Sharp Egg?

Some help, please.

I don't think this is as sharp as it could / should be.
1). Do you agree?
2). How do I improve my technique?






K7, Pentax 100mm DFA Macro, Pentax Bellows M, delayed shutter release, 1 sec. @ f22, on tripod(!)


Thanks,

Coker

Nothing looks sharp to me - does it in the original?

My guess would be camera shake - despite all your excellent precautions.

Mike

I would've expected sharper - but I can't immediately tell if it's out of focus, or suffering from a touch of motion blur.

Then again, at f/22 you may start to get diffraction effects and a loss of sharpness. Even at f/22 the depth of field can be painfully small when using macro + extensions

Matt

I thought a macro lens was designed with diffraction in mind and design?

Looking at it at 300% I don't see any evidence of camera shake.

Mike this one is from photozone and f/22 doesn't look promising,
at f/16 you get almost triple the amount off sharpness.




If you want everything in focus you need to use a technique called focus stacking.
Never done it but Google is your friend here.

Checking the EXIF shows the sharpness setting as 'Soft' - I don't know if this is accurate but might explain things.

Many thanks to all.
No, nothing looks sharp on the original, either on screen or in an A4 print.
To sum up:

Turn-off SR.
Stop down to f16 (5.6 would be nice- live with the resultant loss of DOF(?))
I have used stacking, but if no plane in this image seems to be sharp, I would only be using multiple "soft" images!
Could someone tell me where the "soft" in the exif comes from?

A thought of my own - is it worth using mirror lock-up with this level of reproduction?

Find a flatter egg?


Best regards,

Roger

I agree with Mike. I can't see evidence of camera shake: I don't think it's in focus.

Even f22 is critical at these distances. Does the K7 have some sort of focus confirmation? This can help, but it's unlikely to be infallible this close.

I find I have to take several, apparently identical shots, with minute focus changes. Then, once uploaded you can see the difference and discard 90% of them!

Gareth should be able to give you some pointers to improve macro shots!

Don't give up: trial and error, lots of light and a cable release of remote release.

How big is the egg shell? Just wondering why you're using the bellows with the macro lens, I would have thought the lens on its own would have got you plenty close enough.

You might find that the lens on the bellows needs to be focused at infinity or at least not close-up, and this then doesn't work so well when it's on the bellows, if you see what I mean.

But definitely avoid f/22 if you can.

Dan

I meant stacking as an alternative for using f/22.
You could get the sharpness of the f/5.6 although I rather stop down to f/8 for the extra dof and stack 3 or 4 photos.

Just applied some sharpness in photoshop and you can push it quite far

Further thanks to all.

Will have to wait 'til the w/e to try.
Will get back!

Coker.

Gareth, further to your mention of the "soft" setting, checked the settings on the K7 & found that, indeed, "soft" is available, but none of the digital tweaks was on. Looking at the metadata in the properties files for some of my other pictures, all have the "soft" setting shown.

Q.: How do I turn it off if it's not on?

Thanks,
Coker.

I don't have a K7, but understand you set digital filters on/off in Rec. Mode 2 menu. Further, I understand you must set 'Not use any filters' in the menu to ensure that you don't use any.

It's also possible to set 'Soft' in playback, but presumably it's per image?

'Soft' and other digital filters can't be used in RAW. You could try shooting in RAW and then check exif data again.

Thanks, John.
I've had a play & it wasn't very clear but I think you're right.
Not only must the individual tool (soft) be off but the whole array as well.
Every day, a little further on!

Thanks again to all,

roger.