Sharpness or Focus

bvsamrat

I have sharpness or focus issues with Auto mode where as I did not have any issues earlier with Rebel Xsi.
I have been using UW lens-Sigma 12-24mm.
Can someone comment. The photos are in another forum, which of course gave me good info, but I am looking to specific users with experience with Canon 60D.

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/tpr?p=4462504&t=264855


My Auto Focus appears to be multipoint focus. Frankly I did not change any setting since I bought the camera.

ohyeahar

I don’t think there’s an autofocus issue here. The guys in the other forum seem a bit harsh on the critiquing. They make good points but the tone used isn’t very encouraging.

Anyway, let’s discuss the photo with Shrek first.
The focus appears to be on Shrek which is to be expected. He’s such a large and dominant part of your composition, plus he’s closer to the camera. This is why the use of “Auto AF Point Selection” (or “Auto-Area AF” for Nikons”) is generally frowned upon. You are at the mercy of where your camera thinks you want to focus.
The EXIF data shows that the exposure settings were f/7.1, 1/50, ISO-100. The softness around the people next to Shrek appears to be a combination of falling just off the DOF (i.e., sweet spot of focus) and motion blur. 1/50 is not reliably fast enough to photograph people even if they pose for you. This is why the use of Auto mode is generally frowned upon. The camera just wants to get the exposure right. It doesn’t know what’s your subject matter.

Now, let’s discuss the group photo in front of the giant Christmas tree.
I struggled to find a point of sharp focus. There’s a lot going on in this shot so it wouldn’t surprise me if the AF chose the wrong point to focus on. Again, the slow shutter speed of 1/50 didn’t help because it seems you may have shaky hands. Even the static elements of your background looks like they’re motion-blurred.

So from what I can tell, there’s no autofocus issue.
If you use Auto AF Point Selection the focus never misses. It will always focus where the camera chose to focus. The problem is that where the camera chooses to focus isn’t always where YOU want it to focus.
If you use Auto exposure mode, the exposure is almost always correct. The resulting image is almost never too bright or too dark, but the camera doesn’t know that you’re photographing people who move or that you have shaky hands.
So the message is this and I can’t stress it enough: You must get off Auto mode and Auto AF Point Selection. Using a DSLR that way is severely limiting.

A couple of additional points I want to make:

Focal length:
You’re using a wide angle zoom lens. I’m not sure that’s the right focal range for the type of shots you’re doing. 35mm or 50mm seems more appropriate.

Fill the frame:
This is a very simple concept. Decide what’s your subject, and fill the frame with your subject. Let’s revisit the Christmas tree group shot. What’s the subject?
If it’s the people, move closer and fill the frame with the people.
If it’s the tree, move further away and fill the frame with the entirety of the tree.
(Basic image composition guidelines should still apply, but this is a good starting point.)