Quote Originally Posted by jho288


If you enlarge the image right to the eye, it looks grainy,


First of all, that's an excellent photograph. Nice work!


Second, it does look very "grainy" to me too -- but the grain I'm seeing is compression artifacts. Theuploaded image is so highly compressed (21 MP in just 750 KB) that it has completely fallen apart.



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Could you upload the same image with less compression? (About 10 times less would be nice.) Web sites like "yousendit.com" allow for uploading very large files for free.


This highlights how important post processing is for nailing sharpness. Some raw converters do better than others (e.g. Lightroom 2 throws out detail on high ISO shots).



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Quote Originally Posted by jho288


I thought the 21MP 5D Mark II was suppose to enable me to even blow up to the face and still have crisps sharp images?


Well, I wouldn't put it that way, but it is certain possible when the conditions are right.