K-30 disappointment

Well I've had a few days to play now and I'm a bit disappointed. I'm struggling to get sharp shots with the 300 DA*, DFA 100 macro and the Sigma 150-500. I'm worried whether I am being paranoid but I got much sharper shots with my K-r and 55-300 DAL. I know the lenses were ok on my K-r. Now I haven't had any brilliant light but even indoor shots with the flash and the DFA 100 were soft. I wonder if there is a focusing issue. Attached is my best effort so far:- DA*300, f4.5, 1/200,Iso 400 supported on window ledge. This is raw at 50% crop converted to JPEG, no other pp. OK the light wasn't great but all the shots seem to lack "punch" so far.

............ and this one is just a 28% crop with the Sigma at 270mm, f6.3.
I use this shot a lot for testing and the edges are usually razor sharp. It is giving the green light and focus bleep and there's not much to confuse it here either.

There's nothing wrong with the shot as such, but 1/200s is a bit slow for the 300mm, and indeed for the bird, which is also moving. The crop is also not helping.

I would do a more controlled test using a target such as a newspaper taped to a wall. With a tripod and trying every aperture see whether or not the reproduction is good. A still subject is necessary to discern whether or not your point of focus is accurate.

Dave, I would hazard a guess that some fine AF adjustment is required. I once had a K-x which back-focussed very badly and shots on this camera with my 55-300 were really poor in comparison with the K-m. This was confirmed when I bought another K-x which was perfect. I'm not sure of where in the menu this is on the K-30 but I think someone will be able to assist with this pretty quicky.

Regards
David

The new firm ware update says it fixes contrast af on the k30 might be worth a go.

The contrast AF is only for Live View, so I don't think this will help?

Regards
David

Thanks, John, David and Geordie. I tried a +5 and a -5 with the 100mm last night and it made no difference. Also the flash should have taken away the movement factor. I will take your advice John on some more controlled tests this evening but if you look in my gallery you will see I don't tend to get problems hand held at 1/250th with SR and this was supported on a bean bag. The wind vain support wasn't moving. I have already done the firmware upgrade as soon as I got it. Maybe it's just those initial nerves when you get something new but I remain to be convinced. Fingers crossed and in the words of the recently deceased Clive Dunn - don't panic Mr. Mannering.
Dave

Have you got one or other of the NR options enabled?

I thought my K-30 was soft too (after the K10D, in my case). I disabled both 'High-ISO NR' and 'Slow Shutter Speed NR' and it seemed to improve considerably.

Now I didn't do any back-to-back testing, and I don't know for a fact whether they even effect RAW output. So it may have been just a placebo, but I'm much happier with the detail now.

I've just moved from a K-r to a K-30 and, whilst I haven't used it a tremendous amount yet as the weather has been dire, I've taken maybe 50 shots or so with it. Have to say the photos so far are at least on a par with the K-r and the interior shots are better, especially at slightly higher ISO's.

Like elfer I have both NR options disabled as a matter of course because they definitely caused more noise on my K-r.

Can't see much wrong with your Jay shot, but I was being uber-critical with my DA* 300mm as well. I soon realised that I couldn't just point it at something and get great results.

Like elfer I have both NR options disabled as a matter of course because they definitely caused more noise on my K-r.

I have akways had these options on just turned them off so looking forward to seeing what changes in the IQ,

Ian

I think Dave is referring to focus inaccuracy and lack of sharpness rather than noise? The two shots posted here do not look absolutely sharp to me and I'm sure it's not Dave who is at fault as I've seen lots of his images and they are always sharply in focus.

Regards
David

I use 300 DA * for more than one year, I shoot with it on K-x, K20D and K10D; .. it's an excellent lens if one respects its limits; .. it's my favourite lens for butterfly capturing; .. I've intensely used it for bird photographing too; .. IMHO the closer the target the better the IQ, beyond 8 metres IQ could be deceiving, particularly with small targets such as tit, robin .. so on. I've tried K30D in last Photokina (Köln/ Germany), .. I felt AF significantly improved compared to my cameras, and I've also read the recent reviews of depreview and IR on it, .. IQ is particularly hailed for its low contrast detail and noise control; .. consequently I think (as David) that you need time to master properly your new camera.

Just to clarify, I was suggesting that the NR modes of the K-30 cause considerable softness. I can't remember if they're enabled by default, but *if* the OP did have them enabled he might get sharper results with them off.

(But for all I know he's already tried that)

I frequently suffer from buyer's remorse. On receiving a new camera the first thing I do is test it - usually in far from optimal conditions - to look for reasons to kick myself over the purchase. My feeling is that the images here probably lack a bit of punch and sharpness because it's a drab day with low light levels, and pictures taken side by side with the Kr would not look much different. There may also be a few in-camera tweaks which need to be made in the first few weeks of getting to know a camera - NR, image settings etc.

Yes, for sure - RAW is often slightly soft out of the box, and the OP did say he hadn't done any PP other the convert to JPEG. Maybe a notch or two on the sharpness slider would help.