a850 soft images out of camera?

[LightBright]

I will purchase an a850 at the end of the month. I am not concerned on waiting for "newer" models anymore and really want a FF camera. Especially for basketball season since f2.8 on my a700 is still to much depth of field when the players are next to the distracting crowds. Ive seen sample images of the a850 and I couldn't help but notice that they are rather soft. I am pretty sure it's just a sharpness setting in the menu's that affects both Raw and Jpegs files. If anyone has a a850/a900 does sharpening the RAW images in Post Processing or in camera bring out good results? What are your sharpness setting's in camera? btw you probably guessed it, im a pixel peeper

[tsiya]

There isn't any reason why A850 images should all be soft, which lens was used for the shots you saw?

[LightBright]

http://images.alphamountworld.com/no...g/DSC00309.JPG

Not my photo btw. I believe the person who photographed this used a Zeiss 24-70 2.8. I feel like that if I took the same photo with my a700, I will get sharper results out of camera despite being 12mp opposed to 24mp, than again it could just be the settings in the camera. In the photo when im looking at it closely i always take consideration of the even narrower depth of field of a FF camera but even that slice of DOF seems that it needs to be sharper. The link above is just one of hundreds of high res a900/850 samples on the web that alway appear not as sharp as it should be even when useing top of the line glass.

I was a little hesitant about the noise issue as well on the a850/a900 but its not that bad if I use a a noise removal software like noise ninja, it cleans it up very nicely even with deep dark shadows. Even 3200 iso are usable, but not 6400.

[OldClicker]

I don't know what photo you mean. On the link there is an A850 review and he loves it. - TF

[LightBright]

Im sorry I thought the link I posted had a photo of a dog with a hat. That photo seems a tad soft when zoomed. I am definitely going for the a850 and pretty sure I will be very happy with it, but just trying to make sure that softness can be fixed.

[LightBright]

Im not judging based on one shot. Im giving a shot that shows a soft image to generalize what I mean by "soft image". There are many out there. Search in google image's for exact full rez shots.

http://images.google.com/images?hl=e...art=0&imgtbs=z

[NoKnees]

From what I've seen from others, the camera can produce some extremely sharp photos from RAW, and with basic +1-2 in camera sharpening, the jpegs aren't too bad either.. But, jpeg is still the one area that most would like to see some improvements...

Unfortunately, I don't have either of the FF models myself yet, so can only speak about what I've seen... I've also seen some really bad photos, so I'm convinced like all great tools, it's the person using it more than anything...

Also, make sure you take a look at these photos in more than just a 100% pixel zoom... Think about the size of a print, and go by that... Then you'll realize just how sharp or noisy an image really is, or is not... Sure, per pixel sharpness and noise values do mean something, but... At the end of the day, when that photo is a 20-30" print on your wall and you are a few feet or more from it, how does it look? If it's not good enough for that, then you need to move up to a MF camera.. ;)

Anyway, hope it works well for you when ya pull the trigger... I still have to wait a bit longer before I can afford one myself...

- G

[Anbesol]

The full frame wont have a significant impact on your dof, the only difference is that you need to zoom further to achieve the same field of view, 200 at f/2.8 will have an identical dof wether its an APS or 35mm.

by the way a 12mpix A700 sensor has smaller pixels then the 24mpix full frame.

[DonSchap]

By the way a 12mpix A700 sensor has smaller pixels then the 24mpix full frame.

They are not all that different in size. I would not do any measurements with the images taken or you could be there for a while. :mad2:

According to the DOF Calculator (<- click on this link), there are differences in DOF ... although slight..

Dial in your camera of choice ... set it up for the same lens, subj dist and aperture and see what happens.

Sample:
A700

50mm
f/1.4
10-ft

Near limit = 9.67 ft
Far limit = 10.4 ft
total = 0.68 feet

Sample 2
A900

50mm
f/1.4
10-ft

Near limit = 9.52 ft
Far limit = 10.5 ft
total = 1.02 feet

Close, but no cigar! Last time I checked ... 1.02 feet beat 0.68 feet by nearly half a foot! :idea: In DOF-speak ... that's a lot!

[OldClicker]

dofmaster.com/Sample:
A700

50mm
f/1.4
10-ft

total = 0.68 feet

Sample 2
A900

50mm
f/1.4
10-ft

total = 1.02 feet

Close, but no cigar! Last time I checked ... 1.02 feet beat 0.68 feet by nearly half a foot! :idea: In DOF-speak ... that's a lot!

Except that the OP is looking to get a narrower DoF with the A850 and I think his logic is that he would now be using a 75mm (instead of the 50mm) to fill the frame resulting in a DoF of 0.45 ft.

Actually, his numbers with his 70-200 f/2.8 would be more like:

A700 @ 100mm f/2.8 30ft, DoF= 3.1ft
A850 @ 150mm f/2.8 30ft, DoF= 2.0ft

[DonSchap]

The sample selections were mine for illustrative purposes. Anyone can use the link and get their numbers.

Personally, I would love to see this "DOF calculator" in the back of the DSLR, as you instantly have:

1. ADI distance data from the 8-contact lenses.
2. Aperture data from the lens or DSLR selection
3. type of camera used from the DSLR
4. Focal length data from the lens

Viola ... DOF information for calculation and display.

[Anbesol]

My only point was that the lens will act the same, the narrower dof is only relative to the change in focal length, not anything inherently different with a full frame focal plane.

[DennisT]

Wonder if these examples - all shot with a900 - no sharpness adjustments in camera and only the default 25% sharpening in camera raw (cs4). Creative style set to standard and all exposure adjustments within the standard style set to 0 - are of any benefit ????? All shot in Raw.

[DonSchap]

I like that rearview shot of the donkey-chariot racers.