Please Help - why are pics not in focus and sharp?

[Maria]

I have a 24-70mm f/2.8L lens and am finding that it is not as sharp as i'd expect.  I'm sure it's me and not the lens so hoping someone can help me understand what i'm doing or not doing correctly.

I'm attaching a picture as an example...hand held...here are the settings:

EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM

59.0mm

1/640 sec;   f/2.8;   ISO 400

Shutter priority;   Spot metering

shot with 70D

when you zoom into the tree it is cleary not in focus/sharp ;(

I've tried at differen shutter speeds but still having the same issue... going to try different apertures next...

[Maria]

and the same shot taken with my T1i - still not great but maybe a little better? also hand held...

settings:

EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM

53.0 mm

1/640 sec;   f/2.8;   ISO 400

Shutter priority;   Evaluative metering

[trulandphoto]

One quick thought I had was some slight haze on the front element (or filter) from bringing it out in the cold. If not that, it's probably focus or camera movemnt. 

Can't really see anything in the scaled down photos.

[Maria]

how do i post so folks can enlarge to look at? i'm having the same issue indoors ;(

[cicopo]

The best idea is to post a tight crop for each sample

BUT we'll need to know what the AF locked onto PLUS at f2.8 you have a very shallow depth of field of what will be in sharp focus. Use this tool to see what I mean by filling in the boxes to see the result, and if the 70D isn't yet there just use the 60D for now.

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

[Maria]

here are the two images cropped... AF was center... fist image is with the 70d, second with the t1i                

[Maria]

I aimed the center AF at that lighter branch in the center of the first image (one taken with the 70d)

[ScottyP]

Could it just be that tree?  It has a lot of different branches, so it could be hard to nail focus on the one you are aiming at, especially wide open at f/2.8 with the shallow depth of field. 

Can you try it on a more solid target?

Also, you say you are spot metering, but you don't say you are selecting a single focus point.  If the camera is choosing a focus point on a loose target like all those branches on that tree, you might not be getting the piece you want.  Can you try it with the center AF point selected?

[Maria]

next considered a pic with text to really see what's up 😉 cropped image to post... this was taken 10feet away from the text - text is on a piece of paper that is 4x4... outside since that is the best light right now - overcast and about an hour before sun set.... shot in M, set the shutter speed an aperture, and use Auto for ISO.  I usually only shoot in Tv or Av so maybe this wasn't a good test for how i use it but wanted to see what would happen...

settings:

EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM

67.0 mm

1/200 sec;   f/2.8;   ISO 250

anual;   Spot metering

center AF

[Maria]

I'm using the center AF.... i tend to use it 90% of the time... the text pic i just posted looks better but still thought it should be better than it is.... i found this: Jeffrey’s Autofocus Test Chart (http://regex.info/blog/photo-tech/focus-chart) so going to try it next - but not sure i fully understand what to do...

i noticed that things were a bit off with images of my daughter (which is what i shoot 90% of the time)... when i zoom in on the image her eyes (where i focused on) are not sharp... i was going to post some of those but thought the text one may be better as a start since the tree is soo busy...

when i crop the text and insert it's too small to see ;( not sure what else to do to make it visible?