It seems more often than not when I carry my 55-300 it only gets used at 300mm. Then more often than not I am disappointed with the image quality to a point I am debating spending more than on any other lens to upgrade to a f2.8 lens because I dont want to work those images.
Ive tried to do some trouble shooting, ie IS on, tripod, manual focus with live view, stopping down. Stopping down seems to f8 or so seems to remove my biggest complaint but I'm not 100% what the issue is or the best way to fix it wether it be upgrading my gear, technique or camera settings.
The problem? Normally what I describe as soft edges of my subject with a low clarity bright glow. Maybe back focusing? Other times nothing seems sharp in the image when cropped or just zoomed into 1:1. Here is a folder with 4 examples I would really appreciate anyone willing to work with me on correcting these complaints as well as properly naming what is wrong. Ive tried reading other forum posts on this lens but I keep ending up confused.
300 test | Flickr
Use this lens for portraits (street mostly), city scape, architecture, and learning wildlife
K3ii