Sharpness problems

[TMG1961]

Hi everyone, I just got started with macro photography. Using a sony a6400 with laowa 100mm f/2.8 macro lens and a meike speedlight mk320. The biggest problem i have is getting sharp photos. I use focus peaking so that i can see what is in focus. I use aperture between f/8 and f/11. I added a photo, aperture was f/11 and the entire little plant was covered by the focus peaking colour. But to me the photo is not completely sharp. Am i doing something wrong?

 

[Jack]

I will look into focus stacking a bit more. Know something about it but not all. Maybe a silly question but how do i focus on a bugs eyes with manual focus? It is easy with autofocus, you got a focus point but there is none with the manual lens.

Lens ring, set your lens to manual focus and use ring to focus. If you lens is laowa which I is manual focus, then there should be a ring for focusing. You also might want to change your aperture as well.

 

[TMG1961]

Lens ring, set your lens to manual focus and use ring to focus. If you lens is laowa which I is manual focus, then there should be a ring for focusing. You also might want to change your aperture as well.

Yes i know, but in auto focus you have a focus point. I don't see that in manual focus so how do i know the eyes are in focus? If i use focus peaking i get the colours when it is in focus but no way of exactly focusing on the eyes, or is there a special technique?

 

[Jack]

Yes i know, but in auto focus you have a focus point. I don't see that in manual focus so how do i know the eyes are in focus?

That's right, in manual focus you don't have focus points. You should look through viewfinder to see where you have focused manually.

I would recommend to put your camera on a tripod and do some test images, that way your will learn focusing. Make sure you set your camera to manual mode.

You can seek for advice here if you can't achieve what you want:

Photo Clinic - Retouching Help

If you are struggling with post processing, or you want some help with your images. Please do post here.

macroderie.com

Keep in mind, there is no way to fix blur images properly, these images should come focused at first when you take the image, so make sure you focus in the right point of the subject.

f i use focus peaking i get the colours when it is in focus but no way of exactly focusing on the eyes, or is there a special technique?

You should play with aperture here, if you will have f2.8 aperture, your focus will be very small, that's why you want to set aperture around f11, make sure to use your flashlight.

 

[TMG1961]

That's right, in manual focus you don't have focus points. You should look through viewfinder to see where you have focused manually.

I would recommend to put your camera on a tripod and do some test images, that way your will learn focusing. Make sure you set your camera to manual mode.

You can seek for advice here if you can't achieve what you want:

Photo Clinic - Retouching Help

If you are struggling with post processing, or you want some help with your images. Please do post here.

macroderie.com

Keep in mind, there is no way to fix blur images properly, these images should come focused at first when you take the image, so make sure you focus in the right point of the subject.


You should play with aperture here, if you will have f2.8 aperture, your focus will be very small, that's why you want to set aperture around f11, make sure to use your flashlight.

Thanks fro the answer. I did some testing to see if the lens was sharp. This was at 1:1 at f/8, iso400, 1/2 sec on tripod. Straight out of camera, only cropped and resized.

 

[Jack]

Thanks fro the answer. I did some testing to see if the lens was sharp. This was at 1:1 at f/8, iso400, 1/2 sec on tripod. Straight out of camera, only cropped and resized.View attachment 13290

There are some sharp spots on the image, especially the right hand side bold at the bottom. You should use a flash and drop your ISO down. Also, don't crop the photo as you don't get closer to the subject. Personally I crop the image if I want to get rid of unwanted elements.

 

[TMG1961]

There are some sharp spots on the image, especially the right hand side bold at the bottom. You should use a flash and drop your ISO down. Also, don't crop the photo as you don't get closer to the subject. Personally I crop the image if I want to get rid of unwanted elements.

Thanks, was just testing to see if the lens is sharp. I focused on the right bolt at a2-70. I got a external flash, but didn't use it for the test. Just wanted to be sure that the lens was sharp and that the problem with getting good sharp images lies behind the camera (me) and is not the attached lens.

 

[Jack]

Thanks, was just testing to see if the lens is sharp. I focused on the right bolt at a2-70. I got a external flash, but didn't use it for the test. Just wanted to be sure that the lens was sharp and that the problem with getting good sharp images lies behind the camera (me) and is not the attached lens.

The lens is sharp, is all about you practicing and learning the macro technique. You should consider using the flash and a diffuser to achieve stunning pin sharp photos. There are some tutorials on resources page how to do stacking images. Personally I don't do stacking images, but I highly recommended if you want to have whole subject pin sharp and in focus.

