Why my photos aren't sharp Canon 600D + Tamron 150-600 G2

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@jsegra - sounds like progress.

You say "it is impossible to get sharp details with a kitlens" and I have to say yes and no. If the lens delivers the performance that it was designed to give, then it is OK, isn't it? And if you pixel peep, all photos will look blurry.

Ken Rockwell, bad boy of photo review sites, says sharpness isn't due to the lens but due to technique. As usual, Ken brashly says things that are right and also things that might be a bit sketchy. Have a read and let us know what you think.


Keep shooting. With your attention on technique, your photos can't help but get better.
 
I guess I don't have much more to add. If you want to keep your same gear but improve then all you can change is technique or post processing. Seems like you are choosing reasonable shutter speeds for the subject, maybe make sure at the long focal lengths to watch for camera shake. Make sure you hold the camera right and queeze the shutter and maybe use a faster shutter speed faster than the usual 1/focal length. The aperture seems fine, just be wary of going narrower than f8 or f11 as diffraction can eat some sharpness. You could try some software, I don't know what you use now. DXO photolab or pureraw is good if it has a module for your camera. Topaz photo ai also good.

Other than that it might be time to consider a gear upgrade.
 
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Thank you very much for sharing that article, it was a nice read, maybe I found a limitation on my gear, I cannot make a 500% zoom on my cropped sensor 18mp camera? Pr that I was cropping over my possibilities with the 300mm and now with the 600mm cropping the same amount is too much?. In terms of technique I don't know what I could change, a bigger aperture doesn't seem to help to keep the details when zooming in, but I can definitely try to shoot earlier with better lighting, maybe with faster shutter, or expose my photos better overall. So I think we can say I found my answer! Thank you all!.
 
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You mentioned in an earlier post that the prior owner may have use the Tamron tap in console to fine-tune the lens. This could obviously be a big problem if the prior owner did not know what they were doing. I am not sure if the body and lens were bought together, even if they were, as said, the prior owner could have screwed up the fine tune. Also, I would definitely up the shutter speed, and work on good hand holding technique. Good luck.
 
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Butlerkid said:
I may have missed it, but have you mounted the camera and lens on a tripod and focused on a stationary subject?
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I technically did one, though it was without a tripod and holding myself against a wall. I will repeat a more controlled test, changing one setting at a time since the one I did was a bit messy.
 
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FastGlassGuy said:
You mentioned in an earlier post that the prior owner may have use the Tamron tap in console to fine-tune the lens. This could obviously be a big problem if the prior owner did not know what they were doing. I am not sure if the body and lens were bought together, even if they were, as said, the prior owner could have screwed up the fine tune. Also, I would definitely up the shutter speed, and work on good hand holding technique. Good luck.
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The body and lens were bought separately, and since I didn't bought the lens directly from a person I can't know if they fine tuned it or not, so it was mora a thought than an accurate statement.
 
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if I can add my thoughts?
I would first test the lens and camera using a spyderlensCal like this

P1060518.JPG
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

photo shows spiderlenscal not as should be set up as in its plastic container

then set up the camera on a tripod and use a wireless remote shutter trigger to take the photo. This prevents any interference usings the camera by hand Shutter slap may be also a cause not mentioned.
Having everything static and rigid at the distance you want to work at should show up how sharp the lens is or even any camera issues using different lenses
 
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Krümelkraft said:
To be honest, from the pictures you posted, it's difficult for me to infer even that they aren't sharp.
It would be helpful to post some 100% crops.

From my experience, the most common reasons for unsharp supertele-lens photos are (in order of probability, assuming you are using continuous AF mode):

1. Atmospheric distortion a.k.a. heat haze a.k.a. light refraction due to mixing of air with different temperatures
2. Focus error (includes lack of accuracy, "beak AF" "Wingtip-AF", errors due to fast moving objects)
3. Slow shutter speed
4. Fog
5. Dejusted autofocus module or not AF-fine-tuned lens
6. I don't know what
7. Bad lens quality

Especially No.1 has caused me a lot of headaches when I didn't know about it.
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#1 should be operator error.
 
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