Why is my image not sharp?

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donkey_kong

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I was trying out my new D7100 along with my 70-200 f4 Nikon. Some of the shots were great but others didn't come out sharp and in some cases very dissappointingly blurry.

Here is an example: shot at 200mm, f4 1/1600s ISO 250, handheld with Normal VR on at full. Focus was on the top of the third roof from the back.

I would expect with such a fast shutter speed that it would be tack sharp. Any ideas? Many of the shots that have issues is at the 200mm end.

10825477516_78d913f904_b.jpg
 
You've shot at the longest end of the zoom range with the aperture wide open.....it's the softest combination you'll get out of any zoom lens.
 
The roof ridge you focussed on looks reasonably sharp on my screen, but your depth of focus is very limited at these settings and most lenses don't give their best sharpness at maximum aperture. Try stopping down a bit and experiment, but keep the shutter speed up and adjust ISO if necessary.
 
Also worth reading up on when to use VR and when to leave it off. I'm not sure how much affect it actually has but it can work against you at high shutter speeds.

http://www.bythom.com/nikon-vr.htm

Agree with Martyn above though. What you actually focussed on does appear to be sharp to me.
 
i am assuming that this was at f4 so shallow dof try again with it closed done to f10 -f13 and see what happens
 
i was a total nikon man ,in july i sold my d7000 and d300s to fund a new d7100 ,it was a total nightmare i just could not get it to work properly and finally after 3000 + shots and four weeks later it went completely tits up failing to display either shots taken or even the menu system ,i took it back to the retailer and they swopped it for a new body ,initially it was a different beast performing superbly giving super sharp images after a further 5 week period and again around 3 to 4000 shots it to went tits up exactly the same as the first one .
i totally lost faith in the camera and nikon and have now changed over to canon lifes to short to rely on gear that doesn't work properly ,hope you sort your problem out ?????:bang::bang:
 
youy've alsio compressed that jpg to death I know its not the cause, but it won't help
 
Take another shot, do nothing in post except to crop to 100% and convert to a jpeg. Post that. That lens should be sharp wide open, but it may be a calibration issue instead.
 
Lens looks soft, dont stop it down at all it should be sharp wide open!
 
twist said:
Lens looks soft, dont stop it down at all it should be sharp wide open!
Click to expand...

Considering the rest of the artefacts on that image due to the bad resizing, I'm amazed you can give such a definite opinion on the lens. To me the sharpest bit of the image is the thing that should be, so no focus issues, but there's no way we can tell how sharp it is with that much compression.
 
Fair enough theres compression, but hes saying he has many shots with issues at 200mm, if hes only noticing it at 200mm that tells you something. The F4 VR doesnt have to be shot at F8+ at 200mm for it to look as sharp as it does at any FL under that. Its a good lens, it shouldnt have an issue wide open at F4. But yes, a better sample would help.
 
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twist said:
Fair enough theres compression, but hes saying he has many shots with issues at 200mm, if hes only noticing it at 200mm that tells you something. The F4 VR doesnt have to be shot at F8+ at 200mm for it to look as sharp as it does at any FL under that. Its a good lens, it shouldnt have an issue wide open at F4.
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I read what he said too, and my guess is user error;
"Many of the shots that have issues is at the 200mm end."

If that was 'all the shots that are soft are wide open at or close to the 200mm end, I'd agree with you.

But as shooting gets more difficult at longer FL's and it appears he sometimes gets sharp results there anyway, my guess is technique. It should be tack sharp at that shutter speed, but then there should be no banding from that sensor either :shrug:.
 
Stick it on a tripod, use mirror lock up, high enough iso for a decent shutter speed and have another go.
 
Yeah, its a strange one, more/better samples required. 1/1600s is a pretty decent shutter speed imo.
 
te="Phil V, post: 5941932, member: 24798"] but then there should be no banding from that sensor either :shrug:.[/quote]

I doubt if the banding is from the sensor but from the fact that a lot of compression was used and maybe other PP as well.

