Joseph Gutwirth wrote in message <348607E0.B175DFFD@mac.symantec.com>...

>I have recently purchased a Canon EOS Elan IIe with a Canon 28-80mm
>3.5-5.6 lens. I have taken a couple of rolls of film (Kodak Gold 200)
>for both indoor (flash/fill) as well as outdoor. I've noticed that some
>of the pictures are not crystal clear whereas others seem to be fairly
>clear. I've been using the autofocus 100% of the time for all the
>pictures. Coming from the old days when I had a Nikon F2s photomic with
>a Nikor 105 lens (yes I now that's comparitavely higher quality
>equipment) I must say that I've been very unimpressed with the quality
>of the pictures. I expected that the pictures would be much sharper
>than they are. Anybody have any ideas, or is the lens just not of the
>greatest quality? Thanks for any info/suggestions...


In addition to your comment about the Nikon...;-), there are other
possibilities. Printing quality can vary. The Canon zoom may be better
at some FL's than others. If you were using a program mode, it tends
to select poor shutterspeed-aperture combinations for best sharpness,
especially with slow zooms which are often poor at the wider stops
usually selected by the camera in program mode (try aperture-priority
or manual mode, and select f8-16 if shutter speed permits). Also, I
think AF is not adequate for critical sharpness - try manually
focusing the lens (at the FL to be used - the lens may be
slightly varifocal and so change focus a bit with FL shift).
Hope This Helps
David Ruether - http://www.fcinet.com/ruether