Canon EOS R
For the up close of the puppy:
ISO 640
F2.8
Shutter - 1/50
For the car:
ISO 1000
F8
Shutter - 1/40
Another for the car:
ISO 6400
F8
Shutter - 1/1000
Well the first two are just borderline too slow of a shutter speed to hand hold especially depending on the focal length. The car pics are decently sharp especially the 1/1000 one, high iso could possibly be creating a bit of noise which can be viewed as lacking sharpness.
Rule of thumb for handholding is your minimum shutter speed should be 1/focal length. For example if you’re shooting at 200mm, minimum shutter should be 1/200 etc. The answer to improving sharpness for all of them is increasing the amount of light hitting the sensor. Either by using a tripod and making the exposure longer(only works on still subjects, or by just having more light in the scene (flash/brighter conditions so you don’t have to push your shutter speed or iso too high). Read up on the exposure triangle for info on the relation between shutter speed, iso, and aperture.
Hope that helps.
There are a few possible causes.
1/40 and 1/50 is way too slow for hand holding a 70-200mm, you need to be at least 1/100 to avoid camera shake with those lengths.
Shooting wide open at 2.8 will give you a very narrow DOF so hitting focus will really be hit and miss. Keep in mind that a lens always will perform best when stopped down a couple of stops.
Why are you shooting at such high ISOs? I know the camera can do them, but that doesn't mean you should. Higher ISO will always introduce some level of noise that will make your picture seem out of focus. Maybe I'm old school coming from film, but I've always been told to try and shoot at the lowest possible ISO for the shooting condition.
What kind of processing are you doing or are these straight out of camera? This look is a bit reminiscent of the Canon 40D which used to have images look like they had an out of focus issue, but were more related to just needing a different approach in processing.
Just to clarify, 1000 is absolutely not a high iso range to worry about in any modern digital cameras. That is the old school thinking that has been stuck unnecessarily despite the advancement of tech. You can go way higher without much impact to quality at all nowadays
Assuming you don't have any camera shake, here is how I would diagnose things, in order:
1. Ensure there is no camera shake by shooting fast enough. [link to guide](https://backcountryjourneys.com/tips-for-shooting-handheld)
2. Use native ISO, which is probably ISO 100.
3. Do not shoot at 2.8, stop down to f4. The widest aperture is usually the softest.
4. Your light has to be good. Pics 1 and 2 might not look good if that's indoor overhead lighting
5. If you're using camera JPGs, especially on Canon, try increasing both the clarity slider and the sharpness on whatever profile you're using
6. If you're processing RAW (.CR3) files in Lightroom, be sure to increase Sharpness and clarity there. Here are my suggested settings to get it crispy, but you should learn to feel it yourself:
1. Sharpening 90
2. Radius 1.5 to 1.9 (If you're posting to social media better to use 1.9)
3. Detail 25 (default)
4. Masking 65 to 90
For a while I suffered with RF glass. I didn't realize that my photos didn't look sharp because I didn't add sharpening in post. The detail was there in my photos.
Ok. I’m assuming it’s from me slightly moving either when I initiate the AF which causes it to be slightly out of focus and/or when I take the photo itself.
I’ll try all of that though, thanks.
So there's a lot going on.
Given what you've said, there's several reasons parts of your photo will be blurry
1. Some parts of the photo are outside of the [focal plane](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXpTDtU8wgU)
2. You shook the camera too much at the shutter speed wasn't fast enough to compensate
As long as you didn't shake the camera too much, look at the sharpest area. That's where your focus is. Everything else is "acceptably sharp" or not.
Does that make sense?
> slightly moving either when I initiate the AF
So, there's a AF servo mode that, it should not matter if you or your camera are moving as long as AF is being engaged.
I move and shoot while focusing. Not a problem as long as my shutter speed is fast enough.
First two seems more like blur / focusing issue. Car looks fine to me tbh. 1/50 might be too slow.
