Sharpness ISSUE!!!

[jchooper12]

This is a 100% crop taken with my 70-200 today.
Setup:
70-200 VR - VR was OFF
On Gitzo Tripod with RRS Ballhead locked down
I focused on the house numbers down the street.


This is as sharp as I could get the shot. What is wrong? I took a bunch of shots, some manual focus, some auto and this is the best. Should I be sending in my camera for service?

[carrbowl]

John, do you have "digital photo professional" software from Canon on you computer? If you do you can look at that photo and see exactly where you camera was focused (it shows which red squares were focusing). I found out sometimes my focusing was the issue-there is the al focus, etc. which also messes with your focusing.

[jchooper12]

Does that software work with Nikon Cameras? That would be nice to see. I would sum this up to a missed focus point if I had not taken so many shots with the same results. It did not matter if I auto focused or manual focused, same results. When I manual focused the numbers(very very small in the viewfinder, did look sharpest when I took the shot. My real issue here is, this summer when I am in Yelloestone taking photos of the Tetons, if I want to do a Pano and use my 70-200, well, it does not appear to be taking sharp photos. I took 15 shots today and this was the best, and the tripod was steady.

[venchka]

Do you know anyone with the same lens or take the lens to a shop? Swap lenses & bodies. See if the problem occurs with the lens or with the body. Actually, the whole house doesn't look real sharp. What f-stop were you using?

When you're in Yellowstone you won't be taking pictures of the Tetons and vice versa. Grinning.

[Daylon]

Well, picture data says f/22 at 1/4 second. Even at 1/4 unless you're using a shutter release cable or a delay you're still wiggling the camera when you hit the button, that may explain it.

Other ideas - did you have ONE AF area locked on the numbers? Also if you're using AF and have shutter button activating the AF you might have dialed in the numbers, then when you hit the release it might have "seeked" a bit.

I'd try it again, with a cable release, focus on the numbers, lock the focus (or switch to manual focus) and shoot another one.

Just my 2 cents.

D.

[jchooper12]

Well, we are starting in the Tetons then moving to Yellowstone

I shot this at f/22.

[jchooper12]

I used the delay setting to activate the sutter so I did not touch the camera. I also did manual focus, and auto, nothing seemed to work. Maybe I will open the lens up some and shoot at a faster shutter speed.

[Daylon]

Maybe try zoom in, focus, lock focus, zoom out and shoot?

[cwford]

At f/22 you may also be seeing the effects of refraction. According to www.photozone.de (assuming I looked at the right lens), that lens will be sharpest at about f/5.6.

Since you're not really concerned with DOF I would retry at f/5.6 with one of the AF points on the house numbers.

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by cwford

At f/22 you may also be seeing the effects of refraction. According to www.photozone.de (assuming I looked at the right lens), that lens will be sharpest at about f/5.6.

Since you're not really concerned with DOF I would retry at f/5.6 with one of the AF points on the house numbers.

Yep, I was thinking diffraction myself, especially at F22.

[venchka]

Make that 3 votes for f:22 maybe being the culprit. Jeff Kohn uses Nikon zooms and he has said that he limits himself to f:8 and MAYBE f:11. F:8 is usually my limit. In fact, I rarely go above 5.6. I'm not sure why f:16 and above are even on the lenses. The 1/4 sec. shutter speed isn't helping either in the absence of a true mirror lockup and cable release. Try 1/30 @ 5.6 and see what happens. Maybe bump up the iso a little and go for 1/30 @ 8.0.

If the house is the subject, and you focus on the front corner, you're wasting 1/3 of your depth of field. Try focusing on the middle gable and see if you can get the numbers on the front corner & the rear gable in focus.

Let us know what happens.

[billbunton]

At f/22 you definitely have diffraction affecting it. f/11 is where you can expect to start seeing the effects on Nikon sensors. Also, unless you were using mirror lockup you're right in the range for mirror slap to be affecting sharpness also.

[kenw]

mirror lockup will help at that very slow shutter, even with a tripod.

[jchooper12]

So for landscape, it sounds like the 70-200 might not be the best lens to go with? I understand what diffraction is, just did not know that I would run into it with the lens. Is there an explimation on why there is so much diffraction @ f/22 on the Nikon lenses? Also, I am trying to find the best lens and f-stop to shoot mountains with.

[JohnT]

It happens with Canon lenses also; it's just the nature of the beast. So much light coming through such a small opening, it's going to happen. With 70-200, f/22 isn't necessary since you won't have a foreground just inches from the front of the lens that you'll want to be tack sharp, which is the only reason I can think of to use f/22 or even f/16 in the case of landscapes. I would think that you could get by with f/8 or so shooting a mountainous landscape with that lens..