[MJ43]

Just been playing with the KP taking pictures of the moon with an Ozeck II 2x multiplier and a Carl Zeiss Jena II 70-300mm fitted. On a tripod with 2 second shutter delay and electronic shutter to avoid any shake.
Using Live view I can get a nice crisp image when focusing. Touch the fire button and the image loses its crispness before it disappears as the timer starts and the shot is taken. The resulting image doesn't appear as sharp as the one on the back screen when focusing, when looked at on the back screen looks out of focus and the actual image below (cropped) isn't that good.
Is there any reason why it should look sharp on the back screen but the image isn't as sharp?
Flickr

[Adam]

If you have focus peaking on, that can make the edges look a bit sharper than they actually are. This photo looks pretty good to me, though- it's definitely in focus. The haze is likely due to the TC or lens.

Unrelated, but it also looks like there might be a piece of dust on the sensor.

[MJ43]

Thanks - yes that is a piece of dust - I have removed it now. A tiny bit of the haze is a very faint veil of cloud.

[ramseybuckeye]

Dumb question, but you are manually focusing I would assume. I don't know how the focus could change on you in manual focus.

Did you also use magnification? If not it really helps you get the focus precise. But one thing to remember is that everything look sharper on a three inch screen.

[Fogel70]

Shutter speed of 1/30s is a bit slow for capturing the moon.
The moon is moving quite fast over the sky so 1/125s or faster is more suitable, and stop the lens down to f/8 - f/11 for best sharpness.

Old vintage optics may not capture very contrasty images, so you may need to increase contrast in post or in camera when using this type of lenses.

[MJ43]

@ramseybuckeye - Yes manual focus the x2 multiplier and the lens don't allow AF. Not sure how to zoom in Live view I will read the manual.
@Fogel70 - I will try again tomorrow and use the settings you suggest and have a play processing the image later.

[stevebrot]

Not sure how to zoom in Live view I will read the manual.

You can use the rear e-dial (8x = about 1:1) or on the manual page 46, the note at bottom of the page mentions setting up as a Smart Function.


Steve

[UncleVanya]

The back screen has lower resolution than the final image. I’ve seen shots that looked in focus on the rear screen until I zoomed in on them in live view. This allowed me to see the missed focus and correct.

Also if you are touching it to fire shutter there mAy be some focus shifting due to small positional changes. Can you use a remote to trigger the shot?.

[rogerstg]

Touch the fire button and the image loses its crispness

Probably due to shake introduced when you touched the shutter release button. This brings up another potential source vibration, the tripod. Is it adequately sturdy/stiff and secured? You might consider using a remote release as well.

[Bob 256]

I've seen this happen a lot with my own shooting and it's like Adam stated, there's a certain amount of video peaking applied to the preview shot and that's removed when you see the actual shot on the LCD afterwards which makes it look like you lost a lot of sharpness. Indeed, you have lost some from what you might have observed, but that can be restored in post by applying some sharpening to the file. As also mentioned, if you use magnification to get the sharpest focus and are in manual mode, you'll get a really sharp shot and the only other thing that might affect it is vibration. Many of my shots are of relatively stationary subjects, so I use the electronic shutter (and either an IR remote trip or a long delay) to get around the shutter vibration issue (as you mentioned you're doing). With those steps, only the lens sharpness should limit you.

Sidenote: You should have electronic shake reduction turned off if you're shooting on a tripod, as there are reports that it can cause issues. I believe it automatically is disabled when using the ES.

[UncleVanya]

I've seen this happen a lot with my own shooting and it's like Adam stated, there's a certain amount of video peaking applied to the preview shot and that's removed when you see the actual shot on the LCD afterwards which makes it look like you lost a lot of sharpness. Indeed, you have lost some from what you might have observed, but that can be restored in post by applying some sharpening to the file.

This is good advice. Also as I mentioned above - since the LCD is also lower resolution you are essentially viewing a downsampled version which will appear sharper:

Blur-Aware Image Downsizing.

[swanlefitte]

I did testing with the 55-300plm on a ks-2 and this consistently happened. I was comparing 3 lenses and only this lens displayed that. The 300 takumar and 1 other didn't show this. This was years ago now and I remember if it was an eye chart it would go from 20/20 to about 20/40.

[MJKoski]

Looks like messy teleconverter and/or atmospheric conditions causing blurry and hazy image. And combine that with old telephoto lens I'm a bit surprised the output is even that good.

[GUB]

Unrelated, but it also looks like there might be a piece of dust on the sensor.

Naa that was the New Zealand moon landing attempt - it didn't go well.!

[MJ43]

I tweaked the image in Affinity - other than the dust spot - maybe it isn't so bad.
Still plan to have another go this evening.
Flickr