85mm 1.8 Squirell shot, not happy

I must have taken 50 shots that vary from 1.8-5.6 and I'm not happy with the crispness of any of them.

Are my eyes going and I'm unable to focus or is this crisp and can't tell?

I tried AF and MF, similar results on them all.

Need some tips....there is no PP here, just a crop.

Thanks
AA

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It looks overexposed, too. Camera Settings? How much of a crop?

1/1000 @ 1.8
+0.33
ISO 400
100% crop

Looks like the sqirrel was pretty far away. DOF is very narrow at great distances with a wide open aperture. Looks like you locked focus on something a little closer than the squirrel, maybe the feeder. For bright, outdoor shots like this, I'd be looking at some Av more like f/5.6. I'd try ISO 100 or 200 before resorting to higher. 1/1000th second isn't necessary to freeze the action, 1/250 should be fine at 85mm. What mode were you in? I'd try Av mode, set to f/5.6 ISO 100 with +/-0 EC and Evaluative metering. If that didn't give me a fast enough shutter, then up the ISO.

Thanks. I was about 40' away for the shot. It was a strethc i usually make with my 70-200f4 but sold it friday. My new 2.8 will be here tomorrow. Wooho!

Thanks for helping with whats wrong. I was thinking hte 85mm should do nice work assuming the users tells it propoerly what to do.

AA