Not sharp

Hi,
I have just bought a K20d and have been comparing the picture quality against my recently bought Panasonic FZ18 (bridge camera)
I have to say that the Panasonic pics appear to be sharper and more focused at high zoom. Is there someting I am doing wrong? I have set the sharpness to +3 in the set up menues but it still does not appear to be as sharp, though the overall picture quality is better from normal to about 1/3rd zoom, any ideas boys (or girls) ???

Are you taking RAW or JPEG? RAWS have to be processed on the pc to make them look their best. The other thing to consider is the lens, are you using it at it's best settings (ie not at extremes of zoom length or aperture) as this can give soft images.

Post up a couple of comparison pics as well if you can so we can see what you mean!

I will take a couple of comparison shots and post them here, it might take a cpl of days or so, they are JPEG and they were not taken at the extreem of the lens, in fact they were taken at 18mm and then I zoomed in on the PC to view them.

Thanks,

Steve

I found a cpl of shots where the criteria were very similar, how do I attach them please?

https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7456 tells you how to post and is correctly a sticky, your post doesn't need sticky status.

When I got my K10D I though the same thing, that my pictures wern't that sharp. Then I chenged from the kit lens (good as it is) and things got better. I always leave sharpening to post processing as I think it does a better job then in camera.

The job of the bridge camera is often to produce print ready pictures so JPG processing is quite high in camera.

I suggest trying out some other lenses at the same focal length - take your camear with card in to the shop and take some test shots to check on a big screen.

There's the effect of a small sensor to consider too; the sensor in the Panasonic is much smaller than that in the K20D meaning that the depth of field (area in focus) is much greater at any given aperture.

If your focus is off by a small amount then it'll be quite obvious on a DSLR whereas compact/bridge cameras compensate for this by dint of their diminutiveness. The downside is not being able to achieve the razor-thin depth of field / three dimensionality with a compact sensor.

If you're using the 18-55 kit lens then 18mm is one of the extremes. When using the lens at either end (18 or 55mm) try stopping the aperture down a little to boost sharpness levels - around 1EV from the maximum should do the trick.

I don't know the Panasonic, but it may be that it applies more digital sharpening. That isn't the same thing as genuine sharpness and can look less natural. Those kind of cameras are designed to immediately please rather than produce anything more subtle. However, you can sharpen up your pictures with software afterwards if you want to achieve the same look.

Alternatively you may be doing something less than ideal and getting blurry images from your Pentax - perhaps by using low ISO settings in low light, for example.

It will be interesting too see examples from both your cameras.

The kit lens is good enough to get sharp pictures, by the way.

Hey,

Thanks for all the tips guys, it might be that I am simply not good enough with a DSLR yet.

I am looking to get a 55-200 lens (or similar) so I will get the chance to take some zoomed pics,

Thanks again,

Steve.

Another thought:

If you're zooming in all the way on the computer to view the images at 100%, you can expect a 14 MP image not to look sharp then.

What's important is how it looks on the monitor as a whole picture when resized to your chosen size, or what the print looks like if printing.

I have just downloaded my first photos from my new K20 and am also very disapointed with the sharpness of the photos compared with photos taken with two old digital cameras, one with a 4mp and 6mp sensers both taken in auto mode. I have taken the k20 photos in full auto mode in good light conditions. The K20 I have has the supplied twin lense kit. I am new to DSLR.
Can any body help?

can I share something?
I had a canon g5 and loved it.
compared to the raw files I got from my dslrs, the jpeg images at %100 did appear sharper.
but that was in camera processing. the raw files from the canon weren't sharper.
you can set your slr to add more sharpening to the jpeg files. it's in the menu.

most point and shoots will oversharpen and oversaturate the images they process in camera to appeal to the majority of consumers.

dslrs are about having choices and options. you can have less or equall or more sharpening if it fits your needs.

being able to say no, when you want your images to look the way you see it, not the way a marketing guy thinks most snapshooters want it.

Don thanks for the info and advice. I have cheched the menu and Jpeg pixels are set to 14.6 and the quality is set to 4 stars. Where abouts on the menue can the sharpness be incresesd?.

to get sharper images out of the camera try this:
menu:
image tone : saturated
Saturation: +1
Sharpness: +3
Contrast:+1
fileformat raw+jpeg.

now goto custom function and set Program Line to 4 MTF

now when you're shooting at full zoom, make sure you are shooting between f8 and f16 (most compacts are between f8 and f22 at full zoom).

use sr or use a tripod.

(2 sec release or cable release on tripod).

process your raw file properly and apply the sharpening there and compare it to your oversharpened jpeg.
make big prints.
look for the differences in the prints.

you'll see why your dslr is a better camera, then.