Sharpness

[neurorx]

I wanted to ask the group their thoughts on sharpness with Canon 5DIII. I notice it most strongly with my 24-70mm 2.8 II in low light and at 70 mm. Some with other lenses with low light or contrast. I've tried live view focus that helps some. ISOs aren't maxed out generally above 1000-5600. Lower F stops for the lenses.

Is this just a gear limitation issue or should I be concerned?

Thank you.

 

[d]

What exactly have you noticed? Your post doesn't actually mention what your issue is.

 

[neurorx]

The sharpness is lacking in the lower light or low contrast situations.

 

[d]

Have you performed AFMA on your lenses? Are you shooting handheld, or on a tripod? If on a tripod, are you using MLU? What sort of shutter speeds? These will all affect your resulting image sharpness. You might also like to post some examples of the issue you're having. The 5DIII is capable of very sharp images when used correctly.

d.

 

[davidmurray]

I wanted to ask the group their thoughts on sharpness with Canon 5DIII. I notice it most strongly with my 24-70mm 2.8 II in low light and at 70 mm. Some with other lenses with low light or contrast. I've tried live view focus that helps some. ISOs aren't maxed out generally above 1000-5600. Lower F stops for the lenses.

Is this just a gear limitation issue or should I be concerned?

Thank you.

Have you tried turning on the Auto Focus?on the lens?
Both the camera and lens are premium models and I doubt the models you're using is the cause of the issue.

Have you tried swapping lens and/or camera body with another to see if that improves things?

Have you tried using lower f-stop than 8?

Have you tried using a lighting level that is bright enough to read a newspaper without difficulty from 2 feet away?

What other fault finding activities have you tried doing?

 

[j-nord]

With out more info ill say, high ISO in bad light usually produces bad images. There is only so far you can push camera gear. Maybe you are shooting handheld with a shutter speed that is too low and you are getting a little camera shake? A better description of what you are doing, what you are shooting, etc would help a lot in narrowing down your issues. You shouldn't otherwise have a 'sharpness' issue with that lens/camera.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I wanted to ask the group their thoughts on sharpness with Canon 5DIII. I notice it most strongly with my 24-70mm 2.8 II in low light and at 70 mm. Some with other lenses with low light or contrast. I've tried live view focus that helps some. ISOs aren't maxed out generally above 1000-5600. Lower F stops for the lenses.

Is this just a gear limitation issue or should I be concerned?

Thank you.

Generally, as you increase the ISO, noise also increases. Noise destroys the detail in a image, so eventually, if you keep cranking up the ISO there is little detail left. You could call it loss of sharpness, its really just noise that creeps in.

The 5D MK III is pretty good at ISO 3200, at 6400, noise creeps in, and at 25,600 its pretty objectionable.

This is the case for all cameras. Larger sensors can use higher ISO's before noise looks bad. If possible to over expose a little, you can alleviate part of the issue when you process the raw image.

You can get a bad sensor, so you are correct to ask. Post a link to a full sized raw photo so some experts can actually see if there seems to be a issue.

I just finished some low light photos, noise in the colored lights is pretty noticeable even at ISO 3200, detail is lost. Its mostly due to my exposure settings. I probably got a stop of extra noise in there, and DR at high ISO's is very small. Most of my images were at ISO 2000 and above with a lot above 12800. At ordinary printed size, even those 25600 photos will look good, but at 1:1 they look ugly.

 

[scottkinfw]

I wanted to ask the group their thoughts on sharpness with Canon 5DIII. I notice it most strongly with my 24-70mm 2.8 II in low light and at 70 mm. Some with other lenses with low light or contrast. I've tried live view focus that helps some. ISOs aren't maxed out generally above 1000-5600. Lower F stops for the lenses.

Is this just a gear limitation issue or should I be concerned?

Thank you.

I have used this camera for 4 years, and this lens since it came out. I don't have the problems you speak of at all.
In fact my 24-70 2.8 II is my fav lens due to its incredible sharpness (along with other properties that create a great image quality).

I would think that with such an excellent camera and lens, you should enjoy the same type of images. Since you use multiple lenses with similar results, it may be the camera (common denominator). On the other hand, you too are a common denominator.

I agree with the others. Post several raw images with exposure metadata and shooting conditions (e.g., tripod with IS off, etc.). We can all have a look and maybe give you some real help. OTO, you may want to visit your local camera shop with some images and your rig.

All the best.

sek

 

[ejenner]

Shoot ISO400 color film for a while and then compare. If the 5DIII images still look soft, then you have a problem.

(I suspect pixel-peeping and over expectation are the issues)