How To Fix a Blurry DSLR Camera Lens

Piper O'Shanassy25 Mar 2022

Have you ever peered through the viewfinder of your DSLR only to see a hazy image even after focusing? Blurry photographs are one of the most typical grievances among photographers, and if you're one of them, you've probably checked your lens for any specks or dirt on it that might be creating this problem. But, before you go about cleaning your lens, you need to figure out what's causing it to be blurry in the first place, and how you could fix it.

Why Is Everything Blurry on My DSLR?

No photographer enjoys seeing blurry photographs. It might be frustrating, especially if you are a professional photographer who is paid to shoot images. The good news is that there is always a reason why an image appears fuzzy.

Improper or Inadequate Focus

The most common cause of blurry images is poor focussing. Typically, the issue is that photographers do not focus as precisely as they should. You might have failed to set the focus point on the subject's eye. This is extremely common among photographers that have not yet mastered how to manually shift the camera's focus point.

Another common issue comes from the use of the focus and recomposing shooting technique. This strategy is employed when the photographer needs to concentrate the camera on a location where there are no focus points, and it is especially common on entry-level DSLR cameras with only 9 or 13 focusing points. As a result, the photographer employs the central focus point and directs it at the subject's eye. The photographer then pushes the shutter button halfway down while recomposing the snapshot to the right frame for the shot, and then pushes the rest of the way down. While this is the only practical technique to focus on cameras with insufficient focus points, it can cause issues when shooting with a narrow depth of field if the photographer alters the angle of the camera while recomposing.

Subject Movement

A bad shutter speed setting might also result in fuzzy photographs. If your subject is moving and your shutter speed is too slow, the image will be blurry. The longer you leave your shutter open, the more likely it is that a moving subject will cause motion blur.  When shooting a moving subject, a quicker shutter speed is required to avoid motion blur. The shutter speed you must employ to keep your subject sharp is determined by the pace at which it moves. If just your subject is blurred, your shutter speed appears to be too slow to stop the motion. Analyze the other pieces in your picture. Are they clean and precise? If this is the case, you have found the root of the blurring issue.

Why Are My DSLR Photos Blurry?

Nothing beats the rush of snapping a once-in-a-lifetime photo, only to discover later on it's fuzzy and unfocused. Blurry images are the misery of many photographers' lives.

Camera Motion

It isn't always visible, but a DSLR in your hands rattles slightly with each shot. This implies that anything slower than your camera's optimum shutter speed will result in fuzzy images in the viewfinder.

Filthy Lens

If you're trying to snap a photo and discover that your camera lens is fuzzy, there are a few things you could do. To begin, if you've observed physical scratching on your lens or dust on it, this might be creating blurring in your images. Similarly, a dirty lens may be creating flares that will cause things to seem blurry. To avoid these problems, clean your camera or lens before shooting images. 

Incorrectly Set Diopter

Have you ever glanced through the viewfinder of a camera and only seen a hazy photo even after focusing? If you are constantly experiencing fuzzy images, your diopter is not properly adjusted for your eyes. The diopter is a tiny lens in the viewfinder of your camera. It lets you adjust the focus of your viewfinder to match the focus of your eye. If your eyesight is fine and you're using a camera with the diopter adjusted, the picture in the viewfinder will be hazy. You will have to adjust the diopter to view a crisp image.

Why Is My DSLR Photo in Instagram So Blurry?

Instagram is a fun social digital platform geared towards photo sharing. However, when you upload pictures, they may appear blurry and lose their original high quality. The reason for this is because the aspect ratio is improper, causing Instagram to compress your picture. Alternatively, if your file is larger than 1MB, your picture will be compressed. To avoid Instagram degrading the quality of your images, you must have the right aspect ratio or submit a picture that is less than 1MB.

Because all photographs are confined to 1080 pixels, they are compressed. Instagram blurs your photographs for the greatest user experience in photo loading, maximizing network connectivity, and takes up the least amount of memory and storage space on your phone. If Instagram didn't pixelate or reduce the quality of your images, your Instagram photos and feed would appear fantastic, but the user experience would be terrible. You'll have a really sluggish, bulky app that you'll start to dislike, therefore in order to avoid this, your photos must sacrifice quality to provide the optimal user experience.

There is no method to adjust the upload quality of your Instagram images; it is entirely dependent on the quality of your camera. Instagram's compression tool is responsible for blurry Instagram photos. All Instagram stories are compressed and lose quality, thus the easiest method to fix this is to submit high-quality photos so the compression wouldn't affect the quality of your photos as much.

How To Fix My Blurry DSLR Video?

Incorrect aperture settings could result in blurry DSLR videos. With a smaller aperture, light enters the camera more accurately. But since the field gets closer to the ground, a lower aperture also blurs the backdrop. If you want your images to be more vibrant, set the aperture to a low setting.

Here are ways to fix your blurry DSLR videos:

  • Zooming allows you to change the lens on your camera.
  • You must have a fixed lens with autofocus.
  • Attempt to manually focus.
  • Your camera's LCD screen and Live View can both help you in establishing focus.

So you're upset because your DSLR won't focus. You lost a fantastic shooting opportunity. Don't worry, this happens to the best of us and it's not something you can't fix. Follow the steps outlined above to determine what appears to be the culprit of your blurry camera lens. By determining what's causing your lens to blur, you can work on finding a solution and snap perfectly crisp photos in no time.

Piper O'Shanassy

Piper O'Shanassy

Piper grew up with a love of animals, which quickly turned into a love of photographing them. She shares her tips and tricks on photography, and hopes she can help you shortcut your expansion of a passion.

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