In search of that "perfectly" sharp image

TSchrief wrote in post #14841329
Ok, I admit it. I am geographically challenged, and acronym ignorant. Where, exactly, is the SFL area? Your English seem impeccable, so I am guessing USA somewhere.

I thought it was south Florida.

If sharpness as the title of this thread implies is the OP`s main concern for portraits, then himself & other folks might consider the below gem if it can be found at a reasonable price which is not too easy to accomplish. I gave up after searching for the past 3 years and losing out on E-bay several times.

For those that are unaware of the " Voigtlander APO Lanthar 125mm f2.5 macro " you might find this lens hard to discount and is still sometimes found for sell but at a rather steep price:

https://photography-on-the.net …php?p=3107191&p​ostcount=1

http://www.photozone.d​e …nthar-test-report--review

Current E-Bay auction:

http://www.ebay.com …m53ee2b7f8e#ht_​503wt_1397

Regards, Ron

What lens did you use for these ?? I shoot birds at F8. At that aperture the birds head can be in focus but the tail feathers blurry. If you shoot a long focal lenth lens from a long distance your depth of field is small.
Check out this table which will explain how much of your subject is in the camera/lens focal depth. I still say a better lens set will be the biggest leap in IQ for you from what oyu have now.

HeleneD wrote in post #14849178
He has $2500 if I read that correctly. A 5D2 can be bought used for $1500. That gives him $1k for lenses. That seems like a good start to me. I started with the 5D and 35L.

I stand corrected

I followed the advice that some of you gave and bought my first prime and my first L lens.
I certainly have to get used to the prime, not being able to zoom in and out, but I do love the results so far and am very happy with it, a lot more keepers that I consider sharp. Here is an example with my new "nifty 50", only cropped and resized, no processing.

That's a big improvement over your previous shots. I'm glad you're happy now with the shots your producing. You picked a very sharp prime and one of Canons best zooms, congratulations

h14nha wrote in post #14909264
That's a big improvement over your previous shots. I'm glad you're happy now with the shots your producing. You picked a very sharp prime and one of Canons best zooms, congratulations

Thank you.
I'm on a role right now. I have a 50mm f/2.5 macro on order. I wasn't sure which one I should chose, the nifty 50, for price and f/1.8, or the macro for the legendary sharpness.
I will compare the two next week when I get the macro.
But so far it's amazing, I just took pictures in my room with the 70-200 at 70mm, f4 ISO 800 and 1/15 of a second handheld. I couldn't believe the results. 1/15th of a sec and they all looked very usable to me.

I got my Kenko 1.4X and gave it a workout this past weekend.
It doesn't seem to degrade the 70-200 too much and I'm very pleased with the results.

and the 50mm 2.5 macro, works very well as a portrait lens.

IGNORE---->Canon 5D MK II Canon EF 85mm f/1.8, and get some strobes, like alienbees or flash, set camera to m mode, ISO 100 for fun, set shutter speed to abround 100, aperture to f/5.6 to start, flash to about 1/16 power, then shoot subject, go on from there. i didnt read your thoughts, i just saw money and assumed this is what i would do, so you should to :0) The 5D MK I is cool as well very high IQ, so you could get it and maybe the 85mm f/1.2 MK II instead? Or the 5D MK I and a zeiss 35mm f/1.4 ZE manual focus if sharp is what you want, with bokeh of course. so many reasons, choices, and factors.

^ That's my vote.

I sold almost everything (only have what's left in my sig) and bought the 5D II, and I am extremely happy... I am right now saving for the 24-105.

But, looks like I came too late and you've found something you're happy with, which is what matters..

i.e. no-one can tell you what will be happy for you except yourself (as an example see the post above me who says ignore what I've got but I'm perfectly happy with it for what I do)