Sony a6300 quality issue

[Ayoukenn]

I'm frustrated with my a6300. Image quality turns out poor, lots of noise in lightroom especially when zooming/cropping, soft/flat photos. I shoot in RAW, manual mode, using 18-105 f4 and 50 1.8, and have been practicing for about 6 months. Mainly do still car photography. I've done a lot of research on using my lenses, camera, settings etc. I'm getting nowhere near the quality I see others get. Am I just a bad photographer, or are there any known issues with the a6300? I'm to the point I'm just ready to upgrade. What gives?

 

[SamSS]

Do you mind giving us one raw files for us to examine?

 

[Ayoukenn]

Do you mind giving us one raw files for us to examine?

It says my file does not have an allowed extension. Do I need to upload it online and link it? Tried posting from my phones gallery.

 

[bdbits]

I had to look myself and don't see a way to upload a RAW directly here. Which actually makes some sense. Anyway, if you have someplace to upload/link that might be easiest.

Your IQ should be quite good, so you are probably just not seeing or understanding some setting. Happens to all of us. If we can get a look at the RAW and your settings in the EXIF tags, we should be able to see what is going wrong for you.

 

[SamSS]

For sharing, it's best to zip or rar your raw file. Upload to any free hosting storage and share the your download link.
Google drive, dropbox, https://www.filedropper.com , etc.

 

[Richard Crowe]

What ISO do you commonly shoot at. My A6400 and A6500 give me pretty darn good quality, even when I am shooting at ISO 4,000 or 6,400... This was shot using ISO 4,000

ILCE-6400    FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS    74mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 4000

This is a fairly tight crop but, IMO, still retains decent quality. Here it is SOOC.

ILCE-6400    FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS    74mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 4000

I used some NIK noise reduction but, virtually no other editing...

 

[WNG]

I'm frustrated with my a6300. Image quality turns out poor, lots of noise in lightroom especially when zooming/cropping, soft/flat photos. I shoot in RAW, manual mode, using 18-105 f4 and 50 1.8, and have been practicing for about 6 months. Mainly do still car photography. I've done a lot of research on using my lenses, camera, settings etc. I'm getting nowhere near the quality I see others get. Am I just a bad photographer, or are there any known issues with the a6300? I'm to the point I'm just ready to upgrade. What gives?

Could be Lightroom, which is known to open Sony ARW files by default, very bland and washed out looking. Are you shooting in manual mode with Auto ISO? You should set an upper limit no higher than 3200. As noise is evident enough by then on APS-C. But do try to shoot at ISO 100 if possible, for best results, if lighting conditions allow. Noise isn't detectable up to 400-800.
What aperture are you shooting at? Native AF APS-C lenses usually are sharp by f/5.6 and no need to go past f/11 for edge to edge sharpness. Unless you want sun stars, f/16 will have diffraction. Start with f/8 for a total car sharp image.
Are you shooting the cars with a tripod? Or hand held? Be sure to have the shutter speed fast enough if hand held.
Try setting the focus area to a smaller central location.
Lastly, download a free copy of Capture One for Sony Express to compare how the RAW files are opened by default to compare to Lightroom.

The a6300 should be yielding stunningly good image quality. I have no issues producing sharp photos from my older a6000.

(a recent car shot...)

   ---            

It's the dry heat! by wNG iMAGE aND dESIGN, on Flickr

 

[mstphoto]

Never had a problem with my a6300.
In fact I use it more than my a7rii.
Its so good that I've never considered upgrading to the newer models as for stills/landscapes I doubt if I'd see an improvement in IQ
Have a look at my Flickr photostream to see the IQ that is possible with the a6300

https://www.flickr.com/photos/eos-mike/

 

[Richard Crowe]

Have you tried letting the camera choose the exposure for you in ne of the semi auto nodes such as: Programmed, Aperture Priority, Shutter Speed Priority and or even Manual with Auto ISO.

Despite all of the hooplah along the lines of "Experienced Phtographers Shoot in Manual", I have noticed more images posted with exposure problems by photographers who were shooting in manual than with any of the semi auto (or even full auto) modes...

