Is it me, or the lens? (sharpness issues)

[Dao]

I have that lens although I have not use it for awhile and planning to sell it, but it is not a bad lens to have. @300mm is a little soft but I think it is not that bad unless your copy has issue.

EOS 40D with EF 70-300mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM at 300mm, 1/320, f/5.6, ISO 200 (hand held with IS enabled) POST and Sharpened with LR4 (You can see the St. Louis Gateway Arch from his eye)

So OP, you may want to just do some test shot with your setup and see. Take multiple shots with various aperture settings of a road sign from a distance during the day and see what you get.

 

[usayit]

1) its a zoom
2) Its taken at the longest end of the zoom; 300mm
3) its taken at the widest aperture at that focal length; f/5.6

In general, widest aperture and longest focal length are the weakest areas for a telephoto zoom.

I think its the best you can do with that lens.... and I don't think its all that bad. Try shooting at 1/800th instead of 1/1600th and stopping down the aperture by 1 stop.

 

[timor]

Were you letting the camera choose it's focus points automatically or setting your own focal point? I'm going to guess the former, and it looks like the camera did exactly what it's internal autofocus system does, it picked the highest contrast areas between the subject and the background and chose that as your focal point.

Hey, I wonder what happened to 1995 ECF technology by Canon ? Complicated then, today with all this fuzzy logic put in DSLR that should be a breeze. No more stumbling thru custom settings menus.

 

[KmH]

Here is the photo with the under exposure corrected by 1.5 stops and the white balance also corrected. As mentioned it looks like the lens as a result of using settings that deliver the least focus sharpness the lens is capable of producing.

 

[Braineack]

I have that lens although I have not use it for awhile and planning to sell it, but it is not a bad lens to have. @300mm is a little soft but I think it is not that bad unless your copy has issue.

EOS 40D with EF 70-300mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM at 300mm, 1/320, f/5.6, ISO 200 (hand held with IS enabled) POST and Sharpened with LR4 (You can see the St. Louis Gateway Arch from his eye)

So OP, you may want to just do some test shot with your setup and see. Take multiple shots with various aperture settings of a road sign from a distance during the day and see what you get.

impossible, you shot at f/5.6. At this aperture, it should produce images as sharp as ice cream.

 

[BobaPhil]

I can't offer any advice, but I wanted to say what insightful advice from everyone...I've learnt from it.

 

[sk66]

Light/lighting can also have a big impact on "sharpness." It can bring out details/contrast and that also makes it easier for the AF system to get it right.

Of course, I agree with the others who said the biggest sharpness issue is shooting wide open.

 

[Low_Sky]

KmH, thanks for correcting the photo. It does look a little better with the correct exposure and white balance. I took some shots today closer to the middle of the lens' range, but I haven't had a chance to look through them yet. Sometime this weekend I'll get out the tripod and try to do some more scientific testing to see what this lens can really do.

sk66, this photo was taken in the early morning, in a canyon, on an overcast day. I'm sure a little more light would have helped. Hopefully I can reschedule with my model