Sharpest possible photo

[benjamin sandoval]

I was wondering if any of you would happen to have any tips on the sharpest possible photo.

I currently have two Canon camera bodies, the XTI which I have for sale and the new 7D. I’m in a love hate relationship with the 7D. There are times when I’ll get a tack sharp image and other times where I’ll get soft or blurry images. I can say that I lack the steady hand and do believe that it’s me and not my camera causing the blurry images.

I have the following lenses if this might help, a nifty fifty F/1.8, canon 18-55 kit lens, Tamron 11-18 F/4.5-5.6 Di-II LD, Canon 17-40L F/4, and finally the Canon 70-200L 2.8 IS.

I have been considering buying a carbon fiber tripod to help steady my camera, I just don’t know what to get as of yet. I have found that there are way to many options and I’m reading up on what would be best for me. I’m hoping for a tripod that is not to heavy since I’ll most likely carry it all day and maybe even on short backpacking treks.

Another question is do any of you carry a tripod with you while out fly fishing? As it is I feel overloaded with fly fishing gear already, and now I factor in carrying a tripod and camera as well, you get the picture.

My thoughts have been to just either shoot photos or fly fish, I find it really tough to do both. I’m interested in hearing what some of your thoughts are on the matter. Do you guys shoot photos or fly fish, or do you just do both as best you can? How many of you just go out and shoot photos while your buddies are catching the fish in front of you and the camera?

Thanks,
Benny  

[Buzz Bryson]

It’s tough to try to fish AND take photos.

[anonymous]

Buzz is right on- “Photography – – – it’s all about compromises”

There are techniques for trying to maximize sharpness- a tripod with a serious head /mirror lockup/cable or remote shutter release etc.

One of the most overlooked is diffraction. Stopping down tooo far , while it increases DOF also introduces optical effects that cut against “the sharpest possible image from a specific lens”. You mentioned a number of lenses and each of them will have a narrow band of F-stops which will yield the maximum amount of resolved detail for the sensor you are using. They will also have a range of focused distance (magnification) at which they excel.

For instance – I have a 105 VR Nikkor- ok lens at  1/2 life size at f11-16. Get closer ie- life size and it sucks. Stop down to f22 and it sucks.

If I need to get closer ie- life size and greater I switch to Zeiss Luminar microscope type objectives and bellows and if I need more Dof than f11- 16 I start focus stacking.

As Buzz said……:))))

Best thing is to work out the the optimal paramaters for the lenses you have if you are looking for max sharpness and go from there – in terms of what you need to do to get outside those and stay happy.

As far as photography versus fly fishing… I have pretty much quit fly fishing and fly tying- 2 years and counting- I’m in rehab:))) . I was doing hardcore Spey fishing for big warmwater species ( 40″plus Channel Cats and Carp) and meditative bamboo/brookie and Tenkara stuff till I got hooked on taking pics of aquatic bugs and got sucked into the toilet bowl of trying to understand and explore the broader ecology of aquatic environments.:))))))

[Morsie]

Don’t shoot hand held at a slower shutter speed than the focal length of the lens.

Hold it steady.

Watch your breath.

Squeeze gently.

When the light is good and/or the fish are ‘on’ you have to have the discipline to put the rod down.

Know your tackle (camera etc).

Morsie

[David Anderson]

As above, but I would add that the lens is everything when it comes to sharp.

For best results on a newer digital camera you need the best prime (one focal length) lenses and a tri-pod.
You also may need to use mirror lock-up and either a shutter cable or the self timer.

The sharpest Canon lenses are the 24 1.4L, 50 1.2 L, 85 1.2L, 100 2.8 L macro, 135 F2L and 200 F2L
The new tilt shifts are also awesome.
In non L lenses, the 85 and 100 portrait lenses and 50 and 100 USM Macro lenses are very good.

www.dsaphoto.com

A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.

[Eric DeWitt]

One other thing to add – with my 5dm2, i found when i was shooting at marginal shutter speeds, the first frame of a series of shots was always the worst.

[benjamin sandoval]

As far as fly fishing goes I will have to adjust to days of shooting photos of fish and have my days where I could just go out and enjoy a nice cay of fly fishing with no camera.

I picked up a nice ballhead, the Acratech GV2, now I need to get me a nice tripod. I’m really going to look into getting a quality tripod that I will not have to upgrade for a very long time.

[John Bennett]

Benjamin there are a dozen or more reasons why some images might not be turning out the way you want or expect. It would really help us to help you if you were to post an image sometime by way of example and include the exif.

