Gripes with 7D's image sharpness...

Hey everyone,

So I recently bought a 7D to replace my t1i, and I was super excited about it. I got the body and it works fine as far as I can tell but I've been really disappointed with the sharpness of the images. I have the EFS 18-55, the EFS 55-250, and the EF 50mm f/1.8 and they all performed beautifully on my t1i, especially the 50mm. I got the new body expecting the same or better but have been sadly disappointed. They all seem fuzzy to me, admittedly I am a bit of a pixel peeper, but I was always happy on my t1i. I have also played around with the micro adjust function on the 7D but have not really seen any increase in sharpness. My question is, am I being too picky about images on the 7D, or should I upgrade my lenes to something like the 24-105mm f4 L lens or another like it?
Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

100% crops for starters of both cameras would be helpful.

Upgrading your glass never hurts provided you aren't experiencing an honest issue with the body and your technique(s) is/are all solid.

It seems like the secret for the 7D is more sharpening in post because of the high AA filter.

Yeah, def. post a sample including a 100% crop of something you consider soft. It's easy to (suddenly) get the idea that all your images are soft when pixel-peeping, and in reality they're not.

My 7D had to be MA +3 on the body (I started a thread about my MA experience if you dig through my history), I considered sending it back to Canon but in the end I didn't feel it worth it as +3 isn't a huge number and I was worried it'd just come back worse.

That said, my 7D + L-glass = very sharp images, and I don't usually PP sharpness unless I blurred something by mistake (usually poor breathing/stabilizing at 1/60s).

Edit: I should mention that the post/thread that described exactly where focus is taken in a focus point really helped me understand my camera twice as good, so it's possible even that my MA +3 is just me re-adjusting the focus point to where _I_ think focus should be taken from in a point. (I can't find it at the moment, will look)

There seem to be two kinds of digital photographers: Those who take photos and judge their gear and technique by examining the final image as it will be displayed, and those who take photos and judge their gear (but seldom their technique) by pixel peeping at 100%. The first group are generally happy campers, and the latter group tend to spend a lot of unnecessary money changing gear.

When I went from the 40D to the 7D I was alarmed by the softness of the 7D images at 100%. Once I understood the reasons for the differences between the two cameras (greater pixel density, stronger AA filter), stopped comparing them at 100% crops, and looked at the images on the screen/in print, it was clear that the 7D measured up just fine in this regard.

the802 wrote in post #12908571
Hey everyone,

So I recently bought a 7D to replace my t1i, and I was super excited about it. I got the body and it works fine as far as I can tell but I've been really disappointed with the sharpness of the images. I have the EFS 18-55, the EFS 55-250, and the EF 50mm f/1.8 and they all performed beautifully on my t1i, especially the 50mm. I got the new body expecting the same or better but have been sadly disappointed. They all seem fuzzy to me, admittedly I am a bit of a pixel peeper, but I was always happy on my t1i. I have also played around with the micro adjust function on the 7D but have not really seen any increase in sharpness. My question is, am I being too picky about images on the 7D, or should I upgrade my lenes to something like the 24-105mm f4 L lens or another like it?
Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

DSLRs are becoming more and more complex these days, due to the increase on the number of additional features that you can use. I have the 400D, 50D and 7D and all these machines are capable of providing excellent results. But expecting that the 400D will be blown away by the 50D and, in turn, the 50D will be blown away by the 7D is well beyond what actual technology is providing. Between ISO100 and ISO3200 results will be adequate enough for a 27x18 cm print for all of these machines.

A couple of examples to show this. Both examples were taken using a tripod and the EF-85 f1.8 lens at f2.8. First shot taken with the 400D at ISO400, f2.8, 1/8 sec. Second taken with the 7D at ISO3200, f2.8, 1/40 sec. Both files were processed using LR3.4.1.

Miguel

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I agree with the above posters, please post sample pictures from both cameras so we can help you better. Generally though, the higher the pixel density the more it will show flaws in your lens at 100% crop.

paparios wrote in post #12909443
DSLRs are becoming more and more complex these days, due to the increase on the number of additional features that you can use. I have the 400D, 50D and 7D and all these machines are capable of providing excellent results. But expecting that the 400D will be blown away by the 50D and, in turn, the 50D will be blown away by the 7D is well beyond what actual technology is providing. Between ISO100 and ISO3200 results will be adequate enough for a 27x18 cm print for all of these machines.

A couple of examples to show this. Both examples were taken using a tripod and the EF-85 f1.8 lens at f2.8. First shot taken with the 400D at ISO400, f2.8, 1/8 sec. Second taken with the 7D at ISO3200, f2.8, 1/40 sec. Both files were processed using LR3.4.1.

Miguel

Okay, I want to see the shots after those bottles have been emptied....

TeamSpeed wrote in post #12909823
Okay, I want to see the shots after those bottles have been emptied....

LOL...Actually I prefer the wine, in social meetings, but a glass of Chivas after a nice dinner can contribute to make your day.

Miguel

Looking at the samples, I would agree that upgrading the glass would get more sharpness out of your images - I was using the 7D kit lense when i first got it, and then slapped the 70-200 L and was blown away with the sharpness/quality. hope this helps

Or it might just be that the lens is focusing incorrectly on your 7D, you're using very wide apertures to test this on.

Live view mode, zoom into 10x. Manually focus to eliminate MA issues. Shoot RAW (not jpeg) and open the files in DPP (you have to wait for the program to generate a high quality image, takes a long time on some computers). Set sharpening to 3.

Plus all the regular stuff (lots of light, tripod, cable release or timer, etc.)

Seriously, try that.

NivoMedia wrote in post #12909958
Looking at the samples, I would agree that upgrading the glass would get more sharpness out of your images - I was using the 7D kit lense when i first got it, and then slapped the 70-200 L and was blown away with the sharpness/quality. hope this helps

Maverique wrote in post #12909983
Or it might just be that the lens is focusing incorrectly on your 7D, you're using very wide apertures to test this on.

What samples? The OP hasn't been updated with any samples at this point.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #12910241
What samples? The OP hasn't been updated with any samples at this point.

Haha, I was thinking I was missing something and kept scrolling up and down looking for the samples.