5D markII sharpness issues?

[Cozen]

What setting do you 5D markII owners use for sharpness? I was shooting on landscape which has a +1 for sharpness. When viewing my shots at 100% in lightroom, majority of the shots looked out of focus. I thought it was a backfocusing issue, but I tried 2 different lenses and the results seem to be the same.


Any ideas on what this could be? Should I just shoot with a setting with max sharpness? Seems this is unusual.


The lens used were 135L and 24-105 both were wide open.

[btaylor]

I don't bother with the sharpness settingsas I shoot in RAW and adjust sharpness if required later on in post. I'm very happy with the sharpness of my 5D MkII though. Have you microadjusted your lenses?

[Mark Elberson]

<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: #000000; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"]I think (I don't know) that higher resolution images look softer at 100% than lower resolution images do. Daniel Browning likened it to viewing a 6 foot wide print up close:


<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: #000000; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"]

....a 100% crop of the 5D2 (which is like looking at a 6 foot wide print up close)

<o></o>


<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: #000000; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"]Anyway, I also have been extremely happy with the images that come out of my 5DII. I always shoot RAW and leave the style to "Standard" which has a sharpness setting of 3. I rarely bump it up from there.<o></o>

[Jon Ruyle]

I usually use fairly low sharpness settings, and if all goes well (which it doesn't always), I get images that look pretty sharp to me. I would guess that a problem with the 5DII is pretty unlikely, though it is possible that both lenses would do better job after microadjustment.


Why not try stopping the lenses way down? This makes it easier to focus and also improves the IQ of the lenses. Only if your images look soft when carefully focused at f/8 (use live view to take AF out of the equation) would I even begin to suspect the 5DII iteself. If they look sharp at f/8 but soft wide open, either it is a focus issue (try microadjustment) or a lens IQ issue. Make sure you examine your image only at the point at which you focused. Even if shooting an apparently flat surface, you won't get perfect focus over the whole field unless you *carefully* square the camera to the surface (I can't get it right even with a square and a level when shooting at f/2 from about 10 feet).


Perhaps your expectations are too high? The full frame 21mp sensor is fairly demanding. Are your pictures soft all over or just in the corners? At some focal lengths, the 24-105 isn't that sharp when shot wide open, especially in the corners. Few lenses are. In fact, even the mighty 135 does not have perfectcorners at f/2 (at least mine doesn't).

[Steven23]

Where was the image soft/not sharp at, center or corner?


It was shot wide open, your dof is kinda shallow even with wide angle.


Where did you focus, center or 2/3 into frame?

[scalesusa]

If the camera itself is front or back focusing, you will see it on all your lenses. There are some good test charts, that when used carefully per the instructions will give you a good idea as to what is going on.


http://regex.info/blog/photo-tech/focus-chart

[Cozen]

Maybe it is a combination of everything. I did have to micro adjust my 135L after making this post. It was front focusing by one. But it's weird how nothing seemed in focus. It was soft at f2 in the center and midframe. Maybe my expectations are too high from this highly regarded lens.


After testing my camera with some strobes, it turns out the images come in very sharp at 100% with my 24-105 at f8. Maybe my lenses just need to be stopped down? That is borderline disappointing.

[btaylor]

Seems it's a lens issue rather than an issue with the body. All lenses are sharper when stopped down a bit. I guess it's a trade off between losing that low light ability/ narrow depth of field and image sharpness.

[neuroanatomist]

It was soft at f2 in the center and midframe.

Although I don't have the 135 f/2L (it's on my wish list []), I don't believe it should be 'soft' in the center at f/2. Bryan's ISO 12233 chart comparison shows that the lens is essentially just as sharp at f/2 as at f/8 in the center; stopping down does improve the (already good) mid-frame and corner sharpness.


The 24-105mm zoom is also a little soft away from the center at the widest end of the range, especially wide open.


Questions on your original landscape shots - which focus point were you using, and did you focus/recompose?

[Bruce in Philly]

I agree - test the focus using a chart. My story:


I purchased the 5D MKII with the 24-105 kit lens and also have a 70-200 2.8 IS. When I received the camera, I thought the images were a bit soft and ran comparison shots lens vs lens at the same focal lengths, and the 24-105 was less sharp than the other. Actually I kinda freaked out at the results.


I then did the focus test and saw the 24-105 was focusing way behind. Using the camera adjustment, I tweaked it and now it is as good as the other lens (the adjustment is near the extreme of the setting - works but not a good feeling for Canon QC).