Can you tell me if this looks like motion blur, camera shake, missed focus or hyperactive IS ?

Amamba wrote in post #17795189
I like the photo, but want to realize why it's not as sharp as many other photos I have. I want to rule out the possibility that perhaps this particular lens has issues.

Stop measurebating that image & DO THIS: TonyLong's post

IS isn't a 100% solution. For that matter, AF isn't, either. There will be shots where you do everything right and they just don't quite get crisp. That's why I always take a few, and on a paid gig I'll always do a quick pixel-peeping review before I say "looks good."

To answer your specific question, I think you missed focus. Points of 100% bright, like the beading, tend to leave trails when there is motion blur involved.

Wind tends to be a factor outdoors, too. Blowing hair and fabric can be pretty noticeable around 1/50. 100 is kind of a last resort ISO for me. Far better to nail focus and freeze motion at 320, even though there may be a tiny bit of noise.

Was the image RAW or JPG? Looks like a RAW image with not enough sharpness added. It looks soft everywhere. If it was back-focus then some other part of the image would be sharp. If it was motion blur then we'd see some trails from specular highlights.

Oh, and I agree that viewing an image past 100% is pure silliness for evaluating sharpness. With today's high pixel count sensors even at 100%, you're probably out of the realm of reason.

I did a test a few yrs ago. I had two shots of the same scene. At 100%, one was sharp as a tack and the other was noticeably soft. At full screen size the OOF image still looked a bit soft.

I ordered prints (5x7 IIRC) of both. They both looked sharp!

These days I use a trick for evaluating sharpness. Knowing screens are about 100 ppi and prints are 300 dpi.
1. Export the image as JPG at the resolution appropriate for your print. For 8x10, that is 2400 x 3000 pixels.
2. View the JPG image zoomed to 100%.
3. Back away from your screen until you are 3 times further than your normal print viewing distance. For 8x10's viewed at 24 inches that puts you 6 feet back from your screen.

Try it. I bet you'll be surprised just how sharp ALL of your lenses really are!