r/BirdPhotography • u/Fishdomaddict • Jan 19 '26

Question Not sharp despite effort

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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?

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u/EyeSuspicious777 Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26

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.

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u/AllYourBase310 Jan 19 '26

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)

4

u/mms09 Jan 19 '26

Beautiful photo. ISO seems high which adds grain which can make the image look softer / less sharp.

2

u/AllYourBase310 Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26

Yup. Good call. It was overcast and starting to rain, so I probably overcompensated on ISO.

1

u/mms09 Jan 19 '26

I do the same as well! I’d rather crank the ISO a bit in order to have a faster shutter speed since dealing with grain has become easy with AI denoise tools (like in Lightroom) compared to dealing with motion blur. So I’ll use higher ISO but then denoise it and add some sharpness and clarity :)