Originally posted by jstevewhite It's just soft. I've done the ruler trick to see if it's FF or BF, but even the part that's in sharp focus, isn't. I've tested from f5.6 down to f22. It gets sharper up to F11 and then starts falling off (predictably). But at no point is it as sharp as your bee picture here. If I back it down to, say, 180, it's MUCH better. Are these macros shot at less than 300mm? (that's where my problems are)
No, I doublechecked and these are all max telephoto in macro mode, 300mm. Perhaps your lens has got a problem of some sort, or mine is abnormally sharp. I got mine on Ebay for $115 a few weeks ago. I've been shooting like crazy with it. The non-macro shots are good too, such as birds. Here is a bumblebee shot which I verified was shot in the same conditions. You can see pretty clearly the focus zone in this shot, and separate out the focus blur (lower flower) from the motion blur (bee's feelers for example - this bee "shakes its head" at high speed when feeding and the blur shows it - I should have gone to 1/1000s or faster).
Detail this shot: Pentax K-5, 1/500th sec, 1600 ISO, F11, using Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 LD Di macro in macro mode, with "C" autofocus and manual exposure. Cropped slightly.