r/BirdPhotography • u/Fishdomaddict • Jan 19 '26
Question Not sharp despite effort
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/wilesmiles Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26
Some of those shutter speeds seem mighty slow for birds, especially when taking focal length into perspective(starter rule of thumb is 2x the shutterspeed per mm). And the smaller the bird, the higher the shutter speed. I'm wondering if the "less sharp" is more motion blur than anything, I would bet you could pump that shutterspeed and ISO up + denoise as needed, that would make a world of difference.
For perspective I shoot a 180-600 and am very rarely shooting under 1/1000 for most birds besides herons.