E5 and unsharp photos

[Guest]

I'm experiencing an issue it seems with my E5 where sometimes the photos aren't sharp, it's like they are very slightly misfocussed but when I look through the photo from the foreground to infinity nothing is sharp when this occurs, it's all unsharp by the same degree right through the photo, so possible camera shake except some of the affected photos have been shot wide angle at 1/250 sec so no chance of camera shake. It's mostly when shooting vertically it seems but not exclusively, I'm beginning to suspect the IS is not only not "ISing" when this occurs but actually causing the issue by blurring the photo rather than preventing it.
Has anyone else experienced this?
My next thing is to just turn IS off and see if the problem ceases. I never had this with the E3.

Paul

[jonsey]

Re: E5 and unsharp photos

Paul,
im getting this with my E30, i still dont get those pin sharp pics that i should, i saw some shots that stevenp3 posted yesterday and they run rings round mine, same set up...E30 + 50-200... iv tried everything..its even been to oly for repair and `calibrated`.

jeff

[David Morison]

Re: E5 and unsharp photos

I certainly have had problems with focus on my E5 + 300mm. It is when trying to photograph small birds. Ocasionally it just won't focus on the bird even though the focus confirm lights and beeps. I could understand when it is a small bird in a thick hedge but when it is in the open it doesn't make sense. I can even see the lack of focus through the viewfinder. Centre weighted, spot or small spot all have shown this problem. I have never had any of these problems with my E30 AND 300mm or with the E5 and any other lens. Most of the time it works OK but it is with the bird I may only get one shot at that annoys. Most times it happens is with hand held or monopod, so IS1 is used, but maybe this is the problem.

David

[Barr1e]

Re: E5 and unsharp photos

I certainly have had problems with focus on my E5 + 300mm. It is when trying to photograph small birds. Ocasionally it just won't focus on the bird even though the focus confirm lights and beeps. I could understand when it is a small bird in a thick hedge but when it is in the open it doesn't make sense. I can even see the lack of focus through the viewfinder. Centre weighted, spot or small spot all have shown this problem. I have never had any of these problems with my E30 AND 300mm or with the E5 and any other lens. Most of the time it works OK but it is with the bird I may only get one shot at that annoys. Most times it happens is with hand held or monopod, so IS1 is used, but maybe this is the problem.

David

Pleased I looked in before going out.

I am suffering in a similar way and will alter the IS to IS3 setting today to see if it improves.
The four shots I posted here in my thread Bbgrr were from a batch of over 150 taken - of those perhaps 40+ were as described.
An email suggesting a tweak to Olympus might solve the problem.

Regards. Barr1e

[Dogcow]

Re: E5 and unsharp photos

Yes Paul, I have the same experience on my E-5.

It occurred with me in combination with my 12-60 lens, the E-5 would not focus properly and I got some unsharp pictures. Switching the camera off and on did not help but somehow it magically disappeared again.

I have no idea what triggers it. It could be the IS but it could also be the ambient temperature, I am not sure.

I do hope that there will be a firmware update soon that corrects this problem. It annoys me heavily.

[Shaw]

Re: E5 and unsharp photos

I went out with my new E-5 for the first time yesterday, and was occasionally getting the same problem as David Morison - focus confirm light and bleep, but way off focus and will stick in that position until I focus on another object, then back to the original.

[David Morison]

Re: E5 and unsharp photos

Ambient temperature could be a common factor for me. Most of my shots with the E30 have been at reasonable temperature but nearly all my E5 shots have been at freezing or below. I am going out this morning, around freezing, and will try out the E30 to see if the same thing happens. I'll let you know.

David

[Kiwi Paul]

Re: E5 and unsharp photos

Here's an example taken yesterday to demonstrate.

This is a crop of the photo below, see how nothing is sharp, I don't think it's a focus issue as it's like this right through the photo and if the lens was misfocussing then something somewhere in the shot would be sharp, but nothing is and it's all blurred by the same degree. The shot was taken at 1/60 @ 14mm focal length with IS on so camera shake shouldn't have been as issue. It was very cold too. I'm suspecting the IS is causing this.

These are unprocessed RAW shots.

Paul



Here's the complete scene.

[Zuiko]

Re: E5 and unsharp photos

Guys, this is a new camera and there may well be a glitch if so many of you are experiencing it. I suggest you all contact Olympus as a group, referencing this thread. They need to know, might be a firmware update needed, and it's in their interests as well as yours. It certainly needs to be reported and investigated.

Besides, I need this glitch to be sorted before I can afford one!

[Wally]

Re: E5 and unsharp photos

^ Like wot 'e said. Just wondering... as one post hinted at using a mono-pod? I'm sure I've read somewhere, that when on tri-pod etc., to switch IS to OFF and, if the situation allows, to use the timer delay. Leaving IS on can cause problems such as those described.

Apologies is teaching my granny to suck eggs.

[David Morison]

Re: E5 and unsharp photos

Yes it's important to switch IS off when using a tripod but a monopod is different as there is still quite a lot of movement. Anyhow my problems have occured when handheld as well and haven't occured with the E30 on a monopod.

David

[Kiwi Paul]

Re: E5 and unsharp photos

OK I went out today and took loads of identical hand held shots with IS on and IS off and the conclusion is pretty substantial, my camera tends to blur portrait orientated shots with IS on and is fine with it off. It doesn't occur everytime but fairly often.
Here's one example below.

This shot IS off..



This one IS on... Yes it looks misfocussed but it's not, this is a problem with IS in portrait orientation.

[peak4]

Re: E5 and unsharp photos

Paul, why not have a word with Oly on Monday & offer to post them a CD/DVD of good and duff images.
I'm sure they will be able to get more out of the exif that we ever could.
That way, at lest you will still have the camera whilst they are having a ponder.

[yorky]

Re: E5 and unsharp photos

I noticed this happens occasionally as well, never quite out of focus but not spot on at times. Yesterday I was using the 35mm macro, in the end I started manually focusing which was o.k but it doesn't seem to be a consistant fault.

[Kiwi Paul]

Re: E5 and unsharp photos

It's not a focus issue, the camera and lenses focus fine, especially now I've calibrated any lenses I suspected to be OOF, it's something to do with the Image Stabilisation predominately when shooting with the camera in portrait orientation, with it off the images are sharp and clear, with it on they have a degree of blur which seems to vary from barely perceptible to rendering an image unusable.
I'll just shoot with IS off for the time being, I'm just glad I've finally found out why my images were sometimes soft, it was very frustrating.

Paul