un sharp pictures,how to post

Im getting ready to send my 5dII to Canon to have it and my 70-200II checked for focus issues. Before I do that how is the best way to post a few photos so I can get some feed back if they look un sharp. At 100% the seem really unsharp, Im using the center focus point.
I want to post the pictures so you can see the information and the focus point. Thank you

Well, if you want to show the focus points you can use Digital Photo Professional and do a screen shot/"snip" of a hundred percent crop.

In DPP, open an image in question in the Edit window. Then choose View/AF Point (Alt-L). The points appear with the selected point lit up in red.

Double-click in the middle of the selected point to enlarge the view to 100%.

Now you want to do a screen shot or, if you have a Win Vista or Win 7 machine you can use the Snipping Tool. If you have a Mac I believe they have something similar. With Windows XP you do either a screen shot or I believe there is a tool available online.

Anyway, you will need to either snip a block of your screen around the selected point or you will have to bring a screen shot into an image editor and crop a block out that will comply with the POTN size limit (1024 pixels at the widest). Then you can save the "snip" as a jpeg and upload either to here or to a Web image host and post it here.

Clear as mud?

Link to photobucket album, if you have time have a look and tell me if this focus is unexceptable- Canon 5dII and 70-200II @ 2.8
I cant seem to get any part of a picture sharp and Im getting ready to send both back to Canon for review and repair as needed, What are your thoughts?

Please advise/ Thanks

http://photobucket.com​/fotocanontest

Your battery pictures look ok to me. Are you applying any sharpening? I don't know DPP at all, but if you're shooting RAW then you might not be applying any sharpening at all as you are viewing them.

Really hard to say by judging these screen shots.

The shots I looked at (battery shots and flower and bee) looked sharp, but it's difficult to tell at the posted sizes. In the flower and bee shots, the bee is blurred but some of the flower stems are very sharp, so the camera probably focused somewhere other than where you expected it to. I just looked at a few more, including the fly on the bullet tip; in that one, the front of the bullet appears sharp, although the fly is blurred. I think some or all of the issue you're experiencing (which I don't think is improper focus on the part of the camera/lens) is caused by a combination of:
1) Very thin depth of field, so that only a very small part of the image will be in focus even with everything working perfectly; and,
2) The camera sometimes focusing somewhere you don't expect it to focus.

With regard to point 2 above, typically the autofocus sensors in Canon cameras cover a significantly larger area of the scene than the corresponding focus squares in the viewfinder, so the camera is capable of focusing on a high-contrast edge outside of the focus square that is shown as having acquired focus, and probably will focus on that high-contrast edge if there's not a good high-contrast edge inside the focus square. In other words, the camera can be working perfectly fine and still focus somewhere other than where you want it to. You need to be aware of this behavior when picking a focus target - try to focus on a high-contrast edge whenever possible.

I'm not sure what kind of sharpness you're expecting, but from the samples you've posted so far for the most part you're getting good sharpness, maybe just not where you expect it to be. Look at the details on the cartridge casing in shot 9 - that looks like it was taken with a microscope, there's so much detail between the left end of the casing and the cannelure. DPP indicates that the focus square was on the bullet, but my guess would be that the AF system actually acquired focus on the edge between the bullet and case (see point 2 above).

If you really want to test focus, do some controlled testing using a tripod and a target with a single, high-contrast edge (you can include something with lots of fine detail at the same focal length as the target, but make sure it's far enough from the target - at least two or three focus squares away - so that the camera won't focus on anything except the target). For more precision, use mirror lock up and remote triggering. See here https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=857871 for more on testing focus.

Good stuff above.

By the way, for those who wondered about the smallness of the shots: when you click one of the shots to go into the "viewing" mode you can click it again to get a larger size view.

To the OP -- basically, the shots where you had stable defined subject came out fine, especially the battery shots because they were big enough and detailed enough so that your camera had no problem locking on, the first bullet came out nice, I'd even say the lizard came out nice because it had detail, especially the head shot.

But as was said above, the AF sensor can be thrown off when there are conflicting areas of contrast/detail. That does happen. For example with both of the bee shots, well, where was the camera supposed to focus? The focus point wasn't centered on the bee in either shot but instead was looking at some low-contrast flowery stuff, so in those shots the focus sensor just did its best to find something, which obviously wasn't the bee!

With the fly on the bullet, again, your point was not centered on the fly, the focus sensor "looked" for something and found the bullet tip. The fly was just to small and light, low contrast, to "grab" the sensor.

These say to me that all you need is practice! And practice and practice and practice, learning to work with the AF and to give it the "stuff" it needs to work for you. That center AF point is actually very good and accurate, but as you can see in those shots if it's not given a good "target" by you, well, the results will be hit-or-miss and disappointing.

Did I say practice? That is so crucial when you are "chasing" the critters -- get as close as you can, keep your eye glued to the viewfinder, and learn to work that AF and to spot the operation of the AF, especially that "moment" when it "grabs" something, and the 5D viewfinder is big enough that you really can see the grab, and you can see if it misses your intended subject!

Oh, and practise!

I shot all of the pics raw and did not apply shrpening, I showed the focus points and adjusted to 100%.
I dont see anything in sharp focus. Im going to soot some more tomorrow and see what I come up with.

Number one raw files need sharpening applied.

GregoryF wrote in post #14159860
Number one raw files need sharpening applied.

Ok this maybe some of my problem. I guess I never realized that.

Thank you

I see just a possible hint of some back focus. Can you supply the EXIF information for shot #2?

GregoryF wrote in post #14159860
Number one raw files need sharpening applied.

What is a number one raw file?

k9trainer wrote in post #14159827
I shot all of the pics raw and did not apply shrpening, I showed the focus points and adjusted to 100%.
I dont see anything in sharp focus. Im going to soot some more tomorrow and see what I come up with.

instead of screen shots post the actual photo!
photobucket keeps the EXIF data intact and it's much easier to judge

watt100 wrote in post #14161746
instead of screen shots post the actual photo!
photobucket keeps the EXIF data intact and it's much easier to judge

Ok I will do that, can I send the raw file to Photo Bucket? or should I convert the photo to img?

k9trainer wrote in post #14161868
Ok I will do that, can I send the raw file to Photo Bucket? or should I convert the photo to img?

Convert the RAW file to .jpg and upload.