70d to A7iii = sharper images?

My current set up is a 70d with the lower end Canon glass: 85 1.8, 50 1.8, 40 2.8.

Soft or OOF shots are not uncommon for me and I've often been frustrated by a lack of sharp images. They're not blurry like I missed focus by six inches, but more what my wife calls "shutterfly sharp" - if you're viewing pics on the shutterfly app on your phone and don't zoom in, you can't tell the individual eyelashes aren't clearly visible.

I just recently discovered the focus point plug-in for Lightroom. I reviewed a few out of focus portraits from a recent meet up and I found that on some of the shots I somehow focused on the nose or forehead, resulting obviously in an OOF image. But there were others where I focused pretty close to or on an eye and even those images were soft.

In terms of the soft images where I believe I focused correctly, assuming it's not the gear, my technique must be poor, whether it's camera shake or my breathing or whatever.

With IBIS and a terrific eye-AF system, can I reasonably expect sharper pictures with the A7iii?

I know the mantra is better gear won't make you a better photographer, but in this case I'm talking specifically about sharpness, and aren't IBIS and Eye-AF technologies that are supposed to help you take sharper pictures? Am I simplifying this too much? Anyone else achieve a higher keeper rate after switching to an A7 iii?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Yes. In general, you can get sharper images and thinner DOF with the bigger sensor, not just the A7.

The A7 accuracy is much better than most DSLRs

I didn't know you can get sharper images simply due to a bigger sensor, but just Googled it. Thanks for the reply!

timotoby wrote in post #18810711
My current set up is a 70d with the lower end Canon glass: 85 1.8, 50 1.8, 40 2.8.

Soft or OOF shots are not uncommon for me and I've often been frustrated by a lack of sharp images. They're not blurry like I missed focus by six inches, but more what my wife calls "shutterfly sharp" - if you're viewing pics on the shutterfly app on your phone and don't zoom in, you can't tell the individual eyelashes aren't clearly visible.

I just recently discovered the focus point plug-in for Lightroom. I reviewed a few out of focus portraits from a recent meet up and I found that on some of the shots I somehow focused on the nose or forehead, resulting obviously in an OOF image. But there were others where I focused pretty close to or on an eye and even those images were soft.

In terms of the soft images where I believe I focused correctly, assuming it's not the gear, my technique must be poor, whether it's camera shake or my breathing or whatever.

With IBIS and a terrific eye-AF system, can I reasonably expect sharper pictures with the A7iii?

I know the mantra is better gear won't make you a better photographer, but in this case I'm talking specifically about sharpness, and aren't IBIS and Eye-AF technologies that are supposed to help you take sharper pictures? Am I simplifying this too much? Anyone else achieve a higher keeper rate after switching to an A7 iii?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Have you done MFA on your lenses?

MFA, micro focus adjustment. Allows you to fine tune the focus on your lenses, in case they front or back-focus.

The 70d should be quite capable of excellent results for the type of work it sounds like you do. I think it would be wise to find the problem you're having - technique, lens quality, whatever - rather than trying to rely on another camera system. If the problem is poor technique, you'll just be transferring it to a new camera that you hope will mask it.

My experience with the 50/1.8 was that it was soft wide open, maybe that's part of the problem. I'm unfamiliar your other lenses. Doing a MFA on your lenses, as suggested by Butts, is something I'd also recommend. Even before doing that, though, I'd check focus accuracy by taking some controlled shots of a flat stationary subject, like a sign.

I would say the A7iii with metabone or sigma mc11 adapter with your current canon glass will be much sharper on a consistent basis over your 70D.

The Sony A7iii is very sharp as it renders different than your canon.

I appreciate the replies. I have not done any MFA, but I did test accuracy shooting a letter on a wall vs using one of those targets. Appears to be fine, but will do more in depth testing.

Thanks again

A proper adjusted camera/lens combo, good lenses and flawless photo technique has way more impact on end result (image quality) than sensor size. Yes a 24X36 mm sensor will give a bit more detail than an APSC sensor but not that much. I tested the A7II against my A6000 and had anticipated much more difference than I actually found. I found it not worth changing. You should be able to get tack sharp images from your 70D
Mirrorless does however have the advantage you dont need to think about MFA since the AF is built into the sensor.

timotoby wrote in post #18811388
I appreciate the replies. I have not done any MFA, but I did test accuracy shooting a letter on a wall vs using one of those targets. Appears to be fine, but will do more in depth testing.

Thanks again

The fact that you have to do this is absurd at best. They should just work. The camera should be able to "see" if the image is in focus or not... anyway...

Are you relying on AF, shooting at or near wide open, high ISO and/or slower shutter speeds? Truth be told, I focus manually 99% of the time because my focus point changes so much and I want to control it. The 85/1.8 is a good lens while the other two are suspect. I'd try The 85/1.8 again around F2.8-4, try focusing manually and see if the images improve.

I do rely on AF. My subjects aren't patient enough to allow me to manual focus between shots.

If I'm using either the 85 1.8 or the 50 1.8, it's for portraiture and I typically want to blow out the background. However, I understand lenses in general are not the sharpest wide open, so I stop down a bit, 2.0 - 2.2.

At this point I'm doing mostly natural light in mostly good conditions, so I'll be at ISO 200 or so so I can ensure my shutter speed is 200 or faster.

I realize I can stop down more for greater DOF, but I'd prefer not to, in favor of more background blur.

I don't always get OOF shots, but I'm hoping the A7iii would help me get a higher percentage of sharp images.

timotoby wrote in post #18811554
I do rely on AF. My subjects aren't patient enough to allow me to manual focus between shots.

If I'm using either the 85 1.8 or the 50 1.8, it's for portraiture and I typically want to blow out the background. However, I understand lenses in general are not the sharpest wide open, so I stop down a bit, 2.0 - 2.2.

At this point I'm doing mostly natural light in mostly good conditions, so I'll be at ISO 200 or so so I can ensure my shutter speed is 200 or faster.

I realize I can stop down more for greater DOF, but I'd prefer not to, in favor of more background blur.

I don't always get OOF shots, but I'm hoping the A7iii would help me get a higher percentage of sharp images.

with FF, it's less than an issue to shoot wide open. The sharpness issue of softer lenses are masked.

The Sony 50 is good on FF, especially 24mp, however the 85 will tax that sensor, extremely good lens, considerably better than the canon version, and add FF to that, it's just much sharper.

The eye AF on mirrorless helps nail focus, no questions about it. When I had 85mm f1.8, I didn't find it that great wide open. This was on all 5d series cameras. 85L on other hand was much better. 50mm f1.8 original again, not the best. To me Sigma 50mm f1.4 was much better. Now Art versions are nicer. I will say use your 85mm f1.8 at f2.2, f2.8 and it should be really good. Add lighting and you don't need anything else. That makes bigger difference IMHO.

Thanks for all of the replies everyone. I think I'm going to give the A7iii a shot and if it doesn't have much of an impact, I can move it on.

I did have some problems nailing focus on the eyes when shooting with the Canon 6D Mark-2 and the 85mm f/1.4 or even the 85mm f/1.8 lenses when I was shooting wide open. I could not place a focus point on an eye in portraits because the 6D2 focus system is inherited from the crop sensor 80D and the focus point array is jammed into the center of the image. Focus and recomposing, using the camera's eye level viewfinder, is chancy at best when shooting with the razor thin DOF produced by the long lenses and wide apertures.

However when I used face detection AF with the 6D2, it nailed the eyes in focus virtually every time.

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