Possible causes and possible solutions
Mirror Slap…..mirror lock up
Shake…higher SS, better technique, open the lens, tripods etc
AA filter ( The AA fliter in the 7D is strong) this requires more capture sharpening.
User error/ camera error. As good as the 7D is, you might be asking too much of it
etc
etc

[Douglas Barnes]

Benjamin there are a dozen or more reasons why some images might not be turning out the way you want or expect. It would really help us to help you if you were to post an image sometime by way of example and include the exif.

Possible causes and possible solutions
Mirror Slap…..mirror lock up
Shake…higher SS, better technique, open the lens, tripods etc
AA filter ( The AA fliter in the 7D is strong) this requires more capture sharpening.
User error/ camera error. As good as the 7D is, you might be asking too much of it
etc
etc

Couldn’t agree more and that’s exactly what I say when asked the same kinds of questions. Without specific examples it’s quite hard to judge the cause. It would help if you posted some jpgs of your ‘blurry’ and ‘sharp’ images w/exif data. We’ll go from there.

db

[benjamin sandoval]

Here are a couple of examples. The first shot is handheld bracing myself against a small wall behind me.  

This second shot is from a cheap $30 tripod. It seem blurry to me. Yet the photo above seem much sharper. Both photos are linked back to the EXIF data.  

Thanks again for the help.

[John Bennett]

Few things.
At these dimensions its impossible to judge whether the photos sharp or not. Not really meterial here, lets just assume they arent.

At those shutter speeds your camera has to be rock. Hand held and braced at 8/10s of a second, be happy with anything serviceable. Its doable I’ve done it myself.

1 second

But I dont sweat any deletes, in other words images that turn out are just pure gravy.

cheap tripod.
Again anything approaching those SSs mirror slap alone can knee cap your image ( use mirror lock up to avoid slap). Winds (stream current) anything that might cause a tremor through the legs can impact your image.

If these are the types of images that are bothering you (night shooting). Invest in a better pod, head and cable release, start using mirror lock up when that low. Your results *will* improve.

[benjamin sandoval]

I just got the Acratech GV2 ballhead in the mail.

Now I need the carbon legs.

[Douglas Barnes]

Benjamin, Cool images! They look pretty sharp at this size but it’s hard to tell. Looking at your exposure info, I notice you shot these at a wide aperture (f4.5) @ under a second. As a rule of thumb, most lenses are sharpest two stops down from maximum. And shutter speeds from 1/15th-1 sec are pretty dicey on any tripod, it’s that ‘in between’ blur zone I like to avoid in night stuff. My suggestion is try stopping down to f/11 and compensate with shutter speed so you’re shooting more like two or three second exposures. Given your support is solid and there’s no wind, this makes the ‘shutter bump’ a much smaller fraction of the total time and less likely to affect sharpness.  You might check your manual for a Canon equiv of Nikon’s “exposure delay mode” which pauses the camera after mirror up for a split second before the shutter does it’s thing. Very useful!  Back in the day (10yrs ago LOL when I shot the example below) on really still nights with multi second exposures, solid gitzos and 4×5 Sinars, I’d hold a black card in front( but not touching) the lens, fire the camera w/cable, then swiftly/gently pull the card away after the shutter was open and I knew the camera was settled (usually one or two secs) then freeze for the remaining ten or sixty. This still works in a pinch.

[Chad Simcox]

Ben, If I carry my camera I usually carry my tripod as well. I’ve got a somewhat heavy set of Bogen sticks with a video head on it (absolutely not ideal!). If I carry my camera I’ll likely have my camera backpack with me, so I just lash the tripod on with the dedicated straps. It’s heavy, cumbersome and uncomfortable. But that’s part of it. I think, if landscape photographers can carry 4×5 and 8×10 view cameras with them into the back country, I’ll get by with my SLR and heavy tripod.
When fishing I’ll just find a spot on the bank to throw my gear and enjoy being on the stream. If the fishing is going slow I’ll pick up the cam and start shooting.

As far as sharpness, I try to shoot between f5.6 and f11 on my canon lenses. On my 20D and 30D I do get some shots that aren’t quite there with sharpness other times the shots are amazingly sharp. I haven’t figure it out, but I think I’m being too critical when viewing the photos at 100%. Truth is, they’re likely sharper than I’d get from 35mm.

http://society6.com/grainfarmer Fly Fishing and Landscape open edition Photography prints.

http://grainfarmer.vsco.co/ iPhone photos
http://instagram.com/chad_simcox Instagram

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