Karl
Moderator Emeritus
Pat,
There are many reasons for hazy shots; some you can control, some you can't. As you mentioned, the distance between camera and subject is a major factor, and there's nothing you can do about it except as noted below. Other factors are low quality optics; and that can include the glass itself being impure, type and quality of front-element coating, and internal barrel coating quality. Make sure you're not getting light or reflections falling on the lens (use a lens hood if possible or change your shooting position), make sure the lens is clean. For long shots use a UV haze filter or try a 1A Skylight filter (gives a slightly warmer picture, but that can be adjusted with your editing software).
Many cameras come with very high quality optics, but just looking at a lens doesn't tell you much about it. I suggest you bring your own flash card (or buy a small one at the store) when shopping for a camera, slip it in, and take several shots of varied subjects and zoom settings; then carefully examine them at your leisure at home and choose the one that best suits your taste. That way you can check for overall quality, edge sharpness, white balance, color fidelity, etc. When you take your test shots, stay within the optical zoom range of the camera; not the digital zoom range, because all that does is exaggerate the pixel size.
There are many reasons for hazy shots; some you can control, some you can't. As you mentioned, the distance between camera and subject is a major factor, and there's nothing you can do about it except as noted below. Other factors are low quality optics; and that can include the glass itself being impure, type and quality of front-element coating, and internal barrel coating quality. Make sure you're not getting light or reflections falling on the lens (use a lens hood if possible or change your shooting position), make sure the lens is clean. For long shots use a UV haze filter or try a 1A Skylight filter (gives a slightly warmer picture, but that can be adjusted with your editing software).
Many cameras come with very high quality optics, but just looking at a lens doesn't tell you much about it. I suggest you bring your own flash card (or buy a small one at the store) when shopping for a camera, slip it in, and take several shots of varied subjects and zoom settings; then carefully examine them at your leisure at home and choose the one that best suits your taste. That way you can check for overall quality, edge sharpness, white balance, color fidelity, etc. When you take your test shots, stay within the optical zoom range of the camera; not the digital zoom range, because all that does is exaggerate the pixel size.