Focus Question

[ElementX]

How can you check if your pictures are clear even if they look okay at full size? Like how far should you be able to zoom before it gets noisier?

 

[MReid]

If they look fine at full size...they are fine.

 

[ElementX]

If they look fine at full size...they are fine.

Can't they still be "soft" looking?

 

[KmH]

Focus and noise are 2 very different issues.

Who, besides you maybe, would be looking at your photos zoomed in at more than full size.

Few electronic displays show a photo at full size. My display is 1600 x 1200 pixels. A full size 12 MP Nikon APS-C image is 4,288 × 2,848 pxels, which is way larger than my display.

 

[enzodm]

How can you check if your pictures are clear even if they look okay at full size? Like how far should you be able to zoom before it gets noisier?

normally for "full size" you mean the opposite of what you are thinking. At full size (i.e., 100%) you see blur or noise at their maximum; if image looks soft at full size, indeed it is. If you want a perfectly focused picture, the point you focused on should be crisp at 100% (depending also on lens quality, aperture, etc). Resized like in the camera screen or at monitor, some defect could be invisible. Printing is another matter.

 

[MReid]

If they look fine at full size...they are fine.

Can't they still be "soft" looking?

...well you just said they look ok.

For example....I just took a portrait of a girl that I really like but it is pretty blurry at full resolution.
So I sharpened the heck out of her eyes, added a very sharp catchlight in her eye. Then I resized it to 800 for internet use and it looks sharp, no one would ever know it was actually a pretty blurry shot.

Sharpness is overrated...especially when shooting people.