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Is anything in focus in this shot?

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I am not saying that he does not have anything wrong with the camera, but if the wind blew and the branch moved a few inches after focus was locked it could cause the branches that are closer to be in focus rather then the bird, especially if there is a low DOF. If the shutter speed is fast enough the motion will not be seen, just the OOF subject.
 
How does that shot look at 100%? Looks like the chest and the toy is in focus at this size, but the face is soft. Could this softness be due to the underexposed face?
 
What was the camera to subject distance? Did you focus specifically on the eyes-or just the first part of the dog that the cameras sensor picked up? The front of the dogs toy looks in focus and it goes out of focus as it moves back.

If you were pretty close to the subject the depth of field is very narrow and if the focus locked on the dogs nose then the eyes were behind the narrow area of acceptable focus.

Your camera may be focusing just a tad in front, but I'm sure it is within "specs" as far as Canon would say. I still think most peoples problems with focus and depth of field (regardless of camera system) is technique and photographic experience related. Mine sure is. I get a few good shots now and then so I know that when they're bad, it's me and not the camera. Of course it's easy to sit back after the fact and analyse all these factors. If only we could just remember them in the field as were shooting.
 
That's their recommended Unsharp Mask setting. I find it to be a good starting point.
 
Rygel said:
Everything looks soft to me!! That's why I'm pulling my hair out!
Click to expand...
From this size photo it is hard to tell sharpness

What sharpening do you have set on the camera? What picture mode if you are using one? It does make difference.
Rygel said:
I'm going to try a focus test with all my lenses.
Click to expand...
I did that D70 focus test since my photos were, what I thought were soft at f2.8. But it ended up that the camera was definately front focusing a bit. I also did another other test to confirm this and it too showed that the camera was front focusing. What I did was setup a slide on my table that I put my camera on. Basically it was a straight edge clamped along the side of the table and another piece of wood about the size of the camera against the straight edge. I then put an index mark on one piece of wood and an index scale in equal incements on the other. I then put a flat object to photograph at the end of the table and made sure it was 90 degress to the lens and straight edge. I then took a photo of the object with the setup and then moved the camera in controlled increments with the focus locked by turning off AF on the lens in both directions. Ran it a few times. All showed that the photos indeed were sharper closer than were the camera focused. At 24mm it was only about a 1/4 inch. At 70mm it was about an inch and a half. I brought the camera and lens to Canon, since the NJ facility is just minutes from me, and they adjusted it. Camera is taking sharp photos now. BUT the focus chart still shows front focus. Go figure. I am not too concerned since the camera is taking good shots now.

I had another issue with my camera and it turned out be be a setting. My brother in law took photos at my son's party with his d1 mark II and the photos were sharp as could be. It actually convinced me to buy my 30d. My photos were not anywhere as sharp as his were. I checked his EXIF and made sure that all our settings were the same. It was driving me insane. Then one day I installed the Canon software and when I checked the EXIF with the Canon software it showed he had a sharpness setting of 5!! The EXIF program I was using before stated it was LOW! I took some shots at a sharpness setting of 5 and sure enough it was just as sharp. Now I think it is way too sharp! But at least I know it was not the camera.

Try this in addition to that focus test. Take batteries and line them up in a perfectly straight line at equal intervals. Then set the camera on a tripod, or flat on the table that you set the batteries on at an angle and focus on the center battery. Make sure that the battery surface closest to the lens has fine writing on it. If there is nothing to focus on it will choose the back edge of the battery to focus on. Is the one you focused on the sharpest? Are the surrounding batteries about as blurry as the other? Be sure not to hand hold the camera for this test as just a little rocking of your body can knock out the DOF.

Good luck!
 
There is certainly plenty of subject material within the area in approximate focus that it would be reasonable for the camera to have locked in on. A determination of front focus diagnosis for the camera would need a less ambiguous subject.
--
http://www.pbase.com/victorengel/

 
In my opinion, the sharpness is overwhelmed by jpeg artifacts, noise, and noise suppression artifacts. Because of the jpeg artifacts, it's hard to discern much of anything else.

What I did to see if there was adequate detail was to duplicate the layer and apply a highpass filter with radius 0.25 and blend mode linear light.

If the lens were soft or out of focus and there were no jpeg artifacts, you'd see very little difference applying this filter. However, there is a significant difference, and it seems to be mostly jpeg artifacts.

That makes me wonder whether you were shooting in raw or a jpeg mode. If a jpeg mode, what setting? Also, if you shot in jpeg mode, did you have noise suppression enabled?

My guess is that you probably were shooting in a jpeg mode saving at something other than the highest quality setting and with noise suppression enabled. That's what it looks like to me anyway.

--
http://www.pbase.com/victorengel/

 
Wow... much better than I get even after sending my camera and lens to Canon! Good for you.
 
This doesn't address your lens problem, if there is one, but it was a good retouching challenge.



--
~ Peano
 
Yep. The eye is there, all right. Just needed a little help.
--
~ Peano
 
Rygel said:
Victor,

Camera settings were default. The jpeg was at highest quality.
ISO 400.

I'm new to the camera and not aware of a noise suppression setting.
Click to expand...
I may be mistaken, but I think noise suppression only works on exposures of 1 sec. or longer.
--
~ Peano
 
You're probably right. I've never used a 30D, and I don't know. I think there is a default level of noise suppression that occurs in any case. It may also be that what I'm seeing is partly the result of saving to Jpeg twice -- once by the camera, and once by saving the crop for this thread. Whatever the case, the main point is that I think part of what we're seeing is artifacts produced by processing after the capture, or so it seems to me.

I also notice the lens is a Sigma 70-300 zoom. There is more than one version of this lens, one being better than the other. The original poster may wish to research reviews on his specific lens. It may be that the sharpness exhibited is at the limit of the lens at the focal length used. Perhaps others who have used this lens can weigh in.
--
http://www.pbase.com/victorengel/

 
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