Why does my Canon 90D photo look softer than the zoomed live view when shooting jewelry?
Asked 1/10/2021
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2 answers
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I'm photographing jewelry in a lightbox with a Canon EOS 90D and EF-S 18-135mm lens on a tripod. I'm shooting around 106mm, using manual focus, ISO 100, and triggering the camera remotely from the Canon app to avoid shake. I tried image stabilization on and off, and I tested a range of apertures. f/5.6 looks much better than f/36, but the final image still doesn't seem as sharp as the magnified live view. Why can the live preview look crisper than the captured image, and what settings or technique changes should I try to get the sharpest result?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
5y ago
2 Answers
5
I don't think sharpness is the issue in the first shot.
I think the predominant issue is it's comparatively dark, under-exposed, and has less specular highlight and colour-push as you see in your live view screen.
I haven't attempted to colour-match because I have no idea which is most correct. Also one is a photo of a screen & the other is a photo of the object directly.
All I did here was to punch up the exposure & colouring on one of them, then roughly match the apparent sizes.
I'd say, given the disparate origins, they are of approximately similar sharpness. If anything the top is sharper than the bottom, though their origin can easily allow for that discrepancy.
I think the takeaway lesson is - don't use Live View as a judge of lighting.
If you're not certain, in this type of setup where your subject is never going to get bored waiting for you, run some test shots. Check them on your computer not just the back screen. Take as long as you like to get your lighting & exposure right.
If you didn't guess already, the top one is your photo, the bottom one is your live view.
I've ignored the one at f/36 as that's never going to work with the aperture that tight. Lookup 'diffraction limit' for further explanation.
If you want more DoF in macro, then you could close up to f/8 or maybe a little more, but if you want the entire object in focus you're going to need focus stacking - again a topic for another post.
One thing to note is we are not comparing like with like, even allowing that one is a photo of a screen. LiveView optimises the view to the screen, like a smartphone does. The resulting photograph, especially if shot RAW, has no optimisation at all applied. That will be highly dependant on what you open it with & what settings you use for it.
Mentioned elsewhere is that the mirror may be causing shake. On the photos as uploaded I'm not seeing any shake - even though the uploaded quality is quite low, making absolute determination difficult.
Originally by user57929. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user57929
5y ago
0
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A few things are likely happening:
- f/36 is too small for best sharpness. Diffraction softens detail at very small apertures, so your softer f/36 result is expected. For this kind of shot, f/5.6 to f/11 is usually a better sharpness range.
- The zoomed live view isn’t a reliable judge of the final photo. It can look punchier or brighter on-screen than the recorded image, so compare actual captures rather than the preview.
- Even on a tripod, camera vibration can reduce sharpness at some shutter speeds. Try mirror lock-up if available, and test both faster and slower shutter speeds. Adding weight to the tripod can also help damp vibrations.
- Your lens may not be the main problem. A macro lens can help with close-up work, but based on the answers, your current setup should still be capable of a sharp result if exposure and vibration are controlled.
Start by shooting at f/5.6, f/8, or f/11, use mirror lock-up, and evaluate the actual files rather than live view.
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