Crisp Images Help!

[girmanh]

I have a Canon rebel XS body and basically stick to two lenses: my 70-200 mm f/2.8 IS L and my 28-70 mm f/2.8 L lens. My problem is that when I focus and shoot, the image looks decent through the viewfinder and then on my little LCD screen, but then I take it back to my computer and its a bit blurry. I keep shutter speed at f/2.8. I would prefer not to use a tripod and I like to be a bit more mobile for event photography and usually add an angle to my images. Any tips on how to focus better while shooting without using a tripod?

 

[KmH]

The links to your images are broken.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...forum-functions-pictoral-guide-using-tpf.html

What format do you capture images in? RAW, TIFF or JPEG?

Essentailly all digital images require sharpening to one degree or another.

The amount and kind of sharpening done varies from image to image.

The reason for that is what is the Anti-Aliasing filter that is part of every digital image sensor.

You can't rely on the viewfinder or camera LCD images because reducing the size of a digital image increases it's apparent sharpness.

 

[mtfd635]

'shutter speed at f2.8'
Hmm....
that's the problem right there...

Good chance your DOF is typically too shallow to tolerate any fault due to camera shake or other typical 'crispness' problems.
shoot the Av for the subject not for compensation of lighting conditions

 

[KmH]

I have a Canon rebel XS body and basically stick to two lenses: my 70-200 mm f/2.8 IS L and my 28-70 mm f/2.8 L lens. My problem is that when I focus and shoot, the image looks decent through the viewfinder and then on my little LCD screen, but then I take it back to my computer and its a bit blurry. I keep shutter speed at f/2.8. I would prefer not to use a tripod and I like to be a bit more mobile for event photography and usually add an angle to my images. Any tips on how to focus better while shooting without using a tripod?

Here is a resource;

Achieving Better Focus and Sharpness in Your Images | Phototuts+

 

[Vinny]

I didn't realize that digital photos may or do need sharpening -THANKS, I learned something here! I took a photo that some parts didn't come out as sharp as I would have liked and thought it was my eyes, lens or camera (might still be) but that would explain it ... I guess it's back to the camera's owners manual! LOL!

The links to your images are broken.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...forum-functions-pictoral-guide-using-tpf.html

What format do you capture images in? RAW, TIFF or JPEG?

Essentailly all digital images require sharpening to one degree or another.

The amount and kind of sharpening done varies from image to image.

The reason for that is what is the Anti-Aliasing filter that is part of every digital image sensor.

You can't rely on the viewfinder or camera LCD images because reducing the size of a digital image increases it's apparent sharpness.

 

[burstintoflame81]

Its not just the sharpening though. If you are shooting at F/2.8 you are going to have a shallow depth of field. So if you are shooting a big object like a bush with flowers, the front flower you focus on, may be sharp, but things get blurry quickly beyond that. You also referred to f/2.8 as shutter speed. That is the Apeture. You would want a shutter speed of 1/focal distance to minimize camera shake. So if you are shooting at 100mm, you need to atleast be shooting at 1/100th of a second shutter speed. Also, I am pretty sure that most lenses are at their sharpest around the middle Apeture range ( f/5-f/6 ) that could be wrong, but just something I have heard. Sharpening is only going to crisp up an image slightly. If you have to sharpen too much you will get terrible distortion to your image. If an image is blurry, sharpening will not fix it.