[Joyce Keay]

Hi, I recently wrote to ask what settings should be used with back-button focusing on my K-70. I am trying to improve focusing/sharpness and I'm not sure but I think I improved sharpness by recently taking my camera off of back-button focusing. Maybe it is my imagination. Also, when I look at my photos on the camera screen they look very sharp but after I load them on to my MacBook Pro (using High Sierra 10.13.6) they seem to lose sharpness. I use Adobe Bridge CC 2017 to initially look at my photos and Adobe Photo Shop Elements 14 for editing. I had always shot in JPEG but have recently switched to RAW.

So is it possible that I am losing sharpness when loading them onto the computer or editing? If this is the case is there any better software to use for initially looking at photo files? Are there any settings I'm missing on the camera that could help with this?

Thank you.

Joyce Keay

[enoeske]

Hi, I recently wrote to ask what settings should be used with back-button focusing on my K-70. I am trying to improve focusing/sharpness and I'm not sure but I think I improved sharpness by recently taking my camera off of back-button focusing. Maybe it is my imagination. Also, when I look at my photos on the camera screen they look very sharp but after I load them on to my MacBook Pro (using High Sierra 10.13.6) they seem to lose sharpness. I use Adobe Bridge CC 2017 to initially look at my photos and Adobe Photo Shop Elements 14 for editing. I had always shot in JPEG but have recently switched to RAW.

So is it possible that I am losing sharpness when loading them onto the computer or editing? If this is the case is there any better software to use for initially looking at photo files? Are there any settings I'm missing on the camera that could help with this?

Thank you.

Joyce Keay

The camera is showing you a processed jpeg with the setting you have set. The computer is viewing the RAW file which doesn't have any processing applied, including sharpening. You have to do that yourself. So, it won't look as sharp as the processed jpeg on the camera screen.

[photoptimist]

Try checking the settings and playing with them. It's quite possible that the camera is set to auto-magically sharpen the images and the computer is not.

[mikesbike]

Switching to RAW usually means you have to sharpen images yourself and determine by how much.

The camera's viewing screen besides showing a processed JPEG of the image, also may be more strongly backlit than is your computer screen, as well as being much smaller.

[pentageek]

when I look at my photos on the camera screen they look very sharp

Virtually every picture seems to be sharp when viewed on camera screen. The reason is simple - as others said, camera shows sharpened jpg, and you look at it on very small screen. As result if an edge is soft and smeared over ten pixels in RAW, it may seem to be sharp and one pixel wide on camera screen.

[aaacb]

I'll just add another possibility to the answers above.

The camera limits how much you can zoom in, not much over 100% (1 image pixel corresponds to one screen pixel, no rescaling). But 100% on a small camera screen viewed at arm's length will look better than looking closely at the image shown at 100% on a large computer monitor.

[UncleVanya]

size size and size... as well as a bit of jpg sharpening perhaps. Many is the time I thought I had THE SHOT and found it wasn't quite there when viewed later. Not as easy to get disappointed as with film but in some ways we still have to setup and take the shots and hope they turn out as expected.

[Not a Number]

Images on the LCD screen are downsized which will always look sharper.

Try zooming the view out (downsize the image) on your computer, it should look sharper.

[Mallee Boy]

A little test I always run when taking a shot I really want to work with later eg large format printing....view image on back of camera and zoom it in as much as possible, if it is still sharp then it has potential....if it has gone soft a or blurred then what you see is what you are going to get when down loaded and viewed on a larger screen....or printed to a large size.

IF it is not sharp then you need to look at a few possibilities why....motion blur (handheld....try a tripod)….soft (experiment with lens at different apertures if conditions allow) … if still soft, check back & front focus and if still not getting desired result consider a different, higher quality lens.

Example: My wife's DA 17-70 played up and she went to a back up lens in the Sigma 18-250, and immediately noticed a fall off in quality (sharpness) particularly from mid - tele end., now has the DA* 16-50 and the world is beautiful again.

[derekkite]

Hi, I recently wrote to ask what settings should be used with back-button focusing on my K-70. I am trying to improve focusing/sharpness and I'm not sure but I think I improved sharpness by recently taking my camera off of back-button focusing. Maybe it is my imagination. Also, when I look at my photos on the camera screen they look very sharp but after I load them on to my MacBook Pro (using High Sierra 10.13.6) they seem to lose sharpness. I use Adobe Bridge CC 2017 to initially look at my photos and Adobe Photo Shop Elements 14 for editing. I had always shot in JPEG but have recently switched to RAW.

So is it possible that I am losing sharpness when loading them onto the computer or editing? If this is the case is there any better software to use for initially looking at photo files? Are there any settings I'm missing on the camera that could help with this?

Thank you.

Joyce Keay

I'd start by identifying the source of softness. You could have out of focus, motion blur, sensor stabilization blur, or a soft lens. I shoot long and identifying the cause leads to changes in technique.

Start with putting the camera and lens on a tripod, or bean bag. Turn off stabilization, line up on something like a yardstick leaning against a patterned box. Go to live view or mirror up, delay 12 secs and see what you get. Stop down your lens, f8 or smaller. See if that makes a difference. Try wide open. The leaning yardstick will tell you where focus resides. If the show are sharp then you know you can get something sharp. If not your lens may be inadequate. It is possible to get a lens that is soft.

If that is sharp start working out what the problem is. Shoot at a faster shutter speed. If that helps then learn the techniques of holding a camera body still.

The stabilization may be taking a bit of time to settle in. That may be why shutter focus helps; stabilization is enabled at half shutter push.

[Lev]

Always check your shot at 100% view on the camera LCD. Of course if you need it to be as sharp as possible. There are situations when you have no time for this but when you do it is worth checking.

First thing what I would investigate is if a shutter speed was too slow, then if there was front or back focus, then whether IBIS was turned on.

[Not a Number]

Always check your shot at 100% view on the camera LCD. Of course if you need it to be as sharp as possible. There are situations when you have no time for this but when you do it is worth checking.

Definitely. When using manual focus lenses even slightly out of focus shots can look sharp on the LCD unless you enlarge the image. You can always set the instant review to start at a certain magnification.

[pschlute]

I had always shot in JPEG but have recently switched to RAW

When you open a raw file in Photoshop elements it automatically opens in Adobe Camera Raw. The default settings in ACR will apply some "capture sharpening", but when you create a jpeg of your raw image you need to apply some output sharpening too. I suggest you try the Unsharp Mask tool. If you are creating jpegs for vieing on screen/posting on the web i suggest you start with a setting of :

Amount 70
Radius 0.60
Threshold 1

[rogerstg]

I had always shot in JPEG but have recently switched to RAW.

As enoeske wrote, it's probably because the camera is showing a processed image while the downloaded RAW file is unprocessed. Presumably, like me, you shoot RAW in order to have more latitude post processing than allowed with JPEG's compression. But, you can have both unprocessed and processed uncompressed/lossless files by converting the RAW files to TIFF in camera. My process is to take photos with RAW only. Before downloaded to my computer, I parse my photo's of obvious crap shots, then convert all to TIFF. After which I transfer all photos to my computer. That gives me the choice of starting with unprocessed or camera processed shots. I use a KP, but I suspect that your K-70 can do the same.

[SharkyCA]

I am interested in the fact no one has asked but what resolution are you using on your pc screen? Does it have the ability to display in high definition?

Just an after thought!

I may be totally off base here but it makes sense to me if you are not displaying on your pc in the same resolution the images will loose out in the translation.

Am I right or wrong, after all I am just a beginner myself!

https://laptopunderbudget.com/best-laptops-for-photo-editing/