70d/100-400L Am I expecting too much?

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Daniel
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Hi all, I have a completely new to me combo this year which I thought would be ideal for airshows and motorsports. After my first proper outing at Dux on Sunday, i'm not sure if i'm getting the results I should from this combo. Granted light and conditions were pretty poor to put it mildly, but I probably got around 30-40% keepers, but the sharpness/detail of those keepers didn't blow me away if i'm honest. I know things have moved on from both the 70d and 100-400L but both have a stellar reputation. Please take a look at the attached photo. Basically i'm wondering if the camera is front/back focusing, or if this level of fuzzy detail is to be expected, I guess more so on a dull day. I'm a little paranoid the 70d has a problem as the first one I picked up was faulty. I also took some photos on my old 5d classic on Sunday and those came out pretty sharp but it's not really a fair comparison. Just out of curiousity I've done a camera specific search on flickr to see how people fare with the 70d at airshows but as you can imagine results are all over the place! Thanks for looking and I appreciate any thoughts. The photo attached is basically as good as I got on the day, but the w/t on the rudder is fuzzy.
 

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Well, purely on the basis of this tiny web jpeg, it does PP a tad to improve the contrast and the sharpening............................thus I surmise that were you to PP as appropriate on the full sized image you might be a bit/lot more satisfied

Here I just adjusted the DRL (Dynamic Range Limit ~ also known as adjusting the Levels) and then Smart Sharpened a little bit (this done in PS version CS6) :-
IMG_9411edit.jpg

And this was your original, to show in full size rather than the clickable one ;)
IMG_9411.JPG
 
Some EXIF data would help

Unfortunately, it looks like he saved for the web or whatever and that has stripped the EXIF.

The histogram looked pretty even and ETTR but surmise he could have benefited from a +0.5 EC, though the sky detail would (likely) have reduced ;)
 
FWIW I went back and did another quick go
Levels to DRL but added some 'lifting' the midtones> then USM with LCE (Local Contrast Enhancement) settings > Smart Sharpened.
Again with the fuller file more could likely be done. NB the light in all of them does look quite flat.

HTH?

PS forgot say, nice prop blur and panning shown here and on the others posted that were Flickr linked......................even more so if this/them are full frame i.e. not cropped :)

IMG_9411ext_edit.jpg
 
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Thanks for the quick replies, that's a nice little PP you've done there Box Brownie, looks nice and sharp! I'm not sure how I can attach a large file here but thanks to rob for linking to the thread above and the photo is here

Duxford Air Festival 2019 by Dan J, on Flickr
 
Looks like my post processing needs work!

Quite possibly maybe ;)

I used as mentioned I use PS but PS for me is only one tool as I shoot RAW and use LR (version 6.12) and now also PhotoLab 2 as my newer primary PP tool that I am still learning to use to suit what I want to achieve. But LR and PS have in the past served me well for processing my Canon files :)
 
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If your lens is still under warranty then send it back to Canon for calibration / checking. I had some doubts over my 100-400 L purchased in November 2018 when Canon had the £600 double cashback. I found it soft at 400mm with an erratic front / back focus issue. Canon confirmed there was a problem and replaced the whole focussing unit. Having got the lens back it is spot on, absolutely tack sharp and dead accurate in terms of focussing on all my Canon bodies. So if in doubt, get them to have a look at it. IF A FAULT IS FOUND, they pay for it to be posted back to their repair centre in Elstree and then back to you once they have completed the repair. I was without my lens for just under two weeks. If no fault is found they'll charge you for postage...fair enough.
 
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