My crappy landscapes

[Infidel]

Another vote for using hyperfocal distance. The rocks in the immediate foreground appear acceptably sharp, suggesting you're just focusing in the wrong spot. Also, you claim in the OP that you do just fine with focus and sharpness while taking pictures of things up close...this suggests it's not the lens. In fact, maybe there is a little atmospheric haze? Near objects would thus appear sharper than distant objects.Try shooting at different times of day.

Also, maybe the AF-A autofocus mode isn't necessarily serving you well...perhaps you should stick to AF-S for landscape, rather than letting the camera decide (IDK, it's plausible). Also, are you shooting raw or jpeg? If raw, what is your sharpening procedure in post...if jpeg, how do you have the camera set up to do sharpening? Just throwing out some more ideas.

 

[Ernicus]

I shoot raw, but to me...I should have have to sharpen in post.

I thought it could be haze too, but it really was maybe 200 yards...if that. not like I was shooting mountains off in the distance.

Even if I blow up those rocks to 100%, they are not that sharp...for my liking anyway.

My boss today offered up a suggestion as well...turn off the VR. She said she can tell the difference in viewing a photo if VR was on or not.

So I will re shoot ideally same scenario with mentioned suggestions and see if it improves or stays the same.

 

[Ernicus]

Just wanted to update with something very interesting I found. I was playing with different settings up close...shooting a telephone pole that was about 5 feet away. Focusing on a knot in the wood. I did manual, with VR and without vr, to see what physically might or might not happen.

With VR turned on...I noticed actual physical movement in the lens. From this distance...as I pressed half shutter for focus lock, the lens would physically move vertically, it made about 1/4" difference in where the focus point ended up on the pole. so the focus point was 1/4" below the knot I was focusing on, i release shutter button pressure and it settled down back where I initially had put it. This could speak volumes...this was only 5' away...I can only imagine how much it would throw off line of sight when shooting something 200y away. It would give the audible lock beep after moving...not before...so that is throwing off the point of focus in a huge way. That is insane. It's too dark as I got home late to test on a real landscape shot, so now I really want to try out the same shot as before without the VR turned on.

 

[cgipson1]

Just wanted to update with something very interesting I found. I was playing with different settings up close...shooting a telephone pole that was about 5 feet away. Focusing on a knot in the wood. I did manual, with VR and without vr, to see what physically might or might not happen.

With VR turned on...I noticed actual physical movement in the lens. From this distance...as I pressed half shutter for focus lock, the lens would physically move vertically, it made about 1/4" difference in where the focus point ended up on the pole. so the focus point was 1/4" below the knot I was focusing on, i release shutter button pressure and it settled down back where I initially had put it. This could speak volumes...this was only 5' away...I can only imagine how much it would throw off line of sight when shooting something 200y away. It would give the audible lock beep after moving...not before...so that is throwing off the point of focus in a huge way. That is insane. It's too dark as I got home late to test on a real landscape shot, so now I really want to try out the same shot as before without the VR turned on.

Weird.. I use VR on my handheld Tele shots all the time, and have never noticed that. Something up with your lens, maybe?

 

[Ernicus]

Just wanted to update with something very interesting I found. I was playing with different settings up close...shooting a telephone pole that was about 5 feet away. Focusing on a knot in the wood. I did manual, with VR and without vr, to see what physically might or might not happen.

With VR turned on...I noticed actual physical movement in the lens. From this distance...as I pressed half shutter for focus lock, the lens would physically move vertically, it made about 1/4" difference in where the focus point ended up on the pole. so the focus point was 1/4" below the knot I was focusing on, i release shutter button pressure and it settled down back where I initially had put it. This could speak volumes...this was only 5' away...I can only imagine how much it would throw off line of sight when shooting something 200y away. It would give the audible lock beep after moving...not before...so that is throwing off the point of focus in a huge way. That is insane. It's too dark as I got home late to test on a real landscape shot, so now I really want to try out the same shot as before without the VR turned on.

Weird.. I use VR on my handheld Tele shots all the time, and have never noticed that. Something up with your lens, maybe?

I dunno *shrugs* but it moves...and always has. I recall now noticing it early on, however being a noob I just thought it was normal.

 

[Ernicus]

It may not even be a big deal...I mean if shooting a person or something up close, especially a flat surface...the focal distance remains the same so its not really an issue. However on something far away, obviously it is an issue.

I think I might also just borrow a prime and see what happens also. Then there is no movement at all from lens, what you see is what you got so to speak.

 

[Ernicus]

We had a photog come in tonight who gives an 8 week course, pretty well known here in main for shooting maine landscapes. I meant to ask him a bit but got tied up closing up shop. :-(

 

[jdsfighter]

We had a photog come in tonight who gives an 8 week course, pretty well known here in main for shooting maine landscapes. I meant to ask him a bit but got tied up closing up shop. :-(

A bit of information for you, if you're shooting with stabilization, occasionally, the shots will come out OOF, try taking a shot with it disabled while on a tripod, then repeat the shot with it on. You'll be able to tell the difference.

 

[Ernicus]

We had a photog come in tonight who gives an 8 week course, pretty well known here in main for shooting maine landscapes. I meant to ask him a bit but got tied up closing up shop. :-(

A bit of information for you, if you're shooting with stabilization, occasionally, the shots will come out OOF, try taking a shot with it disabled while on a tripod, then repeat the shot with it on. You'll be able to tell the difference.

Yeah, that was stated a few posts above as recommended by my boss. ;-)

and I checked, we don't have any used nd filters on hand, sorry...I tried. lol

 

[jdsfighter]

We had a photog come in tonight who gives an 8 week course, pretty well known here in main for shooting maine landscapes. I meant to ask him a bit but got tied up closing up shop. :-(

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A bit of information for you, if you're shooting with stabilization, occasionally, the shots will come out OOF, try taking a shot with it disabled while on a tripod, then repeat the shot with it on. You'll be able to tell the difference.

<br><br>No biggie, I can grab a 25% for about $10, but I'm not sure if that is strong enough honestly XD<br>
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Yeah, that was stated a few posts above as recommended by my boss. <img src="http://thephotoforum.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Wink" smilieid="36" class="inlineimg"><br>
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and I checked, we don't have any used nd filters on hand, sorry...I tried. lol

It's no biggie, I can grab a 25% for about $10, I'm just afraid it isn't strong enough.