I recently shot a bunch of landscape backgrounds for a class project, and I used my recently bought Pentax KP and DA 21mm Limited lens for it. When looking at the images on my computer, they seemed somewhat soft for me, even images taken at apertures of f/11-16. Some landscapes where shot on tripod without SR, others were handheld with SR turned on. For pretty much all of the images shown, I focused on the horizon in the distance, aperture set f/11-16. When I zoom in, I feel like the images should be sharper than they appear. Is that just me, or is something wrong/off with my lens/KP body? This is the only lens I have, by the way (and the KP is my first ever Pentax camera).
Upon doing some research while creating this thread, I realized that the softness I perceive in my photos might just be user focusing error. If I set the aperture to f/11, and focus on the horizon line in the distance, does that mean everything past the horizon is in focus, and not things closer to the camera? So, I should instead focus somewhere in the middle of my scene for everything to be sharp, as in the hyperfocal distance? On one of the photos, instead of focusing on the horizon, I focused on a distant biker walking uphill. When I zoom in, he appears acceptably sharp. In another photo, of myself in my room, I set the focus to the window sill, at f/18. When zooming in, I feel like I'm a little soft while the window is sharp. But I do understand that this might be due to the 1/4" shutter speed on tripod, and I couldn't stay absolutely still for that duration, try as I might. However, I'd like to know for sure if my lens is fine and it's just my focusing methods that need improving. Do the images appear normal, based on the exif/exposure settings and data?
Here is the link to the original, unedited, RAW DNG images I've described, taken with the KP:
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