OOF or softness wide open ???

[camaz55]

I would like some feedback on the 3 shots below. Taken with my Canon 100mm 2.8 macro wide open and I am not satisfied with the sharpness. I would like anyones thoughts on whether this is OOF slightly or if the lens is just soft at 2.8- anyone with similar experience with this lens. I don't necessarily dislike the softness in the images, but would prefer a tack sharp image and PP to the level of softness desired.

http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss189/camaz55/IMG_0763.jpg

http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss189/camaz55/IMG_0767.jpg

http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss189/camaz55/IMG_0768.jpg

These are straight from the camera with no PP - will do that later, but wanted feedback on the sharpness.

thanks !

[tonydee]

I suspect you've just focused in the wrong place - her right cheek in #1 and shoulder in #2 and #3 - and seen shallow DOF at work. See http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html and plug in a few numbers to get a feel for this.

Anyway, it's hard for us to verify without 100% crops, and there's a lot of investigative work you could do yourself to track down the problem. If you want to know if your lens is ok wide open, take a photo of something detailed and distant. If that's ok, the issues probably with the placement of the focal plane. It may be front or back focusing, but I think it's much more likely user error. Try again with a stationary object, tripod and manual focus. If that's ok, then try the auto-focus. Make sure you're putting a single focus point over the subject area you want focused. In the "all points" focus mode it simply focuses on whatever's closest... could well be your problem....

Cheers, Tony

[Roy Mathers]

Tony is steering you in the right direction there.

[gooble]

There are things in each shot that are in focus and sharp. It's your technique.

[Roy Mathers]

That's easier to correct than the lens :D

[camaz55]

Thanks for the feedback ! I'd rather operator error (I can fix that) - if it was the lens I would have a choice :

1) New lens , and a divorce ;)
2) Happy wife, lousy images !!

I will take some test shots with much more care in my focusing technique.

[tonydee]

I could swap you for my 50mm macro... I can guarantee it can take a sharp image, and it's f/2.5 to boot :-).

Cheers, Tony

[Benji]

Unless this lens was $10,000 it will be soft wide open. Try shooting at f/5.6 as most lenses are sharpest about two to three stops down from maximum aperture.

A good test to find the sharpest aperture of any lens is to tack a newspaper onto the wall, place the camera on a tripod, attach a cable release, focus carefully and photograph the paper at all apertures. You will of course have to change the shutter speed each and every time. Load them into your 'puter and see which is sharpest. ALL digital images need sharpening.

Benji

[neumanns]

The first photo it is neither soft nor missed focus...Just lacking a little contrast and in need of some sharpening. Both can be addresed in post processing and one of them is not an easy subject to master (sharpening)

Lovely subject, Keep practicing!

[Agamemnon]

Unless this lens was $10,000 it will be soft wide open. Try shooting at f/5.6 as most lenses are sharpest about two to three stops down from maximum aperture.

I've got to disagree with this - I own the 100mm Macro, and that thing never ceases to amaze me, even wide-open. It's very sharp. When shooting macro stuff, it's sometimes hard to tell because of the plane of focus, but there's always something that's very sharp. Softness is usually my fault - at least with the copy that I have.

What shutter speeds were these shot at? There could be subject motion, which i suspect in #2, and also camera motion.

If you've got enough light to work with (Depending on the time of day), absolutely, stop the sucker down. It'll both:
A) Increase DOF, to have more in focus
B) Make the images sharper (If they can be)

Even $10,000 lenses are soft(er) wide-open.

That macro, and the 70-200 F/4 IS are both fairly inexpensive lenses that are known for being exceptionally good wide-open.

Don't forget, though, that images don't have to be stupidly sharp to be good images. Those will print just fine at 4x6, and they're good images!

[Benji]

I've got to disagree with this - I own the 100mm Macro, and that thing never ceases to amaze me, even wide-open. It's very sharp. When shooting macro stuff, it's sometimes hard to tell because of the plane of focus, but there's always something that's very sharp. Softness is usually my fault - at least with the copy that I have.

What shutter speeds were these shot at? There could be subject motion, which i suspect in #2, and also camera motion.

If you've got enough light to work with (Depending on the time of day), absolutely, stop the sucker down. It'll both:
A) Increase DOF, to have more in focus
B) Make the images sharper (If they can be)

Even $10,000 lenses are soft(er) wide-open.

That macro, and the 70-200 F/4 IS are both fairly inexpensive lenses that are known for being exceptionally good wide-open.

Don't forget, though, that images don't have to be stupidly sharp to be good images. Those will print just fine at 4x6, and they're good images!

Disagree all you want but most lenses are sharpest at two to three stops down from maximum. If all I ever printed was little 4 x 6 images I wouldn't worry about it, but I sell LOTS of 16 x 20's (and larger) photographs so I am anal about sharpness.

Benji

[gooble]

The first photo it is neither soft nor missed focus...Just lacking a little contrast and in need of some sharpening. Both can be addresed in post processing and one of them is not an easy subject to master (sharpening)

Lovely subject, Keep practicing!

The sharpest point in the picture lies on her shoulder which appears to be slightly in front of her eye.

Unless this lens was $10,000 it will be soft wide open. Try shooting at f/5.6 as most lenses are sharpest about two to three stops down from maximum aperture.

A good test to find the sharpest aperture of any lens is to tack a newspaper onto the wall, place the camera on a tripod, attach a cable release, focus carefully and photograph the paper at all apertures. You will of course have to change the shutter speed each and every time. Load them into your 'puter and see which is sharpest. ALL digital images need sharpening.

Benji

The 70-200 f/4's improve very little stopping down. They're already great wide open, enough that it's pointless to worry about. These and the 100mm macro are often sharper wide open than comparable lense stopped down.