Nikon 50mm 1.8 sharpness?

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EYE_ON_ME

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Brendan
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Hi,
I have seen loads of portraits take with this lens with very sharp eyes and lovely bokeh, I have taken a few photo's not sure if it's as sharp as I can get it? What settings should I be using? and is alot of it done in photoshop? I have this lens and the 24-70 2.8 which one would be best for the sharpness?


EVELYN 1 by brendanwest, on Flickr


EVELYN 2 by brendanwest, on Flickr

Any info would be great :)
 
Well they look sharp, but it's impossible to accurately judge image quality from 1024px jpgs when we have no idea how you're processed them.

Those were shot at f/1.8 so DoF will be pretty thin, only a small area will be in focus. This can be used very artistically, but sometimes you need a DoF that covers more of the subject. To get both eyes in focus at f/1.8 they need to be parallel to the sensor.

'What settings are best' depends on the situation. When you want a more blurred background, shoot between f/1.8 and f/2.8 generally. When you want a lot in focus, shoot between f/5.6 and f/11
 
They both look plenty sharp to me.
The eyes are sharp, the rest of the face is not, prime example of a wide aperture lens.
 
Thanks for all your replies, I think I might need to go to specsavers lol :)
 
EYE_ON_ME said:
Thanks, but are those photo's sharp? also what settings are best?
Click to expand...

:lol: why are people so obsessed about the sharpness of their lenses?!

You can tell if they look sharp jut as well as we can, but as long as you are happy with the results, thats all that matters!
 
This is the problem with narrow apertures....

In the first shot you can see that the right eye (as we look) and the left eyelash are both in focus and therefore in the same focus plane but with a low aperture the rest of it is OOF (and I for one really like the dreaminess it creates although positioning the camera so both eyes are in focus would be better) :)
 
As Nawty said

Looked at the large version in Flickr and the 1st pic you can see the window catchlight reflection very sharp in the right (as we look) eye and less so in the left, given the angle of the head the right eye is nearer.

the second shot has the head straight on so both are sharp

Would open up the DOF a bit if sharpness is your aim

Having said all that, if you're going for a shallow DOF it's usually to blur the background to make the subject pop, the busy background of the cushion doesn't help that
 
odd jim said:
:lol: why are people so obsessed about the sharpness of their lenses?!

You can tell if they look sharp jut as well as we can, but as long as you are happy with the results, thats all that matters!
Click to expand...

I'm not obsessed lol just trying to find out how to get the photos to look right, as to my eyes they don't look very sharp :) but I'm due to have my eyes tested haha.
 
Nawty said:
This is the problem with narrow apertures....

In the first shot you can see that the right eye (as we look) and the left eyelash are both in focus and therefore in the same focus plane but with a low aperture the rest of it is OOF (and I for one really like the dreaminess it creates although positioning the camera so both eyes are in focus would be better) :)
Click to expand...

Thanks will work on getting the camera in the right place to get both eyes in focus.
 
MnM said:
As Nawty said

Looked at the large version in Flickr and the 1st pic you can see the window catchlight reflection very sharp in the right (as we look) eye and less so in the left, given the angle of the head the right eye is nearer.

the second shot has the head straight on so both are sharp

Would open up the DOF a bit if sharpness is your aim

Having said all that, if you're going for a shallow DOF it's usually to blur the background to make the subject pop, the busy background of the cushion doesn't help that
Click to expand...
I will try a different background very soon thanks for the info :)
 
EYE_ON_ME said:
I'm not obsessed lol just trying to find out how to get the photos to look right, as to my eyes they don't look very sharp :) but I'm due to have my eyes tested haha.
Click to expand...

Those images are fine! :)
 
EYE_ON_ME said:
Thanks, but are those photo's sharp? also what settings are best?
Click to expand...
sorry, yes the images look spot on to what i would expect, the first the right eye is bang on with the other eye being slightly soft due to angle of head and narror dof, the 2nd it bang on ue to the head being straight on. as for settings just experement and see what you like but between f1.8 and 2.8 focus has to be bang on with pics like this also keep the shutter speeds up.
 
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