depth of field will be a problem. The manual focusing is MUCH easier with this lens. > ...sharp results > on good sunny days with a tripod. In cloudy > weather, when I shoot cityscapes to avoid > shadows, the sharpness is not so good. Depth of field might be less on the cloudy day in auto or program mode. The camera doesn't know you have a tripod so it's trying to prevent too slow a shutter speed for hand held. Use aperture priority mode and set the aperture to f/5.6 or f/8. If you go up to f/11 or f/16 there will be some overall drop in sharpness due to diffraction on the small pixels, though depth of field increases. > Is it necessary to have a deep histogram for good focusing? You need plenty of light for good depth of field hand held but on a tripod, it doesn't matter.  SignaturePaul Furman www.edgehill.net www.baynatives.com all google groups messages filtered due to spam >I have an OlympusE500 with the standard kit >lens and I notice that the results are in >better focus when I use the pop-up flash. Is >there any reason for this? PJ Maybe, maybe not. Are you comparing shots with the same aperture and shutter speed? My first thought is your non-flash shots are at a slow shutter speed and suffer from some degree of motion blur. But as you have not provided any detailed information about the specifics shots you are comparing nor have posted the images with the exif info intact, any guess at this point is mostly speculation. your non flash pics are probably not out of focus but suffering from camera movement. when you use your flash the camera adjusts to an exposure to match the sync speed of the flash (the actual duration of the flash is much shorter) thus removing much of the movement that is blurring the pic...a test to run is to put the camera on a tripod or even set it on a table and take a pic with the flash and without > I have an OlympusE500 with the standard kit > lens and I notice that the results are in > better focus when I use the pop-up flash. Is > there any reason for this? PJ >I have an OlympusE500 with the standard kit lens and I notice that >the results are in better focus when I use the pop-up flash. Is >there any reason for this? PJ In most instances flash seems to provide sharper images because the duration of the flashes light is extremely brief. Much shorter that the shutter that normally controls duration. Flash might operate for 1/1000th of a second or less. Without flash the shutter durations may be ,often, between 1/25th of a second to 1/500th of a second. The longer the shutter duration the better chance of camera shake causing very small amounts of blur. Not normally enough to see an obvious blur but not as sharp an image that was trapped ate 1/1000th of a second or less. >>I have an OlympusE500 with the standard kit >>lens and I notice that the results are in [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > image that was trapped ate 1/1000th of a > second or less. Thanks, The sharpness seems so much better I thought the sensor might, in some way, react favourably to the high-actinic light. I am new to the flash methods which seem rather involved but I will pursue it for close-ups. > I have an OlympusE500 with the standard kit > lens and I notice that the results are in > better focus when I use the pop-up flash. Is > there any reason for this? PJ You need to hold the camera still. Try to just press the shutter button. Don't try to push the camera at your finger or at the subject. Years ago when my wife first picket up a camera, she looked like the camera was trying to jump out of her hand and she was trying to stop it. Try a tripod and use the timer or sit the camera on something solid and use the timer. Then check the focus results. Better yet, get out in the sun and take some pictures and check them. Steve > I have an OlympusE500 with the standard kit > lens and I notice that the results are in > better focus when I use the pop-up flash. Is > there any reason for this? PJ Assuming you mean as opposed to no-flash: Using flash "exposes" for a very brief time onto the sensor (2 ms down to 100 microseconds or so), so the image is very "frozen" in time. Non flash shots suffer mainly from hand holding movement as well as subject movement. You can get equally sharp non-flash shots if you use a tripod and shoot at speeds that avoid the mirror slap effect range (about 1/10 to 1/125s ; but this depends on camera model). Signature-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm -- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm -- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin -- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch. On 30-May-08 05:58:30, Peter Jason said >I have an OlympusE500 with the standard kit >lens and I notice that the results are in >better focus when I use the pop-up flash. Is >there any reason for this? PJ Apart from the possibility of camera movement, flash-on-camera is providing a very contrasty light, and part of perceived sharpness is contrast. All the best, Angus Manwaring. (for e-mail remove ANTISPEM) I need your memories for the Amiga Games Database: A collection of Amiga Game reviews by Amiga players http://www.angusm.demon.co.uk/AGDB/AGDB.html |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.