New body or new Lens?

[Mgview]

This is corner part, shooted 18mm, F9 1/800 iso 400

 

[hamlet]

That looks really soft. What point on the area did you focus on?

 

[Mgview]

Thats just cut from whole photo, this is left corner, 1/4 of original photo, should be focused on the middle of right side

 

[Mgview]

thats whole picture

 

[hamlet]

I think it is time to invest in some good glass.

 

[PaulWog]

I think it is time to invest in some good glass.

That could be somewhat misleading advice. The 18-105mm is "good glass", it's just slow glass. For his purposes, it's next to top-notch within its focal range. There's clearly a problem with his camera or his lens. I would imagine that even if he set his lens to manual and set the focus to the closest focus possible, the picture should come out sharper at f9 and 1/800 of a second. The only explanation I could have is if this shot was severely underexposed, and the shadows and blacks were raised drastically, and the noise slider was maxed out. The dynamic range of the shot is pretty bad, so it seems off in that way as well. I have looked at your photos (Mgview) on your website, and you definitely seem to know what you're doing... so I'm really leaning toward this being an issue with the lens (and the camera could be exacerbating the issue slightly if it's getting the focus off with the lens).

If I were in this position, I would be inclined to send the D7000 and the 18-105mm in for warranty servicing. If you can't wait, get a new camera, and sell the pair when they get back. If you can wait, evaluate what you want out of a new lens. The 18-105mm is very good glass as far as sharpness goes (if you get a one that isn't defective). As I linked on the first page, you can see that the 18-105mm is sharp across the board. At f8 it should be pretty damn sharp brought in to 18mm (*should* be).

Going full frame might make a lot of sense for you, since you seem to want to shoot wide often. Full frame has more to offer with wide glass, so long as you're willing to spend more.

 

[bigal1000]

I had a Nikon 18-105 it's was as dull and unsharp as my mother in law.......Get a better lens.........

 

[IzzieK]

I had a Nikon 18-105 it's was as dull and unsharp as my mother in law.......Get a better lens.........

Ouch! Get a new mother-in-law or send your 18-105 for repair...

 

[Mgview]

I think it is time to invest in some good glass.

That could be somewhat misleading advice. The 18-105mm is "good glass", it's just slow glass. For his purposes, it's next to top-notch within its focal range. There's clearly a problem with his camera or his lens. I would imagine that even if he set his lens to manual and set the focus to the closest focus possible, the picture should come out sharper at f9 and 1/800 of a second. The only explanation I could have is if this shot was severely underexposed, and the shadows and blacks were raised drastically, and the noise slider was maxed out. The dynamic range of the shot is pretty bad, so it seems off in that way as well. I have looked at your photos (Mgview) on your website, and you definitely seem to know what you're doing... so I'm really leaning toward this being an issue with the lens (and the camera could be exacerbating the issue slightly if it's getting the focus off with the lens).

If I were in this position, I would be inclined to send the D7000 and the 18-105mm in for warranty servicing. If you can't wait, get a new camera, and sell the pair when they get back. If you can wait, evaluate what you want out of a new lens. The 18-105mm is very good glass as far as sharpness goes (if you get a one that isn't defective). As I linked on the first page, you can see that the 18-105mm is sharp across the board. At f8 it should be pretty damn sharp brought in to 18mm (*should* be).

Going full frame might make a lot of sense for you, since you seem to want to shoot wide often. Full frame has more to offer with wide glass, so long as you're willing to spend more.

Thanks so much for your opinion, i will consider to do this service check. Maybe its just something bad with my focusing technique, because i can get really good sharpness in some of mine pictures.

 

[hamlet]

Here is a 1:1 crop from a babies eye, look at how sharp that is that far cropped into the picture:

for reference:

 

[astroNikon]

I have a 18-105 lens. It's a very sharp lens.

You shutter speed was 800
at that speed you need to turn off the VR. There's alot of articles about how with VR on at speeds above 500 can cause "soft focus' type issues.