R7 missing Focus, poor quality photos compared to my DSLR - What am I doing wrong?

[alyssal]

I have an R7 with a 24-70mm lens. It does not perform well when used for photos. Images are often minimally blurred or fuzzy, especially if zoomed in all the way - if I compare them to my DSLR cameras like my 6Dii with 85mm. Am I doing something wrong? Is there settings I should change? Most of the time I shoot outdoors so my shutter speed is well into 320 - 2000, aperture is usually set to 3.2 - both cameras. My DSLR's have never failed me and I always get crisp images. But, even on objects standing still the R7 is just not getting it. Horse photos taken with both cameras to compare. So far my mirrorless journey has been a let down when it comes to getting solid, crisp images. Every time I use the R7 my images seem to be either blurred or fuzzed out, if that makes sense.

[alyssal]

Here's an unedited example from this shoot. Shot in RAW, exported from Lightroom with no edits, 72ppi. Most images shot with my R7 looked like this from that day. 1/2000, f3.2, ISO 160.  64mm lens zoom length for this specific photo. I always put my focal point on the horse's face but it still seems to miss. Thankfully I trusted my gut and switched to my DSLR so the entire session wasn't like this. I'm just baffled by why it's not fully committing to focus where I'm telling it to.

[alyssal]

I'll give it a watch, thanks.

[stevet1]

alyssal,

Your aperture is a function of the lens, not of the camera. You are using two different cameras, yes, but you are also using two different lenses.

Steve Thomas

[stevet1]

alyssal,

You are talking about using f/3.2 because your clients like a blurry background.

You are talking about depth of field. Depth of field is not only a factor of your aperture but also the distance you are from the subject, and also the distance of your subject from the background.

I'm including this just for illustrative purposes. I shot this at f/11 from about 2 feet away, with a shutter speed of 1/160, and ISO of 1000. The little car is in focus, but the jeep behind it is just a blur.

Steve Thomas

[alyssal]

Thank you. For shooting horse photos like this though, I need to be squatted about 30-40 feet straight back from the hip to not distort conformation of the horse, which is why I typically always use the 85 f1.8 with my 6dii, or the R7 with 28-70 zoomed to 64mm. Is the 6dii with the 85mm just a better choice for these types of photos then? Is there a different autofocus setting I should try with the R7? I usually use expand AF on both cameras, with main point on the face.

[deebatman316]

@alyssal with Full Frame cameras such as the EOS 6D Mark II. You get a shallower depth of field at the same aperture as an APS-C camera such as the EOS R7. I don’t believe there is anything wrong with your camera. You may need to stop down to F/4 to get more in focus. Your camera can only focus at one thing at a time. Anything behind the plane of focus will be out of focus. Shooting a narrow aperture will often make pictures look soft or missed focus. When in reality it is in focus but since the depth of field is very narrow. It appears that the camera missed focus when it hasn’t. 

[stevet1]

alyssal,

Demetrius has given you some good advice.

In one of your earlier posts, you mentioned something about, if the horse shifts a little, you lose your plane of focus.

With an aperture of f/3.2, that plane is very shallow indeed. I too was going to suggest that you try an aperture of around f/4.5 or 5.

P.S. Your R7 shots aren't really that bad, you know. They're actually pretty good.

Steve Thomas