70-200 F4 Sharpness

Hi all:

I seem to be having trouble getting the sharpness in my images, that I think I should. I'm wondering if anyone can see anything obvious I'm missing.

here is an example, with 100% crop.

70-200 F4 with my new 7D

F4
ISO640
1/320

Thanks!

Not seeing any shot

no shot for me either... I have this lens and it's great just no IS which takes a steadier hand...

How in gawd's name can one post a message and not look to see if it came out correctly?

I always have trouble with the uploader - and walked away assuming it had worked (why would it let me post if it hadn't )

Anywhoo - the subject + composition isn't good, so probably not the best example to give. But it just seems like I have trouble getting the sharpness I'd like, and am wondering if I'm missing something.

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Yikes that looks awful. I'm going to find another example...

This is one of the sharpest I've taken with it, which looks pretty good to me. Its just more often it comes our soft - like I'm missing focus a LOT??
ISO 200
1/1600
163mm
F4

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HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

Here is a common result. Slow moving subject, and nothing really seems sharply in focus.

ISO 200
70mm
F4
1/1000

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HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

Your focus was not on the child but rather on the red railing of the slide behind her, see how sharp that is compared to everything else? Check where your focus was in DPP

Same thing with the guy on the board, the board is in focus but he is not (As much)

My guess is that your allowing the 7D to focus for you, and it's choosing the most contrasty subject to lock on to. Pick a single focal point (Center) and lock focus yourself on what part of the scene YOU want to be sharp.

I hadn't thought to look at that... thanks! Attached are what it showed me. So how accurate are these results? Is this telling me that the lens is back focusing?

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Try some shots with single point enabled and see what happens. Does this only happen with the 70-200?

Hmm, so the kid was the intended target. If that was my 70-200 2.8 IS mk1, I'd consider that fairly sharp at 2.8... anyhow, have you run any tests to see if you're backfocusing with that lens/body combo?

Some exif data with the photo's might help. Were you in single shot mode or AI servo?

MOkoFOko wrote in post #11882551
Hmm, so the kid was the intended target. If that was my 70-200 2.8 IS mk1, I'd consider that fairly sharp at 2.8... anyhow, have you run any tests to see if you're backfocusing with that lens/body combo?

It's a 70-200 f/4. That lens is super sharp.

Some details here: http://www.flickr.com …68535/meta/in/p​hotostream

I was in AI Servo.

I have tried single point focus a lot (all i used with my rebel XT), but didn't find I got great results.

I know in general I have a shaky hand (so I try to keep the shutter speed up), and tend to underexpose (which also contributes)... but find that my keeper rate is soooo low with this lens, I must be doing something wrong

Obviously this isn't the best shot (far from it), but maybe I'm just expecting for sharpness in general... if these results are consistent with what I should be seeing