Archive 2015 · My 100-400 MkII is soft at 100mm

Peter Figen
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p.3 #1 · p.3 #1 · My 100-400 MkII is soft at 100mm

"(3) Focusing often comes first to our minds when we discuss image softness. However, I did say the distance to target was at least 150 ft, probably more like 170 ft, and at f/4.5 and FL of 100mm the on-line calculator tells me DOF is about 130 ft. Not too far from the hyperfocal conditions, where it's kinda hard getting anything OoF."

If your focus is off by even a little bit, it's readily apparent even at longer distances. Hyperfocal distances are probably the worst way to focus. Often nothing is in focus. We already know you camera does NOT have AFMA. Can you re-do you focus test with LVMF. Then you can determine if it's the lens itself that is at fault. If you can get sharp manual focus images, then you know the lens is at least capable of sharp images at that distance and focal length. If that's true then the problem could be that the AF on you camera is fucked up or the lens is out of adjustment or both, but you have to see if it focuses first.

May 03, 2015 at 05:31 PM

dehowie
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p.3 #2 · p.3 #2 · My 100-400 MkII is soft at 100mm

Exactly relying on hyper focal accuracy automatically means your lens must be focusing on the correct focal plane to start with.
If you are assuming the focus is accurate with "that particular lens" at that perticular focal length and the lens is sharp at 400 don't you think a that the issue could be "the focus accuracy at 100" and not lens softness?
When testing any lens the first step is to remove any doubt about focus accuracy to ensure the performance of the glass is exactly what you are seeing.
Relying on hyper focal calculations is asking for trouble and you have no idea if it's a glass issue or AF issue.

May 03, 2015 at 05:50 PM

arbitrage
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p.3 #3 · p.3 #3 · My 100-400 MkII is soft at 100mm

If you want 200% crops to look good I would suggest viewing them on a Retina display. I sort my images at 200% as I'm very strict on sharpness but that is on a rMBP, on my iMac 200% looks like junk....always

May 03, 2015 at 09:54 PM

molson
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p.3 #4 · p.3 #4 · My 100-400 MkII is soft at 100mm

arbitrage wrote:
If you want 200% crops to look good I would suggest viewing them on a Retina display. I sort my images at 200% as I'm very strict on sharpness but that is on a rMBP, on my iMac 200% looks like junk....always

You need a better display, so you can carefully examine each pixel on its own.

May 04, 2015 at 04:49 PM

Monito
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p.3 #5 · p.3 #5 · My 100-400 MkII is soft at 100mm

The issue with 200% is more a case of software trying to be overly helpful than anything else. Generally not the display that is at fault.

Most photographers would prefer to see the actual pixels, but much software smooths the 200% because it assumes the viewer simply wants to see some detail larger.

May 04, 2015 at 05:04 PM

jcolwell
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p.3 #6 · p.3 #6 · My 100-400 MkII is soft at 100mm

If you could get 300% with no interpolation, you'd see 3x3 'blocks'. That would be interesting. Don't know how useul it would be. You could stand further back...

OTOH, if you can't see enough detail at 100%, you might want to get both a better display and eyeglasses.

May 04, 2015 at 05:21 PM

Doctorbird
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p.3 #7 · p.3 #7 · My 100-400 MkII is soft at 100mm

Same here. The images at 100% on the retina display on my MacBook Pro is too darned small to judge them at normal viewing distance. The 2:1 ratio in Lightroom seems optimal.

Db

May 04, 2015 at 08:10 PM

Fred Miranda
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p.3 #8 · p.3 #8 · My 100-400 MkII is soft at 100mm

At 100mm you need to post crops at 500% Peter.

May 04, 2015 at 08:16 PM

jcolwell
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p.3 #9 · p.3 #9 · My 100-400 MkII is soft at 100mm

May 04, 2015 at 08:24 PM

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