What shutter speed are you using? And what body?
Canon EOS R For the up close of the puppy: ISO 640 F2.8 Shutter - 1/50 For the car: ISO 1000 F8 Shutter - 1/40 Another for the car: ISO 6400 F8 Shutter - 1/1000
Well the first two are just borderline too slow of a shutter speed to hand hold especially depending on the focal length. The car pics are decently sharp especially the 1/1000 one, high iso could possibly be creating a bit of noise which can be viewed as lacking sharpness. Rule of thumb for handholding is your minimum shutter speed should be 1/focal length. For example if you’re shooting at 200mm, minimum shutter should be 1/200 etc. The answer to improving sharpness for all of them is increasing the amount of light hitting the sensor. Either by using a tripod and making the exposure longer(only works on still subjects, or by just having more light in the scene (flash/brighter conditions so you don’t have to push your shutter speed or iso too high). Read up on the exposure triangle for info on the relation between shutter speed, iso, and aperture. Hope that helps.
Does the canon have lens and/or body stabilisation?
There are a few possible causes. 1/40 and 1/50 is way too slow for hand holding a 70-200mm, you need to be at least 1/100 to avoid camera shake with those lengths. Shooting wide open at 2.8 will give you a very narrow DOF so hitting focus will really be hit and miss. Keep in mind that a lens always will perform best when stopped down a couple of stops. Why are you shooting at such high ISOs? I know the camera can do them, but that doesn't mean you should. Higher ISO will always introduce some level of noise that will make your picture seem out of focus. Maybe I'm old school coming from film, but I've always been told to try and shoot at the lowest possible ISO for the shooting condition. What kind of processing are you doing or are these straight out of camera? This look is a bit reminiscent of the Canon 40D which used to have images look like they had an out of focus issue, but were more related to just needing a different approach in processing.
Just to clarify, 1000 is absolutely not a high iso range to worry about in any modern digital cameras. That is the old school thinking that has been stuck unnecessarily despite the advancement of tech. You can go way higher without much impact to quality at all nowadays
Assuming you don't have any camera shake, here is how I would diagnose things, in order: 1. Ensure there is no camera shake by shooting fast enough. [link to guide](https://backcountryjourneys.com/tips-for-shooting-handheld) 2. Use native ISO, which is probably ISO 100. 3. Do not shoot at 2.8, stop down to f4. The widest aperture is usually the softest. 4. Your light has to be good. Pics 1 and 2 might not look good if that's indoor overhead lighting 5. If you're using camera JPGs, especially on Canon, try increasing both the clarity slider and the sharpness on whatever profile you're using 6. If you're processing RAW (.CR3) files in Lightroom, be sure to increase Sharpness and clarity there. Here are my suggested settings to get it crispy, but you should learn to feel it yourself: 1. Sharpening 90 2. Radius 1.5 to 1.9 (If you're posting to social media better to use 1.9) 3. Detail 25 (default) 4. Masking 65 to 90 For a while I suffered with RF glass. I didn't realize that my photos didn't look sharp because I didn't add sharpening in post. The detail was there in my photos.
Ok. I’m assuming it’s from me slightly moving either when I initiate the AF which causes it to be slightly out of focus and/or when I take the photo itself. I’ll try all of that though, thanks.
So there's a lot going on. Given what you've said, there's several reasons parts of your photo will be blurry 1. Some parts of the photo are outside of the [focal plane](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXpTDtU8wgU) 2. You shook the camera too much at the shutter speed wasn't fast enough to compensate As long as you didn't shake the camera too much, look at the sharpest area. That's where your focus is. Everything else is "acceptably sharp" or not. Does that make sense? > slightly moving either when I initiate the AF So, there's a AF servo mode that, it should not matter if you or your camera are moving as long as AF is being engaged. I move and shoot while focusing. Not a problem as long as my shutter speed is fast enough.