A7RV Camera problem? Left side image blur

ttusteveo said:

I just bought a new lens (Batis 85mm f/1.8) and in testing it, noticed that at full magnification the left side of the image seems softer than the right.

I then mounted my 20-70 f/4, and took the same photograph of my neighbor's house. I shot both lenses wide open, but I'm shooting from my yard across the street - so I'd expect sufficient DOF. I see the same effect on the 20-70 which isn't that fast.

If I hold the camera upside down and reshoot, the blur follows - the right side then seems soft.

See attached images, one taken with each lens. The brick sharpness starts to fall apart on both images on the far left side. I've not noticed an issue in normal practice, but I haven't had the camera all that long.

Do I have an issue with the camera or lenses?

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ttusteveo said:

Never serviced. The camera is only a few months old and has probably less than 2000 shutter actuations.

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aSevenArr said:

ttusteveo said:

Never serviced. The camera is only a few months old and has probably less than 2000 shutter actuations.

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I'd do a few more tests on different walls first, but then contact Sony with the images as evidence.

It might be that somehow your sensor or lens seat (or both) are misaligned. Perhaps the IBIS suspension is damaged?

BTW.. I've never seen this before. Did you buy the camera new or used? Have you (or someone else) swabbed the sensor with excessive force perhaps?

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f1point4andbethere said:

Hard for me to tell from the images on my phone, but if the plane of focus trades front to back, left to right, then opposite when shot upside down (and rotated in post) with all lenses, then it would mean the sensor and mount are out of alignment. There’s no service centre that will fix this, unfortunately. Sony only calibrates this from the factory (sensor shims) and does not provide any tooling or procedures for their licensed service centres to correct it.

On the other hand, it is only two lenses, and could very well be a coincidentally similar lens tilt/decentering issue with both lenses

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ttusteveo said:

I think I sorted this out... Operator error on multiple fronts.

I shot these (and other) test pictures wide open to exploit any flaws with the lenses. I expected a shallow DOF but figured it would be deep enough for the subject.

When I raise this camera to my face and look through the viewfinder, I finally realized that I'm not holding it perfectly perpendicular to the subject. I'm maybe a few degrees off. It's a new camera for me and handles completely differently from my Fuji. I need to roll my right wrist/hand outward a bit to square the camera better on the subject. Realistically I'd never take this shot wide open, so this misalignment probably wouldn't matter in practice.

Second, my DOF expectations are skewed by both the change from APS-C to FF and by the massive resolution increase from the X-T2 to the A7RV. The A7RV is cruel in that regard - you can zoom in so much further and it will reveal things you wouldn't see at lower resolutions.

I was asked if I'm happy with the 20-70. I'm thrilled with the versatility of it. The lens correction profiles - especially DXO - deal with the expected distortions well. My jaw dropped when I saw the first pictures from this body and lens, coming from the X-T2.

I'm very excited about the Batis. I've wanted this lens for a long time (years ago when I had Sony APS-C before), and I got what I thought was an amazing Amazon Prime day deal on it, about $600 new. Used ones seem to go for around that.

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ttusteveo said:

I think I sorted this out... Operator error on multiple fronts.

I shot these (and other) test pictures wide open to exploit any flaws with the lenses. I expected a shallow DOF but figured it would be deep enough for the subject.

When I raise this camera to my face and look through the viewfinder, I finally realized that I'm not holding it perfectly perpendicular to the subject. I'm maybe a few degrees off.

Click to expand...

Ab S said:

ttusteveo said:

I think I sorted this out... Operator error on multiple fronts.

I shot these (and other) test pictures wide open to exploit any flaws with the lenses. I expected a shallow DOF but figured it would be deep enough for the subject.

When I raise this camera to my face and look through the viewfinder, I finally realized that I'm not holding it perfectly perpendicular to the subject. I'm maybe a few degrees off. It's a new camera for me and handles completely differently from my Fuji. I need to roll my right wrist/hand outward a bit to square the camera better on the subject. Realistically I'd never take this shot wide open, so this misalignment probably wouldn't matter in practice.

Second, my DOF expectations are skewed by both the change from APS-C to FF and by the massive resolution increase from the X-T2 to the A7RV. The A7RV is cruel in that regard - you can zoom in so much further and it will reveal things you wouldn't see at lower resolutions.

I was asked if I'm happy with the 20-70. I'm thrilled with the versatility of it. The lens correction profiles - especially DXO - deal with the expected distortions well. My jaw dropped when I saw the first pictures from this body and lens, coming from the X-T2.

I'm very excited about the Batis. I've wanted this lens for a long time (years ago when I had Sony APS-C before), and I got what I thought was an amazing Amazon Prime day deal on it, about $600 new. Used ones seem to go for around that.

