Canon 7D Sharpness.

Danzaroonie

Danzaroonie

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Name
Dan
Edit My Images
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Hi Wonder if anyone can help....

I have seen a few articles based on the Canon 7D having focus issues or not producing sharp images. After a re-calibration all is fine...

I was wondering how I would go about testing my kit to make sure I don't have these kind of issues, reason i think this.... when I import my RAW images into Aperture they do seem a little soft and require added sharping.

Now this could now the case and as part of my PP work I need to sharpen the picture....but i would just like to make sure as I'm under warranty and could make sure this is resolved...

Just in-case it make any difference I have the 24-105mm L coupled with the 7D.

I will try and upload an image so you guy's/girls can confirm for me.

6004935158_28303dffb1_z.jpg


This picture is well underexposed but it still seem soft, the focal point is on the white flower centre of the picture.(low part of the flower)
cheers

Dan.
 
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RAWs are generally soft from every camera. Try a few RAW + JPG and compare the two and you'll see what I mean.

I'm sure a RAW expert will be along to help. I'm too lazy to bother with it :)
 
Really depends on the settings you have in your RAW prog and if you shoot jpg what you also have set up for sharpening in camera. It's impossible to tell sharpness from a reduced size photo. If you are concerned, shoot in jpg with some sharpening on (3, 4 or 5 should do), have the lens stopped down a little say f6.3 so it is sharp and shoot something which has good definition so sharpness can be seen. In your sample as there is a shallow DOF it is always hard to tell to getting the DOF wider will help. I would go for some DVDs, books, an outdoor shot, anything really, just don't get too close.

Once you've done that either show us a 100% crop or post the full image to something like flickr.
 
Hi Mark,

Thank you for your reply..

I didn't realize the Picture style settings would impact the RAW image, I thought this was based on the taken jpegs.
I currently just left this to standard setting which seems to have a setting of around 3 out of 7....maybe this is the issue.

regards

Dan.
 
All RAWs require sharpening (as well as saturation, cotrast boost etc etc) thats a fact, as there is no sharpening added in camera.
 
Danzaroonie said:
Hi Mark,

Thank you for your reply..

I didn't realize the Picture style settings would impact the RAW image, I thought this was based on the taken jpegs.
I currently just left this to standard setting which seems to have a setting of around 3 out of 7....maybe this is the issue.

regards

Dan.
Click to expand...

The picture styles do not effect the raw images. But if you select to shoot RAW and JPEG simultaneously, it will effect the jpeg.

You shouldnt really be shooting in RAW unless you fully understand this, as PP'ing is essential for RAW files.
 
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Yes DPP will do that but most other RAW processors wont IIRC.

The OP is using Aperture and this wont read that. I could be wrong but I don't think it does...
 
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odd jim said:
The picture styles do not effect the raw images. But if you select to shoot RAW and JPEG simultaneously, it will effect the jpeg.

You shouldnt really be shooting in RAW unless you fully understand this, as PP'ing is essential for RAW files.
Click to expand...

I was aware but i thought based on your last update it would impact this, I didn't realize you were just specific to the jpeg.

thank you for the confirmation.

Dan
 
Don't forget that when you reduce an image in size you MUST sharpen it. You can't reduce an image of several thousand pixels down to a much smaller one without losing some definition - it's a bit like trying to fit a quart into a pint pot.
 
CT said:
Don't forget that when you reduce an image in size you MUST sharpen it. You can't reduce an image of several thousand pixels down to a much smaller one without losing some definition - it's a bit like trying to fit a quart into a pint pot.
Click to expand...

That's why sharpening should be the last part of your PP process/workflow.
 
Mike.P said:
Hmmm, am I doing this wrong then?

I do my pp work on a picture, sharpen and save. Then I reduce the image size for Flickr.

Should I be sharpening the final reduced image instead?
Click to expand...

LOL definitely. I can never understand the confusion over this, because if you reduce an image from 1:1 down to web size you can actually see the loss of definition quite clearly. I'd guess you're perhaps using a 'Save For Web' reduction which might include some sharpening - I'm not sure as I don't save for web I do the whole thing manually.
 
Very interesting, not read about sharpening after resizing before tbh.

What's the best way of doing this using Lightroom then? I tend to do my PP in Lightroom, including sharpening if required, then resize the images when exporting depending on what I'm using them for. I notice there's an option to sharpen in the export dialog - should I be using this (either instead of or in addition to) the standard sharpening tools?
 
Vertigo1 said:
Very interesting, not read about sharpening after resizing before tbh.
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Well it's been the conventional wisdom for quite a time. In fact the majority consensus is that you shouldn't sharpen at all prior to reduction either. What this means of course is that if you have several versions of an image all at different sizes then they should all be sharpened at the final output size in each case.

Sharpening should be the very last step in editing prior to saving the finished image. The reason for this is that digital sharpening is largely smoke and mirrors achieved by increasing the contrast between adjoining areas of differing contrast. It follows that if you alter contrast (or otherwise adjust levels] after sharpening than it could have an adverse affect on that careful sharpening you've done.

What's the best way of doing this using Lightroom then? I tend to do my PP in Lightroom, including sharpening if required, then resize the images when exporting depending on what I'm using them for. I notice there's an option to sharpen in the export dialog - should I be using this (either instead of or in addition to) the standard sharpening tools?
Click to expand...

Soz, can't help as I don't use Lightroom, but generally speaking my routine is : -resize down to the required final size (using the correct algorithm of
course), do all necessary editing and adjustment and finally- sharpen.

I'm not a fan of scrips or any sort of bulk sharpening as I prefer to sharpen each image on it's individual merits, but then again, I rarely have a lot of images to process in bulk.

For optimum sharpness I don't think you can beat gradual sharpening in small increments using USM or whatever other method you prefer,using your own good judgement as you go.
 
Also in Lightroom and PS you can sharpen JUST the part of the image that is in focus so if you had say a bunch of flowers and you have just one rose sharp then you can just sharpen the rose which will make it stand out more. Don't over do it though!
 
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