XF 14mm f2.8 r not sharp?

Hello,

I have been trying out the XF 14mm f2.8 and feel quite disappointed as its not very sharp. It was very expensive too and I have read that its a very sharp lens everywhere. Even the images I have shot with a decent handheld shutter speed are looking a bit soft. I'm a total noob so please let me know if the softness is normal or if I'm doing something wrong or the lens is faulty. Thanks!

Here are a few:

The only sharp images I have gotten from it are the close up ones where I am like 15cm away from the subject like these two:

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Just check that the manual focus on the lens focus ring is not engaged. This lens manual focus is engaged by sliding the focus ring backwards and will also reveal the distance scale so if you can see that it means you have the manual focus engaged and need to slide the focus ring forward. In fact - if you can turn the focus ring then you have manual focus engaged.

There's nothing wrong with your lens.  A few suggestions:

• Stop it down - depending on the scene.  At F2.8 only your focus point will be in focus.  Peak sharpness for the center if F4, and for the edges F5.6-8.  Using a smaller aperture will bring the whole scene in focus, like your street scene.
• Use ISO 200 whenever possible.  
• For static scenes, if you have steady hands, you should be able to shoot at 1/30 of a second.  1/60 if there are people moving.
• Experiment with the sharpness & NR settings.  Make sure the NR is not cranked up when shooting low ISO scenes.  Probably can bump sharpness in those situations as well.

For static scenes, I suggest setting SS to auto, and engage auto ISO with a min shutter speed of 1/30 & max ISO of 6400.  Then choose the aperture that gives you the depth of field you want.  If the scene has a moving element, and the shutter speed comes up too low, just move the SS dial to 1/60 temporarily and let the auto-ISO do it's thing.

pluton wrote:

You obviously don't realize how lucky you are to possess a very wide angle lens that is that sharp, and that sharp across the frame, wide open at f/2.8.

Your lens looks fine.

It looks perfectly fine to me too. If the original poster thinks it is still a bit soft, then it could be the JPEG processor. It always gets much better in a good raw converter.

I have a 20x30 landscape print on my wall, shot with the X-E1 and 14 at f8 handheld, it's sharp across the board.

At the other end of the spectrum, f2.8 can give you decent bokeh for this focal length. The front element was touching the central petal here, you have to get right in there! -