topic Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

KBoyerPhotos — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 18:50:48 GMT

I have a 5d Mark iv and am having lots of trouble with sharpness consistency on every image. I am shooting back to back images with exactly the same settings and some of them are tack sharp and others are totally blurry and I have not changed any settings. Can someone please help. I have tried everythiing to "fix" this and am out of ideas. I just want nearly ALL my images to be sharp!

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

Ray-uk — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 19:41:26 GMT

Try setting the " release priority" to "focus", there are two places to do this in the AF tab, one for AI Servo focus and another for One Shot focus.

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

shadowsports — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 19:52:08 GMT

Greetings,

What would be ultimately helpful.

Providing us with individual photos that includes EXIF data. Just knowing shutter, aperture and focal length might not be enough.

and

What metering mode are you using for AF?

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

KBoyerPhotos — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 19:53:34 GMT

Thanks Ray-Uk! I actually have both first and 2nd image priority set to Focus ... I use AiServo and both are set to focus priority. Is there another place I should have it set as well? I never use one shot because I photograph people that always move! 🙂

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

KBoyerPhotos — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 19:54:37 GMT

I will go get that right now! THnak you for the feedback.

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

KBoyerPhotos — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 20:11:38 GMT

Here is one of the shots with EXIF info...Does this work?

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

jrhoffman75 — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 20:29:16 GMT

It doesn't give us what we would need.

Instead of a screenshot can you export a JPEG and post that?

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

KBoyerPhotos — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 21:26:21 GMT

Yes, I will export now and post. I have LOADS of examples from this one shoot alone.

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

KBoyerPhotos — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 21:33:20 GMT

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

jrhoffman75 — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 21:34:14 GMT

If you are willing can you also put a good and bad RAW file on Dropbox or OneDrive with a link so we can see where focus points were?

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

KBoyerPhotos — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 21:34:32 GMT

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

KBoyerPhotos — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 21:36:58 GMT

Yes! Totally willing and SO very very appreciative of your help!!! I have been dealing with this for a year and can NOT seem to figure it out. I will upload to dropbox and come back here with the link. These are all SOOC and will upload the RAW to dropbox. Thank you!!! HUGE HUGE thank yoU!!

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

jrhoffman75 — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 21:41:48 GMT

Does it seem to happen with all lenses or just the 24-70?

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

KBoyerPhotos — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 21:53:44 GMT

That is a great question. 24-70 is my go to lens so that is what I primarily shoot with. I am going to go look at my 70-200 images and see if it does the same thing.

here is the dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yyyo5lx30lsusu8/AABamoCdILoG4D5qNA6zIVxHa?dl=0

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

KBoyerPhotos — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 22:18:25 GMT

Ok - I had to go back to August of 2020 as that was the last time I used my 70-200... I don't see the issue in August w/ my 70-200 But I make a practice oout of deleting "bad" images and only keeping the good ones for my clients. So, it is hard to tell if I had the issue or not with the 70-200. As a side note, I am fairly certain that I had it even when I rented a a 24-70 lens in the fall as a backup because I was having such issues. You bring up a good point... this 24-70 lens has seen ALOT of wear and tear.... I use it very heavily. Maybe it is worn out?

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

rs-eos — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 22:24:18 GMT

In looking at the metadata, it states you were using a "pattern" metering mode. Is that evaluative? How many focus points do you recall having on the images as you took them? I'm wondering if multiple points were being used and it just grabbed focus on a point other than on the eyes.

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

jrhoffman75 — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 22:36:18 GMT

The cmaera is reporting the same info on both groups of images.

The only thing I can think of is that these subjects aren't what I would consider requiring AI Servo. As you no doubt know, AI Servo senses subject motion as you initially acquire focus via a 1/2 press of the shutter button and then predicts where the subject will be when the shutter fires.

If the subject is stationary and you are perhaps moving the camera slightly it may result in an incorrect prediction - the subject didn't really move but the camera predicted it would.

That's just my thoughts. Maybe some other folks can jump in.

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

Ray-uk — Sun, 21 Feb 2021 10:26:36 GMT

@jrhoffman75 wrote:

The only thing I can think of is that these subjects aren't what I would consider requiring AI Servo. As you no doubt know, AI Servo senses subject motion as you initially acquire focus via a 1/2 press of the shutter button and then predicts where the subject will be when the shutter fires.

If the subject is stationary and you are perhaps moving the camera slightly it may result in an incorrect prediction - the subject didn't really move but the camera predicted it would.

That's just my thoughts. Maybe some other folks can jump in.

I think that is very likely, going by the the thumbnails in the original screenshots the OP is using the camera in machine gun mode and I guess handheld so AI servo is struggling with this combination.

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

Waddizzle — Sun, 21 Feb 2021 15:56:52 GMT

@KBoyerPhotos wrote:
Ok - I had to go back to August of 2020 as that was the last time I used my 70-200... I don't see the issue in August w/ my 70-200 But I make a practice oout of deleting "bad" images and only keeping the good ones for my clients. So, it is hard to tell if I had the issue or not with the 70-200. As a side note, I am fairly certain that I had it even when I rented a a 24-70 lens in the fall as a backup because I was having such issues. You bring up a good point... this 24-70 lens has seen ALOT of wear and tear.... I use it very heavily. Maybe it is worn out?

At first glance, I would point out that you are not using the most accurate AF point(s) in the camera.

Both of our lenses are "Group A" lenses. This lens group yields the highest performance.

I do agree that your images could be sharper than how they appear to be. The softness in the above images seems to be evenly distributed on the subject, which leads me to conclude that DoF is not an issue. But, camera shake could be.

One Shot AF is faster and more accurate than AI Servo. When taking portraits of still subjects, the subject must learn how to remain still, or freeze in place, until the picture is taken.

Re: Inconsistent Sharpness Issue withCanon 5d Mark iv

KBoyerPhotos — Sun, 21 Feb 2021 21:05:13 GMT

Thank you all so very much for your input and research. I typically shoot schools and young children and families so shooting fast and with subjects that move is a priority. I will research the focal points show below and see if I can't figure out what is going on. It is literally making me crazy. 😞

Thanks again to all of you for your help. If you think of anything else, I would love to hear it and open to any conversations or tips you might have! :).