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Fuji X-2H w/Laowa 65 Macro Lens (need tips for getting tack sharp photos)

Started 5 months ago | Discussions
Zen4Life Regular Member • Posts: 163
Fuji X-2H w/Laowa 65 Macro Lens (need tips for getting tack sharp photos)

I am new to macro photography (coming from landscape shooting background). I am trying out the X-2H with Laowa 65 to do macros of flat objects (in this case, rock slices).

I am using a tripod, ISO 125, focus peaking, F8 (seemed to be ideal for edge to edge resolution), fixed lighting, and 2 second self timer. I have tried both regular single shots and pixel shift shots. The pixel shift shots have slightly more apparent detail and less noise so I might stick with that approach which also gives me tons of flexibility for cropping.

The issue is that my shots are not tack sharp which is what I was hoping for. Are there some tips or tricks to improve the sharpness? I am also processing in LR and know about its below average ability to process x-trans images but I do not see any x-trans artifacting, just images that are not as sharp as I was expecting.

Thanks ahead of time!

Robert Salton Forum Member • Posts: 75
Re: Fuji X-2H w/Laowa 65 Macro Lens (need tips for getting tack sharp photos)
1

Zen4Life wrote:

I am using a tripod, ISO 125, focus peaking, F8 (seemed to be ideal for edge to edge resolution), fixed lighting, and 2 second self timer.

With F/8 indicated you already are deep in diffraction territory on a 40MP APS-C sensor and  effective aperture will be even worse. How much so depends on the actual magnification used. If the image has to be tack sharp, something around f/2.8 or maybe even f/4 effective is needed.

Montanawildlives Senior Member • Posts: 1,845
Re: Fuji X-2H w/Laowa 65 Macro Lens (need tips for getting tack sharp photos)

Zen4Life wrote:

I am new to macro photography (coming from landscape shooting background). I am trying out the X-2H with Laowa 65 to do macros of flat objects (in this case, rock slices).

I am using a tripod, ISO 125, focus peaking, F8 (seemed to be ideal for edge to edge resolution), fixed lighting, and 2 second self timer. I have tried both regular single shots and pixel shift shots. The pixel shift shots have slightly more apparent detail and less noise so I might stick with that approach which also gives me tons of flexibility for cropping.

The issue is that my shots are not tack sharp which is what I was hoping for. Are there some tips or tricks to improve the sharpness? I am also processing in LR and know about its below average ability to process x-trans images but I do not see any x-trans artifacting, just images that are not as sharp as I was expecting.

Thanks ahead of time!

I'd be interested in this question too. I just received this lens today and am thinking of the x-h2 but for now am going to be using the x-t3.

I agree with the other commenter that f/8 with that lens and 40mp may be too far into diffraction territory. Christopher Frost did a youtube video on this lens and at 2x magnification he found that f/4 was the sharpest aperture, and that was for a 26mp camera. So maybe even 2.8 would be better on 40mp, although f/4 is probably safe.

That'll be good for light/shutter speed/ISO, but bad for DOF. I am going to get out my focusing rails today and start working on that.

Do you have any sample pics you've done? Ones that worked well, and ones that didn't?

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