 

[Ayoukenn]

Alright guys so I figured out my issue. Cheap CPLs. Now I'm very much a hobby photographer, never taken a class or anything. I mainly shoot cars, hence the CPLs to deter reflections and I always have one on. Today I picked up the sony 70-200 f4 for some sick compression. Messed around without a CPL on and great results. Spun on my cheapo 72mm and boom, terrible. I know, silly mistake, maybe even gave some of you a chuckle. But for a beginner hobbyist like myself, the thought never crossed my mind. Was racking my brain and the internet trying to figure out my issue. Thank you all for the ideas and information. I really appreciate it.

 

[Ayoukenn]

Never had a problem with my a6300.
In fact I use it more than my a7rii.
Its so good that I've never considered upgrading to the newer models as for stills/landscapes I doubt if I'd see an improvement in IQ
Have a look at my Flickr photostream to see the IQ that is possible with the a6300

https://www.flickr.com/photos/eos-mike/

Wow very impressive! As you see I got my issue sorted. Thanks for showing me what can be done with this camera!!

 

[Ayoukenn]

What ISO do you commonly shoot at. My A6400 and A6500 give me pretty darn good quality, even when I am shooting at ISO 4,000 or 6,400... This was shot using ISO 4,000
View attachment 104770

This is a fairly tight crop but, IMO, still retains decent quality. Here it is SOOC.
View attachment 104768

I used some NIK noise reduction but, virtually no other editing...

Wow awesome! Thanks for the response and glad to see the IQ! I usually shoot on low iso as I'm most always outdoors, but occasionally I do leave it on auto.

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Thanks for reporting back with the solution. Never would have thought of asking if you had filters on the lens.
I'll have to check my CPL too as I shoot cars too.

 

[Ayoukenn]

Could be Lightroom, which is known to open Sony ARW files by default, very bland and washed out looking. Are you shooting in manual mode with Auto ISO? You should set an upper limit no higher than 3200. As noise is evident enough by then on APS-C. But do try to shoot at ISO 100 if possible, for best results, if lighting conditions allow. Noise isn't detectable up to 400-800.
What aperture are you shooting at? Native AF APS-C lenses usually are sharp by f/5.6 and no need to go past f/11 for edge to edge sharpness. Unless you want sun stars, f/16 will have diffraction. Start with f/8 for a total car sharp image.
Are you shooting the cars with a tripod? Or hand held? Be sure to have the shutter speed fast enough if hand held.
Try setting the focus area to a smaller central location.
Lastly, download a free copy of Capture One for Sony Express to compare how the RAW files are opened by default to compare to Lightroom.

The a6300 should be yielding stunningly good image quality. I have no issues producing sharp photos from my older a6000.

(a recent car shot...)
View attachment 104820 It's the dry heat! by wNG iMAGE aND dESIGN, on Flickr

Wow great information. So I checked and LR mobile is opening my files as ARW. Anyway to change the default import settings? Thanks for the iso info. Most of the times I shoot at 100 as I'm outdoors. Occasionally I leave it on auto. Good to know about the aperture too, I'll definitely keep those numbers in mind. I actually just picked up a tripod last week for night shooting and big difference in being steady at longer focal lengths. Thanks again buddy.

 

[MWhite]

Alright guys so I figured out my issue. Cheap CPLs. Now I'm very much a hobby photographer, never taken a class or anything. I mainly shoot cars, hence the CPLs to deter reflections and I always have one on. Today I picked up the sony 70-200 f4 for some sick compression. Messed around without a CPL on and great results. Spun on my cheapo 72mm and boom, terrible. I know, silly mistake, maybe even gave some of you a chuckle. But for a beginner hobbyist like myself, the thought never crossed my mind. Was racking my brain and the internet trying to figure out my issue. Thank you all for the ideas and information. I really appreciate it.

This is very helpful to anyone who has ever wondered if it is really worth the extra $$ for better quality filters. I usually use B+W's and am thinking about getting the NISI square filter kit but sometimes wonder if I'm overdoing it.

