Nikon SLR Cameras

18-55mm Nikon back focus issue?

Frosty
06.05.2015
Frosty

The photos from my 18-55 always little bit less sharp then i hope, photo shows a 50mm prime 1.8 and the 18-55, the prime is sharper, the 18-55 not as sharp, this normal or may there be a focus issue with the 18-55.

geek-in-training
07.05.2015
geek-in-training

Yes, the f1.8 50mm would be sharper than the f3.5 18-55mm. Prime lens are almost always sharper than a zoom (same manufacturer).

deep blue2
07.05.2015
deep blue2

Prime lenses are almost always sharper than zooms.

Guest
07.05.2015
Guest

Yes it's normal. A prime lens is usually sharper than a zoom, especially the cheaper kit lens zooms. The difference is because a zoom lens has many more lens elements than a prime lens - and because of that, it's harder to design a zoom that's as sharp as a prime. There are zooms that are optically better than the 18-55mm kit lens, but they are considerably more expensive, since it's more difficult to design and manufacture a sharper one.

By the way, do you know you can fix that minor fuzziness problem you get with a zoom lens. You can simply apply a little extra sharpening in your image editing software - just a touch will do it. You will get a better result if you shoot RAW, and use your RAW processing software to apply the sharpening, rather than trying to sharpen jpegs.

Anyhoo, check it out… 18-55mm Nikon back focus issue - 1

Bernd
07.05.2015
Bernd

Zoom lenses are more complicated to design and build which carries with it more issues. But they still have great value.