Don't forget, as many people on here keep re-iterating, JPEGs have only 8 bits per channel which can lead to banding on large areas with only small changes of brightness across them, such as a sky.

This isn't usually apparent on most JPEGs until you start to PP them, but as already stated the area focused upon does look sharp and some sharpening in PP should make it look even better.
 
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petersmart said:
te="Phil V, post: 5941932, member: 24798"] but then there should be no banding from that sensor either :shrug:.
Click to expand...

I doubt if the banding is from the sensor but from the fact that a lot of compression was used and maybe other PP as well.

Don't forget, as many people on here keep re-iterating, JPEGs have only 8 bits per channel which can lead to banding on large areas with only small changes of brightness across them, such as a sky.

This isn't usually apparent on most JPEGs until you start to PP them, but as already stated the area focused upon does look sharp and some sharpening in PP should make it look even better.[/quote]

You really think I thought the banding was from the sensor. I think you should re-read my posts here carefully.
 
If you want more sharpness across the whole image? as in the tree's and other houses you will need to change aperture to a much higher number.
 
Did you have a circular polarizing filter on?
 
Honestly, it's a terrible example image to test sharpness or focus accuracy. It looks ok to me at the compressed web image that's been uploaded. Shoot something flat, with high contrast - cereal box or similar - and as mentioned by others ensure high shutter speed and use a tripod.
 
Perhaps I'm mistaken, but this strikes me as a focus issue, not so much a sharpness issue. Suggest you click a few more images of varying scenes, high/low contrast, deep and shallow DoF and upload them with EXIFs.

Both Slimbert and gad-westy raise good points. At 200mm f/4 you're at an edge combination which will result in some softness. Also at 1/1600th there's no reason to have VR on (assuming you do, in fact, have it on).
 
The 70-200 F/4 should be pin sharp. At 70, 200 or anywhere in between. With the VR on, I get pin sharp shots at 200mm with 1/8". Only time I turn the VR off is when on a tripod, and that's if I remember.
I've done a few air shows with the F/4 this year with no problem, even the TC 1.4 can not give me anything other than pin sharp shots (albeit at F5.6)
Others have talked about not needing VR on at higher shutter speeds, and I guess you don't. But I've not had a reason to turn mine off when hand held. Never even considered it. Never had a soft shot yet. Only time I ever get something not in focus, is when the 51 focus points have picked something other than what I really wanted. Amongst my sharpest lenes.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94099912@N06/9528195749/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94099912@N06/8844549455/
And other such tosh on my Flick..........


As others have said, stick it on a tripod, use RAW, single point focus and see what gives. Even try leaving the VR on.
 
Thegreatroberto said:
The 70-200 F/4 should be pin sharp. At 70, 200 or anywhere in between. With the VR on, I get pin sharp shots at 200mm with 1/8". Only time I turn the VR off is when on a tripod, and that's if I remember.
I've done a few air shows with the F/4 this year with no problem, even the TC 1.4 can not give me anything other than pin sharp shots (albeit at F5.6)
Others have talked about not needing VR on at higher shutter speeds, and I guess you don't. But I've not had a reason to turn mine off when hand held. Never even considered it. Never had a soft shot yet. Only time I ever get something not in focus, is when the 51 focus points have picked something other than what I really wanted. Amongst my sharpest lenes.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94099912@N06/9528195749/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94099912@N06/8844549455/
And other such tosh on my Flick..........


As others have said, stick it on a tripod, use RAW, single point focus and see what gives. Even try leaving the VR on.
Click to expand...

Exactly. My 18-105 is pin sharp wide open at the full zoom and every iteration of the 70-200 f4's from Canon and Nikon have been too.
 
If you're doing long shots then a tip from me would be to print a rifle target in B&W and then take a shot at a distance (with the Nikon, not a rifle), mirror lockup, calm day, remote release and then work through the aperture values -pretty much the same as sighting up a rifle to be honest! Not clued up on nikons but if you have live view options then use that to your advantage for focussing. Ask questions afterwards if you still have issues but if you do have issues then it's most likely the lens being a bitch :)
 
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