 

[WNG]

Wow great information. So I checked and LR mobile is opening my files as ARW. Anyway to change the default import settings? Thanks for the iso info. Most of the times I shoot at 100 as I'm outdoors. Occasionally I leave it on auto. Good to know about the aperture too, I'll definitely keep those numbers in mind. I actually just picked up a tripod last week for night shooting and big difference in being steady at longer focal lengths. Thanks again buddy.

Glad to read you found the cause. Don't worry, BTDT. We've all experienced the sub-standard quality filter, be it CPL, UV, or ND that degraded the image quality.
As for LR Mobile, I don't know, as I don't use Adobe products, although I heard the tablet version is much better coded and faster. I think the work-around is to set up a personal preset to tweak the default ARW output. Have it automatically apply after each import session.

Tip for long exposure and sensitive astro captures on tripod at night....
Use the 2 or 10 sec. shutter delay if you don't have a remote shutter. This will eliminate vibrations reducing sharpness in your long exposure. The a6300 can also download the Sony hands-free shutter app. Enabled, it takes a wave in front of the EVF sensor to activate the shutter. The Sony Playmemories App has a remote shutter, but IIRC, you can't shoot RAW only JPEG.
An aftermarket infrared shutter remote off ebay is VERY affordable as a solution.
I like to shoot astro-lunar....and learned that the built-in bracketing of 3 or 5 burst shots will produce shutter shock enough to blur the shots after the initial one. This will be noticeable at long focal lengths of 400-1000mm.
I requires at least 3 sec between shots for the vibration to settle out. Even with heavy duty all-metal tripods. Keep this in mind should you plan to shoot any HDR bracketing with very long lenses.

 

[Ayoukenn]

Thanks for reporting back with the solution. Never would have thought of asking if you had filters on the lens.
I'll have to check my CPL too as I shoot cars too.

It's crazy how much the IQ dropped. Looked like bad camera shake or very poor focus. So glad I was able to figure it out.

 

[Ayoukenn]

Glad to read you found the cause. Don't worry, BTDT. We've all experienced the sub-standard quality filter, be it CPL, UV, or ND that degraded the image quality.
As for LR Mobile, I don't know, as I don't use Adobe products, although I heard the tablet version is much better coded and faster. I think the work-around is to set up a personal preset to tweak the default ARW output. Have it automatically apply after each import session.

Tip for long exposure and sensitive astro captures on tripod at night....
Use the 2 or 10 sec. shutter delay if you don't have a remote shutter. This will eliminate vibrations reducing sharpness in your long exposure. The a6300 can also download the Sony hands-free shutter app. Enabled, it takes a wave in front of the EVF sensor to activate the shutter. The Sony Playmemories App has a remote shutter, but IIRC, you can't shoot RAW only JPEG.
An aftermarket infrared shutter remote off ebay is VERY affordable as a solution.
I like to shoot astro-lunar....and learned that the built-in bracketing of 3 or 5 burst shots will produce shutter shock enough to blur the shots after the initial one. This will be noticeable at long focal lengths of 400-1000mm.
I requires at least 3 sec between shots for the vibration to settle out. Even with heavy duty all-metal tripods. Keep this in mind should you plan to shoot any HDR bracketing with very long lenses.

I can't believe how much of a difference the cpl made. I was sure it was a camera body issue or that I was shaking the camera too much. I'll definitely be investing in some quality filters soon.

I do have LR on my iPad too so maybe I'll give that a try again and compare to my phone. Although it already looks so much better now that I have my issue sorted, yay.

Impressive knowledge my guy. I would like to get into nighttime and astro shooting more and that's super helpful. I have a shutter remote that came with my kit but never tried it, I'll have to set it up. Thanks for taking the time to share!

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

What brand of CPL do you have?
I got one with a camera/lens combo I bought off of the Goodwill site. It's a Vivitar 52mm for use with my Nikkor lenses. I bought a Hoya 49mm CPL to use with my Sony lenses.

 

[Ayoukenn]

What brand of CPL do you have?
I got one with a camera/lens combo I bought off of the Goodwill site. It's a Vivitar 52mm for use with my Nikkor lenses. I bought a Hoya 49mm CPL to use with my Sony lenses.

I have 2 both from amazon, under $10 a piece. Put no thought into them as I didnt know any better. I believe the brand is photo central ?