600D with 100-400 II?

AverageJoe123 wrote:

I'm not sure about this photo but I have other photos without a filter that got this "blurriness" as well.

Thanks.  I ask because your first sample exhibits that busy "nervous" background that is often the hallmark of filter use.

Not that that kind of bokeh is a particularly bad thing.  But rather some filters can have a detrimental effect on other things such as sharpness, contrast, saturation, and even autofocus.  Especially when used with a telephoto zoom (the 100-400 historically so).

This is extremely sharp, great photo! This is what I expected to get but I'm not getting consistant results..

I agree with the others that the 70-200 f/4 IS is a super sharp lens (even wide open).  As is the new 100-400 Mk II.

There are easy ways to determine if your lens is up to snuff, and also if your lens/camera combination is within calibration.  Check those first.

Once that has been ruled out, then check your settings and your technique.  Are your shutter speeds high enough?  Do you need to adjust the ISO higher to gain more shutter speed?  Do you allow a little extra time for the image stabilization to settle?  Are you using a single center AF point?  Which AF mode?  How is your tracking?  Are you focusing and recomposing?

Finally, are you perhaps expecting a little too much?  Canon images are very vanilla SOOC.  In fact I turn off all sharpening and noise reduction in-camera (and they do look pretty blah).  Noise reduction and sharpening are performed in post processing (I recommend shooting full RAW to get the most out of your images).

And keep in mind that you can't crop in more than about 50% (4.5 MP) and still retain an image with enough ooomph to do much with.  And especially not with a 100% crop.

That said, I do think your original 100% crop is a bit soft.  Eliminate the most obvious.  Work on settings and technique.  Get back to us if you have any questions.

Good luck,

R2