Studio Shots out of focus

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hayes_photo

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I have a studio and most of the time, my images are of great quality, however my images seem to suffer in quality when I shoot groups of people from around 15 feet away.

I'm using a Fuji S5pro with a Nikon 28-70mm 2.8 AF-S D lens, shooting RAW

When shooting groups, I tend to shoot around the wider setting (28-33mm) using Elinchrom BRX500's for a high key set up and a shutter speed of at least 125th sec to avoid camera shake.

Whenever I open and examine the RAW images, zooming in to 100% the images seem to lack detail in the face. They just don't look 100% sharp and i'm struggling to understand why.

I'm pretty sure it's not camera shake.

Images taken with the lens on the same setting bur with me moving physically closer to the subject come out fine.

I'm aware of the limitations of the cameras resolution (I may upgrade to a D800 shortly) but I just want to get the the bottom of this first.
 
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hayes_photo said:
I have a studio and most of the time, my images are of great quality, however my images seem to suffer in quality when I shoot groups of people from around 15 feet away.

I'm using a Fuji S5pro with a Nikon 28-70mm 2.8 AF-S D lens, shooting RAW

When shooting groups, I tend to shoot around the wider setting (28-33mm) using Elinchrom BRX500's for a high key set up and a shutter speed of at least 125th sec to avoid camera shake.

Whenever I open and examine the RAW images, zooming in to 100% the images seem to lack detail in the face. They just don't look 100% sharp and i'm struggling to understand why.

I'm pretty sure it's not camera shake.

Images taken with the lens on the same setting bur with me moving physically closer to the subject come out fine.

I'm aware of the limitations of the cameras resolution (I may upgrade to a D800 shortly) but I just want to get the the bottom of this first.
Click to expand...

Welcome to TP :)

Only a guess, but nothing looks very sharp at 100% and you've only got 6mp with that camera (in reality) on an APS-C sensor.

It's not camera shake as you say - the flash duration becomes your effective shutter speed.
 
^this. If you want the same detail in faces on group shots (or closer to it anyway) as you do with individual close ups... you just need a higher resolution capture, and preferably a larger sensor.
 
it should really look sharp after processing a raw if he is at base ISO and focus is correct particularly in a studio setting.

HoppyUK said:
Welcome to TP :)

Only a guess, but nothing looks very sharp at 100% and you've only got 6mp with that camera (in reality) on an APS-C sensor.

It's not camera shake as you say - the flash duration becomes your effective shutter speed.
Click to expand...
 
As Hoppy said, shutter speed is irrelevant, but aperture isn't... What aperture are you shooting at?

You say it's with groups... if some subjects are further from the camera than others (even if only slightly) then with too wide an aperture some of them will be out of focus.
 
I was going to say if you're shooting a group at 2.8 then some will be slightly out of focus, you need to bump the aperture value up to at least 4, even 4 can still add a bit of focal depth.
 
HoppyUK said:
Welcome to TP :)

Only a guess, but nothing looks very sharp at 100% and you've only got 6mp with that camera (in reality) on an APS-C sensor.

It's not camera shake as you say - the flash duration becomes your effective shutter speed.
Click to expand...

Pookeyhead said:
^this. If you want the same detail in faces on group shots (or closer to it anyway) as you do with individual close ups... you just need a higher resolution capture, and preferably a larger sensor.
Click to expand...


What these two have said ^^^^^ although Hoppy's use of the word 'sharp' may be a touch misleading! :)

You are never going to see the same amount of detail/s in a face that's been shot wide, at distance (ie 10' plus) as you are in a close up and personal portrait.

That's as true with a 22Mp camera as it is with a 6Mp one.

Sharpness/Focus and resolution/detail are two entirely different things which you seem to be confusing as one and the same!

POAH said:
it should really look sharp after processing a raw if he is at base ISO and focus is correct particularly in a studio setting.
Click to expand...


See above
 
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