How do I get sharper images? NX1100

Drennen wrote:

I am doing product photography, among many other types of photography with my NX3000. The shallow depth of field is a plus for what I am photographing, makes it more dramatic and insteresting.

If you need tack sharpness edge to edge, you may find it impossible with this camera due to the sensor size. You would need to shoot straight down so that the focal plane is even over your whole subject.

I can tell from experience that f/8 at the distance you are talking about has a tack sharp depth of focus of only an inch or two. So if you are shooting at an angle, that whole plate might be 5 inches or more deep.

Concerning ISO, how large do you need this to be? Screen only? You could easily use up to ISO400, maybe up to 1600 with this camera. So I think you will not really have a problem with hand-holding it. The shot below is hand-held at 1/160 ISO400

Can you post an example of the shot you are working on?

Heres one of mine to show you that f/8 will not cut it for sharpness across the entire product. That axle is about 3.5 inches.

Thanks for your help.

Because of the small size of my products (beads), they all have to be in focus.  I am purposely not going to for any visual or compositional effects; I want the customers to see the beads without the distraction that a fancy or attractive composition would create.  And yes, I photograph them all in the same plane.

It turns out that all I had to do was the increase the ISO to 400, and all the photos became sharp.