Hi all, just got this lens from a fellow fred member and have recently shot two weddings and a couple of portrait sessions with it. One wedding seemed to come out perfect, I was highly pleased with the lens, still am really, but for the second wedding and the portraits I noticed alot of what I can only assume is motion blur or "ghosting" I dont have any images on this comp, but the following post has an image that looks exactly like what im getting, its almost like a double image:

Ghosting

The thing is Im shooting at iso 400 with flash and shutter speeds of 60-100, so i wouldnt thing motion blur would be an issue.

Next Im noticing that I cant seem to get a sharp image when shooting in shutter priority, again with flash at 400. If I put the camera in P (program) its always crisp, due to the smaller aperture, but Ive never experienced this with any of my other lenses. I can shoot my 50 1.4 at the widest aperture in S and get a crisp image everytime. Again a calibration issue, or are both of these possibly my doing or a setting on the camera, D300, thats off. Thanks, Adrian

Motion blur could absolutely be an issue. Even with flash, 60-100 is sometimes not fast enough for the long end (55mm).

You definitely need to post shots for us to help.

A double image with flash is usually motion blur coupled with the image from the flash. 1/60-1/100 could be slow, depending how you shoot and focal length. At 55mm on a DX sensor the rule would be 1/(55*1.5) minimum (i.e. 1/90) to get the usual sharp image handholding steady. Some people are worse, others are better. Furthermore, you need slightly higher speeds than normal to avoid these double image things with flash if your subject is moving. Just because you're not shaking doesn't mean that the subject hasn't moved during the exposure.

When you use it in P with flash the smaller aperture kills the ambient light enough to only get the flashed image. When you use it in aperture or shutter priority, the camera will adjust the shutter speed or aperture to use as much ambient light as possible (you can set the min shutter speed in the custom functions) so the flash will give you a double image if the shutter speed is not high enough (high either for your hands shaking or for the subject moving).

panos.v wrote:
A double image with flash is usually motion blur coupled with the image from the flash. 1/60-1/100 could be slow, depending how you shoot and focal length. At 55mm on a DX sensor the rule would be 1/(55*1.5) minimum (i.e. 1/90) to get the usual sharp image handholding steady. Some people are worse, others are better. Furthermore, you need slightly higher speeds than normal to avoid these double image things with flash if your subject is moving. Just because you're not shaking doesn't mean that the subject hasn't moved during the exposure.

When you use it in P with flash the smaller aperture kills the ambient light enough to only get the flashed image. When you use it in aperture or shutter priority, the camera will adjust the shutter speed or aperture to use as much ambient light as possible (you can set the min shutter speed in the custom functions) so the flash will give you a double image if the shutter speed is not high enough (high either for your hands shaking or for the subject moving).



I concur. Nice explenation Panos.

Panos