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If I understand correctly you noticed that you pointed the camera not completely perpendicular to the subject. Did you use the artificial leveling of the camera? Anyway, you repeated the test and now the image is left-right equally sharp?

Btw, thanks for your comment on the combi A7Rv with the 20-70 f/4.0 G lens. It is my preferred combi for the near future. I am already using DxO PL(9)/FP7/VP4 since 2023 (and before that time PureRAW) with my RX10iv.

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aSevenArr said:

ttusteveo said:

I think I sorted this out... Operator error on multiple fronts.

I shot these (and other) test pictures wide open to exploit any flaws with the lenses. I expected a shallow DOF but figured it would be deep enough for the subject.

When I raise this camera to my face and look through the viewfinder, I finally realized that I'm not holding it perfectly perpendicular to the subject. I'm maybe a few degrees off.

Click to expand...

There have been whole threads of people "testing" lenses incorrectly like this.

Don't feel bad.. it's extremely difficult to be precisely geometrically normal to an (almost) flat plane like a wall and fast glass wide open has an extremely shallow DOF (and it may not have a perfectly flat focal plane anyway).

Furthermore when you are close to the subject any tiny misalignment error on your part is further attenuated.

That's why I will never even go there.. my lenses are plenty good for me.

All lenses are softer near the edges and especially in the corners.

(And who shoots walls wide open anyway .. LOL

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ttusteveo said:

aSevenArr said:

ttusteveo said:

I think I sorted this out... Operator error on multiple fronts.

I shot these (and other) test pictures wide open to exploit any flaws with the lenses. I expected a shallow DOF but figured it would be deep enough for the subject.

When I raise this camera to my face and look through the viewfinder, I finally realized that I'm not holding it perfectly perpendicular to the subject. I'm maybe a few degrees off.

Click to expand...

There have been whole threads of people "testing" lenses incorrectly like this.

Don't feel bad.. it's extremely difficult to be precisely geometrically normal to an (almost) flat plane like a wall and fast glass wide open has an extremely shallow DOF (and it may not have a perfectly flat focal plane anyway).

Furthermore when you are close to the subject any tiny misalignment error on your part is further attenuated.

That's why I will never even go there.. my lenses are plenty good for me.

All lenses are softer near the edges and especially in the corners.

(And who shoots walls wide open anyway .. LOL

Click to expand...

I agree . I was just wanting to know whether I had a good lens before I lost the opportunity to exchange it. In my other reply, I include another captivating brick picture shot just a few feet away. To me those results look very good, so I think really everything is okay with the body and lens. We're looking at sand grains in mortar now, and I'll be using the new lens for portraits which will be far sharper than what's required anyway. (Still, I'm amazed by what I can see with 60mp.)

Click to expand...

ttusteveo said:

aSevenArr said:

ttusteveo said:

I think I sorted this out... Operator error on multiple fronts.

I shot these (and other) test pictures wide open to exploit any flaws with the lenses. I expected a shallow DOF but figured it would be deep enough for the subject.

When I raise this camera to my face and look through the viewfinder, I finally realized that I'm not holding it perfectly perpendicular to the subject. I'm maybe a few degrees off.

Click to expand...

There have been whole threads of people "testing" lenses incorrectly like this.

Don't feel bad.. it's extremely difficult to be precisely geometrically normal to an (almost) flat plane like a wall and fast glass wide open has an extremely shallow DOF (and it may not have a perfectly flat focal plane anyway).

Furthermore when you are close to the subject any tiny misalignment error on your part is further attenuated.

That's why I will never even go there.. my lenses are plenty good for me.

All lenses are softer near the edges and especially in the corners.

(And who shoots walls wide open anyway .. LOL

Click to expand...

I agree . I was just wanting to know whether I had a good lens before I lost the opportunity to exchange it. In my other reply, I include another captivating brick picture shot just a few feet away. To me those results look very good, so I think really everything is okay with the body and lens. We're looking at sand grains in mortar now, and I'll be using the new lens for portraits which will be far sharper than what's required anyway. (Still, I'm amazed by what I can see with 60mp.)

Click to expand...

ttusteveo said:

When I raise this camera to my face and look through the viewfinder, I finally realized that I'm not holding it perfectly perpendicular to the subject. I'm maybe a few degrees off.

Click to expand...

Hotel Lonely said:

ttusteveo said:

When I raise this camera to my face and look through the viewfinder, I finally realized that I'm not holding it perfectly perpendicular to the subject. I'm maybe a few degrees off.

Click to expand...

This is why I suggested you to aim for something very far away, to remove this difference

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