What is the best way...???

[KobraCarry]

What is the best way to determine lens sharpness? I have a new 24-105L which I've only been out with once and shot it wide open at f/4 for a bunch of photos, messing only with shutter speed and ISO. They all seem a bit soft. I compared them to shots taken with my 18-200 IS and that lens seems sharper, however that was shot are varried apatures. I'm shooting a 7d. Thoughts???

[ldelacruz]

Your zoo shots seemed soft to me. Put it on a tripod and shoot a yard stick at an angle. Take 5 shots and refocus after each shot.

[dryicerx]

Most lenses are not at their sharpest performance at their widest aperture, usually a stop or few down you will hit their sweet spot in terms of sharpness (eg. f/8 for that). Also low shutter speeds can add motion blur from camera shake to make the photo apparently seem soft, but that's not related to the lens's sharpness.


If you want to take test shots just quickly see sharpness: use a tripod, during a well lit day take a picture of a brick wall (where it covers your entire frame), lowest ISO, use LiveView + zoom in and manual focus... and take a few different shorts at different apertures focal lengths.


Theoretical sharpness of lenses can be compared using MTF charts (canon has them on their site per lens), which shows the sharpness at the widest/longest focal lengths, and at the widest aperture and at f/8.

[KobraCarry]

I'll give both of those a try. Thanks! Also, most of the zoo shots were taken through glass without a filter, so I'm assuming that could cause part of that... I used a monopod for most of them, but not a tripod.

[KobraCarry]

Got home and did some checking. The lens is sharp and spot on! Most of my zoo shots were through glass without a filter and I think that was my issue. Plus no tripod. Next day off we'll give it a shot again! Does anyone find any difference with overall quality of final product when using Liveview vs Viewfinder???

[PhotoByLeal]

Originally Posted by KobraCarry

What is the best way to determine lens sharpness?

Nikon

Originally Posted by KobraCarry

I'm shooting a 7d. Thoughts???

Sale it!

Lonnie is right.... look up like Lens testing here is one I found! GOOD LUCK!

[dryicerx]

Originally Posted by KobraCarry

Does anyone find any difference with overall quality of final product when using Liveview vs Viewfinder???

Well using the 'LiveView + Zooming + Manual Focus' will let you focus and verify you have the absolute perfect focus just because you can see zoomed in detail exactly the way the sensor sees it, but this takes more time and I only do this for macro or if I am on a tripod with time to kill. For most uses though, this is overkill.

That said, I always use the viewfinder because it's convenient and for AF, just the regular way... unless it's a edge case like I described earlier.