5D MKII Help re settings

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skiwhiz

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john
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Did a search and not alot came up so can you advise on the settings you use on the 5D II for lanscape and general shooting, recently got mine with a 24-105 lens and whilst I have not had the time or right weather to try it properly the initial results are soft compared with the 50D.
So I am assuming its something I am doing that is not giving me the pin sharpe pictures I see on here.
So any help or advice would be welcome.
thanks john
 
Its impossible. Light is different at any one point in the day, what worked yesterday may be completely different today.

For landscapes, generally lowest ISO you can, aperture around f/8-16, shutter speed what ever is apropiate in the light. Tripod for stability, remote release or self timer.
Use hyperfocal distance focus for maximum sharpness front to back.

The 5d mII has phenomenal resolving power, so any minute flaws in the lens or technique will show up much more than the 50D.
 
Hey,
I bought a 7D with the 24-105mm lens over a month or so ago. When I took a few photos with mine I found that my images came out quite soft. I did read up and find out that some 7Ds have a focusing problem. However I came to the conclusion that it was just the subject I was trying to take photos of and the settings. From the feedback I got I'd say to add some images to this thread, then people can look at them and give you advie on what they think is causing the images to be soft.

Hope I kind of helped a little :)
 
Images and settings for each would be a help.
 
some jpegs from photobucket

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SKIWHIZ


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Well, that first shot has quite a low shutter speed. Personally I don't think I'd have been happy with that and I'd probably have boosted the ISO to get a faster shutter speed. The others seem to suffer from blown highlights, it might be worth watching that even if means you have to boost the shadows a little post capture.
 
Just a note you may want to apply a bit of distortion correction in pp too, I can see a fair bit of barrel distortion in those images.
 
Most of those images are shot on the shadow side of the building, which means flat, even light and little contrast. That diminishes the apparent sharpness of details because transitions between tones of adjacent pixels are relatively subtle. To add a boost to the impression of sharpness (without increasing sharpening in software) try shooting with some side lighting on your subject. This will cast micro shadows into surface textures and bring the details to life.

A classic example is shots of the moon. When you shoot a full moon, lit from the front, a lot of the details seem to vanish and the shot may even look soft. Now shoot a half moon and note how the light raking across the surface highlights craters and ridges by adding highlights and shadows to the image.

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When you sharpen in software, including within the camera when shooting JPEG, the software increases the contrast at edge boundaries between pixels of (significantly) differing tones. It won't create the contrast that hard side light will, but it will enhance the impression of sharpness. Contrast is important for some types of photography, and landscapes and architecture are subjects which benefit.
 
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thanks for the replies, off to have a proper play today and tomorrow so will see what its like in good light.

I did not realise that shadow could have such an impact so will bare that in mind and I know the distortion has suprised me at the 24mm end, I did not expect it to be so bad.
Looks like a good wide angle lens may be needed as I love the 10-22 I have for the 50D which she who must be obeyed has now pinched for her 450D.
will update later and hopefully will come back with a big smile.
 
Its maybe worth looking into microadjusting. My 5d2 with 24-70 2.8 looked far softer than my 550d with tamron 17-50. After testing the focussing on a page of text I did a bit of microadjusting and the difference is like night and day.
 
Thanks Duncan will look at that, much happier today after a visit to Holy Island and Seahouses when the light was great.
When I view at 100% the images are much sharper straight out of the camera so having mastered the 50D it does feel a bit like starting again to understand how the 5Dii functions.
So its off to the Lakes tomorrow to play with landscape and see how I get on.
Thanks every one.
John
 
No problem :thumbs:
There's another hefty post in that thread about getting images that look sharp at 100%; bottom line is don't expect them too. I suggest reading that whole thread...

Have fun in the Lakes (totally jealous)
 
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