What did I do wrong?

[ahtoxa]

Went out to MotoGP this past weekend. I rented a Tamron 150-600 G2 for this trip. I wanted to spend more time playing with it to get more familiar, but I didn't have much time.

I took nearly 900 shots. Different apertures, different shutter speeds, different VC settings. I was playing around to ensure I had some keeper shots.

Yet, every single picture was extremely soft. A little disappointed that I didn't have any keepers at all from what I can see.

Here's an example. This particular one is 1/2500, f6, ISO 320.

 

[ahtoxa]

In comparison, here is a shot from the same day with the same lens. Clearly, the lens is fine. The only difference - this is a stationary subject.

 

[ahtoxa]

One final sample to show the softness. Could not do them all at once for some reason.

 

[tirediron]

At what focal length are the 'soft' images shot?

 

[ahtoxa]

At what focal length are the 'soft' images shot?

Should have included that.

First one was at 340mm. The last one I posted was at 350mm. I was trying to stay around middle of the range, thinking it'd be the sharpest there.

 

[tirediron]

I'm thinking missed focus; what focusing mode were you using?

 

[ahtoxa]

Continuous. I was thinking that, too, but I couldn't find the area that the camera did focus on.

 

[tirediron]

Single point AF, or ??

 

[ahtoxa]

Yes, single point AF. Shutter release is set to focus priority as well.

 

[tirediron]

Sounds like you had the right set-up, but I'm still thinking missed focus.

 

[ahtoxa]

Pretty frustrating, in that case, if I missed focus on every single action shot (a good 800 of them).

Sigh. Oh well, I'll keep working at it.

 

[tirediron]

Super-tele work, especially high-speed super-tele work takes a lot of practice. Keep at it, you'll get there.

 

[zombiesniper]

Did you test the lens for front or back focus? For any long lens this should be the number one thing to do. Now this is assuming you have a camera body that can do focus adjustments.
I have a 400mm F5.6 that is tack sharp on my T5I but front focuses on my 7DMK2 so I have to adjust for it.

 

[ahtoxa]

Did you test the lens for front or back focus? For any long lens this should be the number one thing to do. Now this is assuming you have a camera body that can do focus adjustments.
I have a 400mm F5.6 that is tack sharp on my T5I but front focuses on my 7DMK2 so I have to adjust for it.

I have a D5500, which cannot do microadjustements, unfortunately.

 

[ahtoxa]

Super-tele work, especially high-speed super-tele work takes a lot of practice. Keep at it, you'll get there.

Yeah, this was my first foray into super-tele. I didn't expect miracles and thus wanted to rent it sooner to have some practice with it, but this didn't pan out.

Most of my tele shooting is up to 300mm and this was a new experience using a 600mm lens. Especially given the fact that I was shooting off-hand. Didn't really have room for the monopod (that I don't yet have anyway) since I rode the motorcycle down to the race.