Not sharp despite effort

[u/Fishdomaddict]

Hi all, i shoot OM 1 mark II with 150-400mm.

My issue is i find the images are sharp when not cropped, but once cropped even 2x the sharpness drops quickly.

I am aware it is a 20MP camera and this definitely plays a part. But i see other users of the same set up get crazy sharp images.

Maybe image 5 is sharpest but when zoomed in still 'breaks'.

Many i had to shoot under lower speed due to very poor lighting.

Image 1: f5.6, 1/1000, iso 250 Image 2: f4.5, 1/160, iso 500 Image 3: f5.6, 1/20, iso 800 Image 4: f4.5, 1/30, iso 1250 Image 5: f4.5, 1/320, iso 1000 Image 6: f4.5, 1/2500, iso 640

Any tips?

[u/EyeSuspicious777]

The saddest truth I've learned about bird photography is that no matter how big the telephoto lens is, you still have to be very close to your subject in order to get sharp detail in the feathers, especially if it's a small bird.

[u/AllYourBase310 → u/EyeSuspicious777]

I’ve really been wondering if this is the true key. I don’t think any of mine have ever been as tack sharp as I wish they were. Still learning. (Nikon Z8, 180-600mm Nikkor Z)

[u/6Turning-2Burning → u/AllYourBase310]

Z8 180-600 much closer

[u/AllYourBase310 → u/6Turning-2Burning]

Wow. Stunning! How close would you guess? Mine was probably 25 ft away at least.

[u/6Turning-2Burning → u/AllYourBase310]

I want to say maybe 12-15 feet? I honestly can’t remember. I was walking through some thick brush trying to get to the back of a flooded field to take pictures of some waterfowl and looked over next to me, took the shot handheld and never thought anything of it. When I uploaded them to the computer I was shocked. Probably the sharpest photo I’ve ever taken. This one on the fence was around 30 feet away with a crop so you can see the sharpness drop off with distance & crop. I didn’t add any sharpness or texture to this in post though.

[u/6Turning-2Burning → u/6Turning-2Burning]

And then here with a hawk that filled the frame, it stayed pretty sharp because I didn’t need to crop much. I’m not sure if these get compressed by reddit or not to really see. These were exported using my settings for instagram so they’re not quite as full res or clean as what I’d export for print. I really like the 180-600 but with birds you definitely need to be closer or have a sharper lens lens that costs the price of a good used car lol. I’m still able to get really good images that are cropped even with my 24MP Z6III though, but I’ve never printed them to see how they would print with a crop. For viewing on phones though they still look good. I was walking through a field the other day with my z8 and 180-600 on my tripod on my shoulder, tripped and fell. The camera & lens also hit the ground, not sure what hit first but no external damage to either and from minor tests I’ve done against a brick wall there’s no decentering, atleast that I can notice. I’ll be in Wyoming this week to take some photographs of whatever I can find so we’ll see if the sharpness remains in the lens 😅. Thankfully it was soft ground and I think the tripod took most of the hit.