tamron 150-600 soft at 600mm.

gaddypaid

gaddypaid

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gary
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my pictures seem soft at 600mm?
im using a nikon d5200 my aperature is fixed at f8, the daylight is fairly good and my iso is on auto. My main subject are birds and wildlife the camera is always hand held but 95 percent of my zoom is at full.
When i look through the viewfinder the image quality is clear but once i get home they seem softer. Do you think i should stop my range to maybe 500mm and then crop to get a sharper photo or will that result in soft image due to cropping back. I even tried shooting in jpeg and raw but had no real effect on sharpness. I fine setting for my image the best you can use.
Any advise?
 
Have you tried a micro-adjust (if it's possible) on your camera?
Mine needed an adjustment of +5 to get it right and I am mostly at 600mm :)
 
I dont think the d5200 does micro focus adjustments- you're into D7XXX for that
 
Maybe keep to 550 mm? I believe it is known to be a bit softer at 600mm especially at the edges. Bear in mind also that 600mm on a crop format body is equivalent to 900mm and your depth of field is miniscule.

Gramps, do you find that you need +5 at all focal lengths? I'm wondering if I ought to try it with mine - not that I've really noticed a problem.
 
I don't have the Tamron but have the Sigma 150-500mm and I was getting soft shots of the moon @500mm. Just zoomed out to 450mm and they sharpened right up. A crop in post is better than a soft image.
 
just looked and it doesn't support micro adjustment, might have to drop down to 550 then, pitty the lens doesn't lock at certain points.
 
gaddypaid said:
my pictures seem soft at 600mm?
im using a nikon d5200 my aperature is fixed at f8, the daylight is fairly good and my iso is on auto. My main subject are birds and wildlife the camera is always hand held but 95 percent of my zoom is at full.
When i look through the viewfinder the image quality is clear but once i get home they seem softer. Do you think i should stop my range to maybe 500mm and then crop to get a sharper photo or will that result in soft image due to cropping back. I even tried shooting in jpeg and raw but had no real effect on sharpness. I fine setting for my image the best you can use.
Any advise?
Click to expand...

What shutter speeds are you getting with the aperture at f8, remember its a 600mm lens on a cropped sensor, especially as you're hand holding the lens.
 
I watched a review on it earlier on today and it said you could lock it anywhere? A bit pointless imo having a 600mm if it's of no use... have you had it from new? Could you return it for recalibration?
 
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jerry12953 said:
Gramps, do you find that you need +5 at all focal lengths? I'm wondering if I ought to try it with mine - not that I've really noticed a problem.
Click to expand...

TBH I'm rarely off 600mm as that's really what I bought the lens for but I haven't noticed any sharpness issues on the odd occasions that I've tried shorter ranges. :)
 
shutter speed is at 1600 which should be fast enough for capturing birds and wildlife, i don't think its the shutter speed cause back grounds are soft too. I am not sure if you can alter the sharpness in the settings will have to look into it.
 
What camera settings are you using, single autofocus point, or multiple, centre autofocus or moving the autofocus point. Single shot or AV servo, could it be that you're missing focus because you're not keeping the focus point on the subject?
 
It would be nice to see some images showing the problem,1/1600th at 600mm (900mm) is no absolute guarantee against camera shake,are you cropping as well.
 
With such a large zoom range on that lens, I would expect some softness at the longer end. I've had a few 500mm sigmas in the past and they are the same. Just pull it back to about 550-575 and they will sharpen right up. I know it's bought for its 600mm capability but it's just one of those things. Are you pixel peeping to realise it's not sharp? Or do the images not look sharp at full image size?
 
i think i might know what it could be i have had the iso set to auto and some of the pictures were coming out at 2600 iso think i need to keep it down to a maximum of 800.
I only noticed this when i looked at the meta data .

16365597235
 
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I think if you get your ISO down you will be more pleased with it,i have the same lens and a D7100 and i try to max out at 800 iso
 
tried lowering my iso this morning and taken this picture which is a 25% crop,
qEb4r9

can i ask whats the best percentage on a crop, and whats the furthest range before you lost image quality.
for example if i took a picture of a bird in a tree say 30ft away but when i cropped in it was too soft to keep and wished it was closer to get a sharper picture what distance would you recommend at say 550mm.
 
Small garden birds - I shoot within about 12 feet but that's @ 400mm. Cropping would just be a small trim to help composition.
 
If your on walk about take shots as you start to get close just incase you spooke.
 
it is on a walkabout all the time i generally see something i take a few shots,take a few more steps take a few more shots etc till it flies off mainly to try and get a clear shot free from branches.
 
gaddypaid said:
it is on a walkabout all the time i generally see something i take a few shots,take a few more steps take a few more shots etc till it flies off mainly to try and get a clear shot free from branches.
Click to expand...

Same as me then
 
i have seen your pictures and quality is really good and clear, do you go out at anytime of the day or are you an early bird and get out before people start walking dogs etc? You must be silent as a ninja to get as close as you do what size crop would you average use.
 
gaddypaid said:
i have seen your pictures and quality is really good and clear, do you go out at anytime of the day or are you an early bird and get out before people start walking dogs etc? You must be silent as a ninja to get as close as you do what size crop would you average use.
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Thanks for the kind words,normally at this time of year ime out at or just after dawn and only stay until maybe 10.30 am as its a public area i use with joggers and dog walkers, as for crops i have no idea i just try for an image i like and if i think its falling apart too much i bin it,
 
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