Help or Question with the Nikon 200 - 500

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S.Pfaff1994

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I have took alot of shots with the 200 - 500 with different cameras.
This is as sharp as it gets at 1/800 at 500mm on a tripod.
Af is adjusted.
Took it with a Nikon D500

Is that good sharpness.
That are 1:1 crops.
First one with 0 Lightroom sharpening and second with default 40 Sharpening
one to one.jpg
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with sharpening.jpg
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No. I used this lens for a while with Nikon 850 and achieved much better sharpness even at 500mm. There are so many variables that go into sharpness that it is impossible to give you advice. If you know a photographer that can take a sharp image (many can't) let them shoot with your lens and camera. That will begin telling you where the problem lies. The vast majority of my shots with this lens was at a shutter speed of 500+.

karm
 
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Karm Redland said:
No. I used this lens for a while with Nikon 850 and achieved much better sharpness even at 500mm. There are so many variables that go into sharpness that it is impossible to give you advice. If you know a photographer that can take a sharp image (many can't) let them shoot with your lens and camera. That will begin telling you where the problem lies. The vast majority of my shots with this lens was at a shutter speed of 500+.

karm
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Normally getting sharp shots isn't my problem used a 500 F4 for year but had to sell it because of my damaged shoulder, that couldnt lift it anymore. This is one of my other shot at 500mm after sharpening applied.
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Karm Redland said:
No. I used this lens for a while with Nikon 850 and achieved much better sharpness even at 500mm. There are so many variables that go into sharpness that it is impossible to give you advice. If you know a photographer that can take a sharp image (many can't) let them shoot with your lens and camera. That will begin telling you where the problem lies. The vast majority of my shots with this lens was at a shutter speed of 500+.

karm
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I mean what I can say, they look much worse posted here. Could I maybe send you one raw so you can inspect it yourself ?
 
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What was the AF area set at and where was the focus point?
What was the ISO and focus distance?
If this was a JPEG what was high ISO noise reduction set at?
 
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It's odd - the dropbox shot looks sharper than the one posted above. It looks in the ballpark for the 200-500 to me with Adobe's default sharpening. So, you do need to add some sharpening to any D500 image (most RAW processors do this by default). When I add more sharpening than default, I get a bit more detail instead of that weird "out of focus but trying to sharpen" look you often encounter with soft images. So, that doesn't look bad.

The shot of the cat that's farther away doesn't seem quite as sharp, but it's not terrible either.

The rooftop shot is sharp enough to almost read the numbers on the label in the center. None of them display terribly good contrast (midday it looks like) so that can sap a bit of perceived sharpness.
 
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Steve said:
It's odd - the dropbox shot looks sharper than the one posted above. It looks in the ballpark for the 200-500 to me with Adobe's default sharpening. When I turn off sharpening, it looks like the D500 has an AA filter (which it does). So, you do need to add some sharpening to any D500 image (most RAW processors do this by default). When I add more sharpening than default, I get a bit more detail instead of that weird "out of focus but trying to sharpen" look you often encounter with soft images. So, that doesn't look bad.

The shot of the cat that's farther away doesn't seem quite as sharp, but it's not terrible either.

The rooftop shot is sharp enough to almost read the numbers on the label in the center. None of them display terribly good contrast (midday it looks like) so that can sap a bit of perceived sharpness.
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First thank you so so much Steve for the your detailed answer you are the best!! Yes that pictures are shot mid day because arround here it gets pretty dark pretty fast and most of my wildlife picture are taken with around 1/100 and ISO 3200 or so. Because of that I wanted to use som picture where I had a higher shutter speed and lower ISO. So if you say tey do not look like one of the terrible copys of the 200 500 I am more then happy.
 
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S.Pfaff1994 said:
First thank you so so much Steve for the your detailed answer you are the best!! Yes that pictures are shot mid day because arround here it gets pretty dark pretty fast and most of my wildlife picture are taken with around 1/100 and ISO 3200 or so. Because of that I wanted to use som picture where I had a higher shutter speed and lower ISO. So if you say tey do not look like one of the terrible copys of the 200 500 I am more then happy.
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Happy to help. Still, I'd recommend shooting the lens in more varied conditions / distances / focal lengths and make sure there aren't issues. :)
 
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Question for Steve:

This thread is talking about sharpening images; as long as you get a good sharpness, for example with the second image of the cat 1:1 crop, the sharpness of this image can certainly be improved by post processing if you want for example to have a print of the image. I am always impressed by the sharpness of your photos; what are the sharpening tools you use? Thank you!
 
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Yes it does. I've had Steve Perry, Nikon and E.J. Piker of Naturescapes.net all confirm to me that it does work. I've seen it work with jpg and raw. I shoot totally raw all the time. Nikon told me the camera's software will apply all your settings to each and every shot. jpg or raw.
 
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This only works when I use Nikon Transfer 2. Its a free download from Nikon. I have it on my desktop and laptop. Here are two images from a D3/ SW AFS 80-200mmF:2.8D
and one 2013 using a D600/Sigma 800mmF:5.6 AF. Both cameras are at sharpening of 9.
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