11-06-2022 09:20 AM - last edited on 11-08-2022 09:06 AM by Danny
Hello all,
I've taken several pictures with multiple lenses on my new M6 Mark II. I'm running into the same issue no matter aperture, shutter speed, or ISO. This for example was shot on a tripod with a 2 second delay after the shutter press at f8 and ISO 100. It's perfectly sharp at ~33%. Though when I zoom in, it loses all it's sharpness. I'm shooting RAW, though I don't think that should matter. Thanks for your thoughts.
Best,
Jonah
11-06-2022 09:53 AM
This article addresses the issue: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/60862385
I'm curious though what you feel are the best sharpness settings for the M6. Thanks!
11-06-2022 10:20 AM - edited 11-06-2022 10:23 AM
This subject comes up regularly. IQ is largely a product of the lens not the camera. Of course the sensor and associated circuitry has a part to play but it can only render what the lens is showing it. The camera is basically a storage device for what the lens is capturing.
Setting the sensor to its optimal settings will yield the best results of course. For instance usually an ISO of 200 is a good choice. Almost all, even going so far as to say all, lenses perform best a stop or two down from wide open aperture.
An f2.8 lens for instance will likely be at its best at f4, f5.6 or perhaps f8. This is not to say that the other ISO settings and f-stop settings are unusable. They are but as you have noted you need to do a 100% crop to see the IQ difference. A condition most of the time will not be needed or used. "It's perfectly sharp at ~33%."
11-06-2022 10:34 AM
I appreciate that. I used Topaz Sharpen AI and it fixed it immediately. I think it's most likely a picture style setting that I need to play with. My GX85 always comes out sharp with the same lenses (with the Viltrox converter) so I think it must be a RAW setting I'm not used to dealing with.
11-06-2022 06:43 PM
I bought a M6 Mark II a couple of months ago to use solely as a convenient travel camera with the 18-150 lens when flying. Like my 1 and 5 series Canon DSLR bodies, I shoot everything in RAW and process using Canon DPP. With typical outdoor scenes, I use DPP's Landscape setting with its default sharpening of 5, 2, and 4 for strength, fineness, and threshold respectively. Note that the M6 Mark II, like many current cameras, applies a small amount of NR by default even at ISO 100 processed through DPP so you may want to examine the impact of it and adjust accordingly
As to sharpness setting, it will also depend upon the glass used and ultimately it is a judgement call on the photographer's part. The tiny 18-150 M series lens does decent work within its aperture capabilities but just like my more expensive DSLR bodies the M6 Mark II responds nicely with better glass and produces beautiful images using the EF to M adapter with my Canon 400 f2.8, 300 f2, and 70-200 f2.8 L series glass. With lenses of that caliber, slightly less sharpening generally looks best to me.
The only Canon camera I have owned that required an inordinate sharpening level was my 2005 era 1D Mark II where its very aggressive lowpass filter required extreme sharpening to compensate. If you are processing the images in DPP, I am not sure why you are sharpening via Topaz since DPP gives you extensive control over the degree and type of sharpening applied to the RAW image.
Rodger
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