Canon 24-105L NOT sharp

If these are 100% Crops, that sharpness looks pretty typical of a Zoom... perhaps a little on the softer side. If you want something that looks tack sharp at 100% though, you really need a good prime.

always raw, i use lightroom, no correction at all on samples above, exported to jpg 100% quality
sharpness settings - standard profile on camera which is 3 for sharpness -

hugh650uk wrote in post #11272798
always raw, i use lightroom, no correction at all on samples above, exported to jpg 100% quality
sharpness settings - standard profile on camera which is 3 for sharpness -

If you converted the RAW files in LR the camera sharpness setting will not be used by LR. LR has a default sharpening setting of 25 with 1 pixel radius. When I convert RAW files in LR I usually use that default LR sharpening and, after editing in Photoshop, apply "smart sharpen" in Photoshop with a setting of 165 at .3 pixel radius. Without that extra sharpening 7D files will tend to look "soft" because of the camera's strong anti-aliasing filter. You need to either increase the sharpening in LR above the default or do further output sharpening in Photoshop if you want really sharp 7D images. Here are two 7D 100% crops from the same shot - the first is without sharpening, and the second is with sharpening.

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I usually get the sharpness "right" in LR, no big trouble, is just that all the reviews out there describe the 24-105L as very sharp, for me when people say that it means right on the camera not in LR, I can be wrong thinking this way, I don't know.

I was more worried about the dealer trying to fool me or avoiding a replacement

and thanks for the tip, I will try later

Just increase the sharpness setting on camera and it will be sharper.
If you want more , do it in LR/ PS

hugh650uk wrote in post #11272894
I usually get the sharpness "right" in LR, no big trouble, is just that all the reviews out there describe the 24-105L as very sharp, for me when people say that it means right on the camera not in LR, I can be wrong thinking this way, I don't know.

I was more worried about the dealer trying to fool me or avoiding a replacement

and thanks for the tip, I will try later

When shooting 7D RAW, you must apply sharpening in post processing to get a really sharp image, regardless of the lens.

The 24-105 is a very good lens. But not the very best when it comes to sharpness. Pretty decent, though.

It also has a lot of other good qualities that make it a good walk-around lens for a full frame camera. I might choose something different for a crop, though. 24mm isn't all that wide on a crop.

I love it so far on my 5DMk2 - not had no issues with sharpness BUT i do find the Photoshop's 'unsharp mask' seems more effective than the sharpness control in LR.

hugh650uk wrote in post #11272894
I usually get the sharpness "right" in LR, no big trouble, is just that all the reviews out there describe the 24-105L as very sharp, for me when people say that it means right on the camera not in LR, I can be wrong thinking this way, I don't know.

I was more worried about the dealer trying to fool me or avoiding a replacement

and thanks for the tip, I will try later

No matter how sharp the lens is to the camera ... on the 7D the Anti-ALiasing filter is very strong and images will need a sharpening boost in PP. Took me a while to figure it out, now it's second nature.

hugh650uk wrote in post #11272508
Hello all,

About 2 months ago I bought a 24-105L + 7D and since then I took many photos, but none of the photos are as sharp as the ones I saw with 24-105L + 5Dmk2 on reviews pages.
I didn't have a chance to try my lens on a 5D body and the dealer where I bought my gear tells me that the lens are fine (I sent them many photo samples where I thought the lens were underperforming)

Is this lack of sharpness related to the body I'm using or is it a real concern?

*I did some tests with the IS off and it is still not sharp.

Regards,
Hugo

Well the 7D never looks quite as 100% crisp as the 5D2 due to split-green filters and of course the higher density makes micro-contrast a little tougher too.

That said I was not impressed with either 24-105L i tried, my tamron 28-75 was definitely sharper and the 24-105L were a mess 24-28mm at the edges on FF 5D2 even at f/11.

OTOH some people say it is sharp on their 5D2. I have seen some 5Dc shots that looked pretty sharp to the edges.

I'm starting to think that this lens may suffer from extreme QC issues, with lots and lots of copies not nearly as good as the few really good copies???

When I had a 7D, the 24-105 was on it most of the time. I had excellent results - very sharp with great color. I shoot RAW and was very pleased with the results - VERY close to 5DII.

Micro-Adjust and see if it helps.

looks plenty sharp to me

thanks for all the answers!!!