Is there a way to assure your camera is auto-focusing to the hishest degree?

This may be a silly question to an experienced photographer, but I have to throw it out there in my quest to obtain a tack sharp image. I have a Canon 60D with a EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens. Although I believe my pictures are sharp, I wonder how could I ever find out if they are the sharpest my camera is capable of??? I am not sure if there are manual user adjustments that are possible to the auto-focus ability (such as the dioptic setting for adjusting focus of the little squares when you look through the eye piece). I know I have the option of manual focus, but was just curious if there is any way to validate the auto-focus is tack sharp. Thanks.

If you want to see what absolute sharpness is just do this:

Tripod + 60D + 70-200 II + Live View + 10x Zoom View + Manual Focus + Shoot raw = Sharpest Possible.

Otherwise for autofocus, not quite sure how you can ensure the best with that...

Nice lens, first off.

Sharpness has a lot of variables in it, of which focus is one of them. The others are subject movement, camera movement (shutter speed can minimize those), aperture (most lenses get sharper as they are stopped down, and then get less sharp again after a certain point), and frankly just the quality of the optics between different lens models and even the different copies of the same lens.

Focus sharpness depends greatly on the depth of field you have in the image. Once something is within the focal plane, everything within the focal plane should be at about the same level of ideal sharpness.

The best test I know of with a USM lens like yours is to put your camera on a tripod, turn on live view with the "quick mode" focus on, zoom in 10x, make the lens very out of focus manually, then let AF run, after it as locked on try turning the focus ring in either direction and seeing if the image becomes more or less sharp.

Do you have any pictures you can post that you think might not be as sharp as they could be?

I believe that the lens is sharp. It's just that all the SLRs have a low pas filter in front of the sensor to keep the moire, hue shifts etc at bay, so even with the sharpest lens you won't get that pixel-to pixel sharpness.

Just add a bit of clarity through the raw, and a bit of sharpness at the end of a PP workflow and you'll be golden. I love that lens.

Tony_Stark wrote in post #13943960
If you want to see what absolute sharpness is just do this:

Tripod + 60D + 70-200 II + Live View + 10x Zoom View + Manual Focus + Shoot raw and properly post process = Sharpest Possible.

Otherwise for autofocus, not quite sure how you can ensure the best with that...

Agree, with one addition.

if you're worried about that filter, you could send it off to these folks

http://www.maxmax.com/​hot_rod_visible.htm

and have it removed.

You might do a battery test with that lens just as a crude check on any front or back focus issues. This thread https://photography-on-the.net …10&highlight=ba​ttery+test shows how. See specifically the input on page 1, the results of a users battery test.

stsva wrote in post #13944058
Agree, with one addition.

I just assumed that part on behalf of the shooter

It's pretty simple to verify that your autofocus is working well:

First, you need to use a tripod or other sturdy support, and to use either a cable release, remote trigger, or at the very least the self-timer, and for shots that use a slowish shutter speed, use mirror lockup. Don't bother testing focus shooting handheld.

Make sure you have a subject with good contrasty detail, and AF keeping your eye glued to the viewfinder to ensure that the AF "lands" on the proper spot of the subject.

Take a shot with the aperture wide open (f/2.8).

Then, you will need to shoot in MF, so switch the lens to MF or, if you are using back button focusing, just don't touch the back button.

Go to Live View and zoom in fully. Adjust the focus ring a bit back and forth. If the AF was off, you should see the focus sharpen up one way or another. If you do note that (a bit of front- or back-focusing) take a shot at the sharpest point, then compare the two images in your software.

It's up to you to determine what's acceptable an what's not. Unfortunately, I don't believe the 60D has the "MicroAdjust" feature, which lets you "fine-tune" your AF to match a lens or adjust the camera to all lenses. That feature does come in handy with these high-resolution cameras!

Tony_Stark wrote in post #13944526
I just assumed that part on behalf of the shooter

After viewing so many "why are my (100% view, no sharpening in post processing) images soft" posts, it just doesn't seem like a safe assumption any more.

Thanks you all for your comments. I totally appreciate all the great advice and look forward to testing out a few of the suggestions. Here is a sample shot I took last weekend. Please note, I had to resize it to 640x427 to fall within 150K attachment requirement.

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