Soft Focus?

Lubinski

Do these photos look soft to you? I got this new 55-200vr and either I'm crazy or it focuses soft sometimes, even when the focus point is right on the eye.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lubinski/7218398740/&quot; title="DSC_0196 by M.Lubinski, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7235/7218398740_a531755885_z.jpg&quot; width="640" height="424" alt="DSC_0196"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lubinski/7218402638/&quot; title="DSC_0162-2 by M.Lubinski, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8154/7218402638_bfbdcf6eb3_z.jpg&quot; width="640" height="512" alt="DSC_0162-2"></a>

Nikolai

If you are sure about focusing correctly on the eyes looks like a case of shortfocusing (in #2 her left shoulder is in focus).
Take a yardstick, place a small well lit target (tip of the ballpen, etc) on a major tick and shoot from your typical distance at a very acute angle along the stick. If the designated tick is OOF - you have to adjust the camera or the lens. Most modern cameras allow for micro focus adjustments within a few inches. But if it's a more sever case then a trip to the service center may be in order...

Lubinski

Not sure if I'm following your directions there.

Nikolai

Lubinski wrote: »

Not sure if I'm following your directions there.

You have to take several shots in a controlled environment, where you are absolutely sure about where you think your focus should be, and the yardstick (the ruler) would tell you where it really is.

From there you can infer your further actions.

wave01

i cant see your settings can you post them also were you using a tripod

Lubinski

shot 1: 1/125 @ 5.6 105mm
shot 2: 1/125 @ 5.3 165mm

Yes it was on a tripod, ball head lighly tightened to avoid shake yet still move it around a little.

Nikolai, I got you now. Ill set it up later tonight if I can and see where the focus point lies on the ruler.

novicesnapper

If no ruler is available, you can print out a sheet for focus checks. Here's a Bob Atkins article explaining what is going on. http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/technical/focus_testing.html
Here's some printable focus charts. Just google focus charts for camera to find more. http://www.techniphoto.com/tips/focuschart.htm
Here's a great example. Notice the clip board is at an angle? http://regex.info/i/JEF_024811.jpg

Lubinski

Thanks for the charts. I will post the charts tonight after I have tested it out.

Icebear

One thing though. Unless you post something near a 100% crop, it's pretty hard to see a micro focus issue with an image this small. I'm on a small MacBook Air and don't see a problem.

Qarik

lastly the 55-200mm is never gonna give you give you extremely sharp images..just the nature of the lens.

novicesnapper

I cheated lol. I went to his flicker account and looked at the larger versions. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lubinski/7218398740/