Blurrymess
New member
You're welcome, Phil. I'm still working through it myself.
D40 pics are much sharper than D5100???
- Thread starter artydawg
- Start date
Will V|Photography
Senior Member
Though my D3100 is good in the sharpness area, I'm going to check and see if I can do the same. Maybe I can get it "tack" sharp.
Thank You!!!
Patrick M
Senior Member
@Blurrymess: I love my D5100 but never came across any sharpness issue before I read this thread. I really liked your comment and feedback. Elsewhere I've said that after having this camera for 9 months I'm still learning. You've added to my knowledge! Many thanks 
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Blurrymess
New member
Blurrymess
New member
You're welcome.
Blurrymess
New member
@Blurrymess: I love my D5100 but never came across any sharpness issue before I read this thread. I really liked your comment and feedback. Elsewhere I've said that after having this camera for 9 months I'm still learning. You've added to my knowledge! Many thanks
No problem, Patrick. I never had any blurry issues, but then I found I could great affect the sharpness in the in camera sharpening, though I think it also has to do with shutter speed, how steady one holds the camera, lens...
Regarding what some people experience with the D5100 vs the D40, I read someone else talk about how there are less MP in the D40, so less detail and less opportunity to blur, while the D5100 having a much larger MP count shows a lot more detail, and in turn has more opportunity to show blur due to smaller amounts of movement being captured. This is not a negative IMO, but it just means you need better technique as the camera requires you to be more steady at lower shutter speeds. I think that once people get to grips with why their camera is acting the way it does, and learns how to work with it, issues like sharpness... are not a concern. So, like you allude to, there's nothing "soft" about the D5100 (quite the opposite), one just needs to learn how to use it.
Like your self, I'm still working my way through this camera, and having lots of fun doing it.
I too just bought a D5100 after using the D40 for some time. I have to agree with the OP that the shots I was getting with the D5100 on AUTO, same lens and SB400, were not as vivid and crisp as with the D40. Again - this is on AUTO. As soon as I switched to MANUAL and started editing setting (sharpness, saturation) the pics started to come to life with alacrity!
I'm looking forward to some good time with the D5100.
Cheers,
jabguit
I'm looking forward to some good time with the D5100.
Cheers,
jabguit
viscountdriver
Senior Member
The 5100 is a better camera but like so much of advanced technology you have to learn how to use it. I have D3100 which makes sharp pictures but so did my Olympus E420 but as I use the Nikon I get better and have started getting better pictures. I had to learn, it didn't happen overnight.
thank you so much for posting HOW to do this!! i have been reading from many that this is an issue they're having, and had realized it was most likely an issue i am having. everyone was posting how they were changing their sharpness setting, but not explaining how. i will be playing with this, and will hopefully be able to fix how sharp my photos have been turning out. A million thanks!
Don Kuykendall_RIP
RIP :(
That only changes the sharpness if you are shooting in JPEG. You also need to be shooting in Fine if you are shooting JPEG.
If you are shooting in RAW then none of this matters. In RAW you control all of this in Post Processing
If you are shooting in RAW then none of this matters. In RAW you control all of this in Post Processing
SkvLTD
Senior Member
I've never really had that kind of issue w/ my 5100, and shoot exclusively in RAW for the past 4-5 months. As usual, lenses matter, but here's semi-old pic w/ my 50mm f/2, where the camera has to be in manual and doesn't even know what lens is on it, so it just gets what you dial in.
If you can see jagged pattern on the tiny leaves, that's plenty sharp IMO.
If you can see jagged pattern on the tiny leaves, that's plenty sharp IMO.
Michael J.
Senior Member
Slipperman
Senior Member
this has been my issue from the beginning as well with the same kit lens. no matter how well exposed or lit a pic is, i always have to sharpen it in ViewNX. don't think it's user error in that i make sure my lenses are clean and have worked hard to learn how exposure works but it hasn't done any good. still need sharpening in every case. have been assuming it's the zoom lens (as they are not as 'true' as a prime lens) but what the OP said about using the same zoom lens between the 2 cameras and the 5100 was still not as sharp as the 40 makes me wonder. there has to be something to it now that at least 3 people have seen this.
Blade Canyon
Senior Member
Blurrymess in Post 19 says the exact opposite. He wrote that two RAW files of a similar shot were very different after changing the picture sharpness settings. Now I get to go home and do some new experiments to find out. Maybe the picture settings just change the initial appearance of the RAW files, but the information contained in the files is the same?
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
While I have not confirmed this myself, I believe some of the Nikon applications (e.g. ViewNX, CaptureNX) do interpret certain aspects of the camera settings profile even when displaying RAW files; so if Blurrymess is using one of those applications, that might explain the difference.
In thinking about it, and considering that my upgrade path also went from D40 to D5100 to my current D7100, the D40 did turn out sharper photo's, at least at the outset. Once I tweaked my D5100 I was very happy with the output. But both camera's most definitely needed tweaking in the menus to achieve full potential. As I recall, the default "Sharpness" setting on all my Nikon cameras has been quite low; definitely in negative numbers. Whether changing those settings helps when shooting RAW or not I guess is debatable, but it certainly isn't *hurting* anything in my experience.
....
Slipperman
Senior Member
this solved my problem too. funny thing is i have been aware of the 'subsettings' for Picture Control for a while but couldn't figure out how to change them. gets confusing though - if using an auto mode like Macro or Landscape, those modes will use their own default subsettings for PC regardless of what you set them to in the menu. yours only take affect when in M, A, S, or P mode.
in any case i used both 6 and 8 for my tests today (the camera defaulted to 4 which explains why they were always a little blurry) and both pics looked really sharp though there wasn't a noticeable difference between the 2. awesome.
oh, and i set my function button to change ISO as well. very convenient.
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I have mainly been seeing this in taking pictures of people. sometimes their faces are real sharp, beautiful. and others, they are slightly blurry. settings are always similar. I also wondered if it was my lens. I increased my default sharpness to 6, I believe, but don't know if I see much of a difference. it looks more 'digital' when I increase the sharpening, not the "crisp" sharpness with my d60. You mentioned the applications might make a difference? Can you please elaborate on that? I am using ViewNX2 that I received with my camera when I got it. I don't know if this will make sense, but when I open a picture, it looks real sharp, then it adjusts slightly and looks out of focus. It's like the program is adding softening. In the past, it was always the opposite--pictures were blurry until the program adjusted, then were sharp. I noticed this most on a recent photo I took at a wedding. I could see the eyes real clear when it first pulled up, but when it adjusted, I couldn't make out the iris/pupil. I don't know if this is making any sense... But, if it somehow IS the program, is there a fix around it?