85mm or camera not sharp

test test.. has anybody seen this before where the ball looks like it is in focus but the player's face is not.. 85mm f2 ss 640. or could it be the camera body.. or just user error...
thanks for any help...
Joe

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This is a difficult photo to judge a lenses performance. Even with a shutter speed of 1/640, you can get some motion blur. Plus, it seems his face may be slightly in front of the focal plane.

kjonnnn,
yes, I will be testing this with some stationary objects in the morning. I am wonderng if my Al-servo
is on the blink and needs repair or the senor needs to be cleaned / adjusted, etc.
thanks for the suggestion.

negative_exposure wrote in post #13525031
This is a difficult photo to judge a lenses performance. Even with a shutter speed of 1/640, you can get some motion blur. Plus, it seems his face may be slightly in front of the focal plane.

yeah that is what I am hoping that his face / upper body is out in front of the focal plane. and @ f2 and the ss is 500 not 640. could be just my error. But is am getting a lot of shots like this one faces OOF with the f2 settings..
Thanks,
Joe

OK one more.. is it just me or does the letters look to be sharp and player face is OOF.
so if I keep shooting at these settings then I will have this situation..
Player, AD or mom might not like this shot because of this..
thanks for any help..
Joe

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negative_exposure wrote in post #13525031
This is a difficult photo to judge a lenses performance. Even with a shutter speed of 1/640, you can get some motion blur. Plus, it seems his face may be slightly in front of the focal plane.

+1. I don't normally shoot sports, but when I have I've been surprised at how fast a shutter speed is often needed to get sharp images. 1/500th is not that fast at all for action sports close up.

Joe300 wrote in post #13525124
OK one more.. is it just me or does the letters look to be sharp and player face is OOF.
so if I keep shooting at these settings then I will have this situation..
Player, AD or mom might not like this shot because of this..
thanks for any help..
Joe

Honestly, hard to tell, but it doesn't look quite spot-on. Looks like the focus might be just in front of the face on this one though since the letters seem to get less well focused further away. But this also reminds me of how one of my sons faces always seems to look a bit soft in photos. Maybe face + noise as opposed to the ball or shirt that have very high contrast markings that make them look sharper?

Honestly I don't think it is the camera body, but I can see why you'd be concerned and want to do some tests.

yeah, that is all possible, I will be testing it on a stationary object at the lowest ISO tomorrow just so I can get a better idea of what is going on.. Sure maybe I need to be at 2.8,3.5, ss 800 or 1000, to get better DOF.. but not in some of the gyms I shoot at without flash.
thanks,

Depending on your body, the lens may just need micro adjustment. I have read somewhere that as lenses age their AF can slightly alter causing minor adjustments via micro adjustment. I would also guess that you may have other lenses, what are the sharpness levels of them? If AF seems fine using other lenses, I would deduct that it's a AF issue resulting more from that specific lens rather than the body. Alas giving the working conditions, ie, stadium lighting, fast paced action, realitively shallow depth of field, high iso, misses will show more. Like others I would gain a reference from something stationary and move from there. Many have mentioned focus shift in the f/stop ranges you listed, but those are more so with the 50-85l versions. I have the 85 1.8, love it for all it does, but I am interested to see if yours is causing issues, I might want to keep a closer eye on mine.:o

Looking at the EXIF, I would bump your 7D up to ISO3200 (you are almost there anyways) or whatever you think is the highest usable ISO (I've never used a 7D just a 30D/40D.)

I'm not a big sports shooter or anything, but with people running or moving side to side plus up and down would require a faster shutter speed than shooting a drag race where the cars move in a predictable fashion (ie 1/200 is perfect for tires "in motion"). I tried shooting some kids at a track with my 85mm wide open and was getting terrible results (even with a fast SS) with the 70-200 f/4L I was nailing them, likely due to the deeper DOF. Try to get the fastest SS you can and maybe try f/2.8, you can worry about noise later.

Ok, here is one with a iso 5000, ss 1600, 85 f2.. I will test my other lens, the 135 f2,
Sigma 30 1.4, Sigma, 70-200 2.8..& my Canon 300 2.8.
Some say the 135 f2 is the sharpest thing out there.. sure with stationary objects. but i need to see it with sports..
Also I might try this lens out with another body. I migth see a follow photog next tuesday and try using his camera body.
thanks for the pointers, until next time.
joe

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Here's the most obvious question - which focus point are you using and where are you putting it? Are you letting the camera automatically select the focus point, or are you selecting it manually and putting the focus point on the player's face? Every one of those sample photos, the center of the image seems to be the point that's in focus, which makes perfect sense if you're using the center focus point.

You've picked tough subject matter to assess your lens/camera combo. Fast moving subjects in low light needs heaps of experience and is very demanding on gear.

I've had results not unlike these with my 85 and indoor sports, when I push the ISO and don't nail the exposure (on my 40D). It's very difficult to get crisp shots in these conditions, and takes a lot of practice - or it did in my case!! My guess is that it's not a gear problem, but a situation where you just need to persevere and experiment. Also, as others have said, shutter speeds of 500th or 600th may not be fast enough; they certainly aren't for the sport I like to shoot (dog agility). Good luck - hope you figure it out.

How big of crops are these? Can you post some un-cropped samples?


Jason C