You can check Stacking Images subforums , so you can have an idea how others are using stacking technique .

 

[kzurro]

sorry, I'm late to the thread.

- disable focus peaking or set "Peaking Level" to the lowest setting available (Low I think). Focus peaking may be useful for video or a less "focus-nailed" demanding photography genre like landscape, but for macro photography it's mostly useless.

- use focus magnification to help you nail the focus. as neither the lens, nor the body, has stabilization, it is going to be hard, but it gives the best results. (EDIT: well, a tripod would give the best results, but chasing insects with the camera set on a tripod is a pain in the neck).
as the lens is fully manual, focus magnification won't kick in when you turn the focus ring. you can assign it to any custom button or even other buttons and use it whenever you want.

- I suggest sticking to f/8 or f/11 to get the sharpest images (I prefer f/8), you can go wider to get more background separation, being aware that depth of field is going to be shallower. if you use smaller apertures, any benefit on depth of field is going to be weakened by diffraction softening. sometimes, when I want more depth of field, instead of using a smaller aperture, I just step back a bit and crop later in post. depth of field is highly dependant on the distance to the subject, so if you increase the distance to the subject by stepping a bit back, you also increase the depth of field.

- to get the best results, full manual control of everything is the best practice, at least for macro and specially if you are going to use a flash. I suggest to set the camera to Manual mode and use the flash also in manual mode. from what I've read in your comments, you don't have any alternative with the latter. your lens is already fully manual, so one less thing to worry about.
set your ISO to 100, the shutter speed to 1/160 (if the flash is HSS capable, you could use a higher shutter speed, but the flash itself is the one that's going to freeze any movement) and the desired aperture.

- to focus manually, a good practice is to set the focus distance or magnification first, then place the square for the focus magnification where you want the focus to be, zoom in (twice if needed as your camera has two different magnification settings), move slowly back and forth, as if you where rocking, until you nail the focus and shoot. it may seem difficult at first, but actually it's easy getting used to do it that way.

 

[TMG1961]

sorry, I'm late to the thread.

- disable focus peaking or set "Peaking Level" to the lowest setting available (Low I think). Focus peaking may be useful for video or a less "focus-nailed" demanding photography genre like landscape, but for macro photography it's mostly useless.

- use focus magnification to help you nail the focus. as neither the lens, nor the body, has stabilization, it is going to be hard, but it gives the best results. (EDIT: well, a tripod would give the best results, but chasing insects with the camera set on a tripod is a pain in the neck).
as the lens is fully manual, focus magnification won't kick in when you turn the focus ring. you can assign it to any custom button or even other buttons and use it whenever you want.

- I suggest sticking to f/8 or f/11 to get the sharpest images (I prefer f/8), you can go wider to get more background separation, being aware that depth of field is going to be shallower. if you use smaller apertures, any benefit on depth of field is going to be weakened by diffraction softening. sometimes, when I want more depth of field, instead of using a smaller aperture, I just step back a bit and crop later in post. depth of field is highly dependant on the distance to the subject, so if you increase the distance to the subject by stepping a bit back, you also increase the depth of field.

- to get the best results, full manual control of everything is the best practice, at least for macro and specially if you are going to use a flash. I suggest to set the camera to Manual mode and use the flash also in manual mode. from what I've read in your comments, you don't have any alternative with the latter. your lens is already fully manual, so one less thing to worry about.
set your ISO to 100, the shutter speed to 1/160 (if the flash is HSS capable, you could use a higher shutter speed, but the flash itself is the one that's going to freeze any movement) and the desired aperture.

- to focus manually, a good practice is to set the focus distance or magnification first, then place the square for the focus magnification where you want the focus to be, zoom in (twice if needed as your camera has two different magnification settings), move slowly back and forth, as if you where rocking, until you nail the focus and shoot. it may seem difficult at first, but actually it's easy getting used to do it that way.

Thank you for your great explanation.

• I assigned magnification to the c1 button and am trying to get used to it.
• I will give disabling focus peaking a try and see how that works for me.
• I will have to look into HSS. Not sure if i can use it with meike mk320 and sony a6400

 

[kzurro]

I will have to look into HSS. Not sure if i can use it with meike mk320 and sony a6400

I think it doesn't allow HSS (High Speed Sync). there's not much info online. anyway, as I said, it's the flash duration what freezes any movement.