Soft feel to images made with D7100

A while ago, I switched from a Nikon D90 to a D7100. A great camera, but the images, although 24MP, are noticeably softer than those made with the D90 (12MP). I wonder what can cause this soft feel and how I can adjust this, if possible. I still use the same lenses on both cameras.

Pierre

Welcome to the website.

Do you save as RAW or jpeg, if jpeg you will need to adjust the setting within the menu to adjust the sharpness of the saved jpeg file.

Like Paul said, the jpeg settings have to be adjusted to get a bit more sharpness. The other point is that many people just open up a file and go 100% on the monitor to see how sharp their new cameras are compared to the other model they had before. By doing that, it's like if you were trying to judge a 5 x 6 feet photo from a distance of 2 inches, it's simply overkill.

Another point has to be looked at is your shutter speed and your hand holding techniques. A sharper sensor with more pixels can reveal the slower shutter speeds a bit more than a lower density sensor.

And third, your new shutter could also out resolve your lenses and show their lack of sharpness more than the older one.

I did find the same thing when I switched from the D90 to the D7000.

And don't forget that the D90 was and still is a very good camera that is a bit more forgiving than the newer high density higher resolutions cams.

Welcome to Nikonites and enjoy your Nikon.

pgielen said:

A while ago, I switched from a Nikon D90 to a D7100. A great camera, but the images, although 24MP, are noticeably softer than those made with the D90 (12MP). I wonder what can cause this soft feel and how I can adjust this, if possible. I still use the same lenses on both cameras.

Pierre

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A few things that will help you maximize sharpness in your photos...

First and foremost, adjust the Sharpness setting in the Picture Control menu:


Keep your shutter speed up around twice the focal length. For instance, if you're shooting at 100mm, keep your shutter speed at around 1/200 or so. If you're shooting at 35mm keep the shutter above 1/70 and so on.

If your lenses have VR enabled, try turning it off. VR is not a "set it and forget it" sort of thing; it's a specific solution to a specific problem. If you don't have that problem, VR can actually *cause* image softness.

Fine tune the Auto Focus on your lenses. There are several methods for doing this but it absolutely needs to be done in my opinion. Nikon has a tutorial, How to Use the AF Fine Tune Function, there's software solutions like Reikan FoCal or the Dot Tune method (also free). Choose one that works for you but definitely check your lenses for front/back focus issues.
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Welcome to the forum,i think your answer could be in one of the above posts as the D7100 is a very good camera.

Have you auto tuned your lenses to the D7100?

As a couple of people have mentioned Fine Tuning your lenses is a MUST with the D7100. Here is an article from Nikon that might help a little. https://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com.../51633/~/how-to-use-the-af-fine-tune-function There are a number of ways to acomplish this as Horoscope Fish listed. I personally like the software Reikan FoCal Automatic Lens Calibration Software - Fully Automatic Lens Calibration and Camera Tools and that is what I use on both my D7000 and D7100

Now you guy's have got me worried! My D7100 focuses great on all my lenses and I've never done any fine-tuning... Now I'm wondering if I should?

NIKONIAN_DREAMWEAVER said:

Now you guy's have got me worried! My D7100 focuses great on all my lenses and I've never done any fine-tuning... Now I'm wondering if I should?

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It's nothing to be worried about. Its the difference between cutting with a really sharp knife and a razor. If you want to get the absolute best you can get then tune the lenses.

NIKONIAN_DREAMWEAVER said:

Now you guy's have got me worried! My D7100 focuses great on all my lenses and I've never done any fine-tuning... Now I'm wondering if I should?

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It can't hurt to try it. In the menu it has an off/on setting so it you are not happy you can always turn it off. I have found though that a 2 or 3 point change can make a lot of difference.

Don Kuykendall said:

It can't hurt to try it. In the menu it has an off/on setting so it you are not happy you can always turn it off. I have found though that a 2 or 3 point change can make a lot of difference.

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Okay Don, I'll give it a try out and see. I'll have to read up on the procedural process...

Thanks for all of the hints. I'll try finetuning the AF mode, of which I learned just now. But actually, I shoot a lot of panoramas with fisheye lenses in MF and without VR, from a tripod with a panoramic head and with f/11, so I get a hyperfocal distance on my 10.5mm Nikon lens of about 35cm to infinity. I usually save the image in NEF+jpeg (large, fine) and decide which one I'll use later. If a jpeg is problematic, I process the NEF in DXO. If I don't shoot panoramas, I mostly use my 16-85mm Nikon zoomlens in AF mode.

Moab Man said:

It's nothing to be worried about. Its the difference between cutting with a really sharp knife and a razor. If you want to get the absolute best you can get then tune the lenses.

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I agree... It's not something to break out in a sweat over but it's also definitely worth checking.

Free sharpness... w00t!!
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Well, I used the Nikon EU site info. on fine tuning af.
https://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com.../51633/~/how-to-use-the-af-fine-tune-function

I set up my D7100 on a tripod and put a ruler on my bookshelf. I opened up the aperture all the way on my 18-105mm Nikon lens. I focused in on the 3" mark and I brought the (RAW/NEF) photo into Capture NX2 and zoomed in to 500%. It was sharp at 3" and 4" and fuzzier at the 2" mark on the ruler. I don't think any adjustment would make things any better. It's good, as far as I can tell...At least on this lens... I'm not unhappy with that result...

NIKONIAN_DREAMWEAVER said:

Well, I used the Nikon EU site info. on fine tuning af.
https://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com.../51633/~/how-to-use-the-af-fine-tune-function

I set up my D7100 on a tripod and put a ruler on my bookshelf. I opened up the aperture all the way on my 18-105mm Nikon lens. I focused in on the 3" mark and I brought the (RAW/NEF) photo into Capture NX2 and zoomed in to 500%. It was sharp at 3" and 4" and fuzzier at the 2" mark on the ruler. I don't think any adjustment would make things any better. It's good, as far as I can tell...At least on this lens... I'm not unhappy with that result...

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It was back focusing. In other words it was focusing behind more than in front. Another thing is that where it focuses depends on how far away you are from the target. With the 18-150 you should have it at the 105 mark and be about 17 feet from the target. 50 times the focal length. I recently set up a 40mm macro on my wife's D7000. I set the Fine Tune at the standard distances and all looked good but at macro it was not sharp. I then reset the fine tune as close as I could get it and the fine tune changed. So distance does matter. For most zooms it is best to set it at the far end and wide open since that is the most critical.

Yeah, I was pretty close up. About 4ft. from my subject. I'll have to try different distances. But, 17ft. is much further than what I would normally shoot at, with this lens. I do the majority of my shots, with this lens, at about 2ft. to 10ft. I think I saw or read something that said that you should adjust the lens at a distance that corresponds to where you most often use it? But, at 4ft., the 3" marker that I was focusing on was in focus; so, that didn't seem bad. But, I'll try and see what it looks like at a further distance and see how it performs...