BillK said:
Thanks Doug. I just went back through all my portrait shots and almost all of them were taking with a shutter speed between 1/25-1/60. The sharpest portraits were done with 1/320 shutter speed and F/4.5 f-stop. Based on the reciprocal rule for shutter speed with my lens, (50mm * 1.6 = 1/80) most of the shots would have been prime candidates for camera shake, especially with me as the driver.
If you want to check lens sharpness take a picture of a scene with a very small high-contrast object (I use a shiny screw on the front of my shed). Use a tripod and take the pic at a range of F-stops. Camera motion should not be an issue, so you should be able to guesstimate how sharp the lens is and its sharpest range of F-stops. (There are targets for measuring sharpness, but it can get complicated if you want to do a professional job. The above is a simple method.)
You can also check your ability to hold the camera steady by taking the same pic at a range of shutter speeds. You could also practice the same way. It isn't hard, just takes a bit of care. After a while, it will become second nature.
I almost exclusively shoot using the center AF point with one-shot focus. I usually spot the center AF on one of the subject's eyes.
Good, that elminates one source of error. (Seems to me I have made this suggestion before...)
Unfortunately for this hike I had forgotten my quick release mount for my tripod so all shots were taken free hand.
In contrast, I rarely carry my tripod and have learned to shoot freehand... Shooting a stationary object at 1/FL isn't hard unless it is windy. Then you prop yourself and wait for a lull.
The only sharpening I generally do is during the LR import process. I choose either the "Sharpen-Landscapes" or "Sharpen-Portraits" defaults.
Presumably those are somone's guesses of the average amount of sharpening required. In my (somewhat limited) fiddling with sharpening, it appears that the best amount can vary with the picture. I'll bet that the defaults err on the side of minimal sharpening--too much is more offensive (noisy) than too little for most viewers.
I need to perform some additional testing as I'm starting to question the AF.
In the above tests, you can try both manual focus and AF. If manual does better than AF, that is an indication that you have a problem... Another indication would be that you AF on a known object and when you look at the image, you find the in-focus zone to be closer or farther away than the object.
Correct me if I'm mistaken, but the only camera options that are ignored while shooting raw are color space, white balance, and picture style. Wouldn't the sharpness related settings pertain to picture style on the XTI? All my shots are taken raw BTW.
Raw is the equivalent of a negative--it is exactly what the sensor sees. Focus, focal length, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO all affect this. Everything else happens later. The XTi can save both raw and JPEG files simultaneously. Try saving both and comparing your postprocessed images with the JPEG. If you can't beat the JPEG, just use it...* (BTW, the JPEGs are generally pretty good--I often just use them.)
I don't use the styles, so I am not up on the details, but I do know that they do affect aperture and shutter speed. Don't know if they affect the post processing. (I always use P, Av, Tv, or M modes and if I want something specific, I just set it Remember, I started in the manual camera days...) Probably more details in the manual.
* Actually, given that you seem unsure of yourself on a number of different issues, you might consider just shooting JPEGs and concentrating on the issues of using the camera. (Or if you save both, you can focus on the JPEGs now and save the raw files for later or for specific cases where there is something obvious that you can fix.)
Doug
