Often I find that I can manually focus and get a tremendously sharp image using magnification in live view, but when I take the picture it isn’t as sharp – looking at the monitor zoomed in to the same level. I’ve tried RAW, different lenses, but it still seems the case.

Any ideas?

Could be loads of things… Perhaps the preview adds a bit of sharpening which isn’t present in the RAW file? Tripod mounted? IS / OS / VR whatever turned off if on tripod?

IS is on in the camera. First time I noticed it I was close up to a wasp in a cold stupor, hand held lying on the grass. I could clearly see the compound eyes on the monitor, but I pressed the button and the detail was gone. Nothing had changed.

It must be something to do with how live view works vs the actual picture taking process. When I said I tried RAW, I mean I tried RAW and JPG and all the sharpening options, NR on and off etc.

How to use Liveview

I only use LiveView on a Tripod, and as above, turn off IS and set a delay timer of 2 seconds ( pressing the shutter button causes slight shaking).

This is probably a daft suggestion, but… Camera shake? Does it happen all the time – ie have you tried it tripod mounted with a static object?

I should try it on a tripod. The image I can see on the live view screen is moving about somewhat, I guess it’s my human eye doing a good job of tracking. So perhaps IS is introducing a small amount of fuzz as it tries to keep up with my camera wobbling. Definitely not normal camera shake tho.

I must try it with a tripod… However someone else seems to have had the same problem on a photography forum and they were using a tripod.

If using a Tripod, you must have IS turned off and set a timer delay. Pressing the shutter button makes the camera shake, making a slightly OOF photo.

What camera Molgrips?

I wouldn’t use live view for focusing, personally. The screen isn’t big enough to do it accurately in my experience.

Shake, then the fact that I suspect the low resolution of the liveview screen means that an edge will show as two distinct pixels (a nice contrast) whereas in the real image with 50 pixels making up that edge it looks a bit softer. If you think there’s real info being lost though (like being able to see or not see the compound eyes then I suspect it’s either shake or I’ve no idea.

Have you looked at the end result on a PC? I always assume the image shown on the screen of pictures you’ve taken is a small compressed version.

I wouldn’t use live view for focusing, personally. The screen isn’t big enough to do it accurately in my experience

I zoom in 10x – I can see far far more detail this way than through the vf.

Shake, then the fact that I suspect the low resolution of the liveview screen means that an edge will show as two distinct pixels (a nice contrast) whereas in the real image with 50 pixels making up that edge it looks a bit softer.

Well not really, I’m talking about the same level of zoom on the same screen (the camera one). And it’s the same on a PC anyway no matter what I do. I’m not talking about an impression of sharpness – the hexagons in the eyes simply were not there, regardless of zoom or anything else.

EDIT ah yes you did say this.

I think it’s some difference in how it captures the final image. I’ll try with IS off on a tripod.

Right – IS was the problem. The kind of advice you get online is that IS should probably be turned off on a tripod as it might result in a small degradation of quality – well it’s actually a pretty big degradation!

This might lead me to experiment with IS off for long range zoom work, which is a bit counter-intuitive.

I wouldn’t use live view for focusing, personally. The screen isn’t big enough to do it accurately in my experience.

an arbitrary statement as we have no idea what camera you are using to base your findings on.

live view (on most DSLR’s) should give you a 1:1 pixel view and is very accurate as it removes any vagaries in the AF system or lens (back focusing or focus creep etc)

When you review ax pic on my d80 & zoom in, after a certain point the quality really degrades. I don’t think it is showing a genuine representation.
I think Ken Rockwell even mentioned this in his review of the camera.

Are you sure when you are zooming in that you are seeing the same thing you would on a monitor.

Oh, and everything I have read says turn of IS, OS, VR etc. for tripod stuff & as above use a remote or 2s self timer.

Molgrips, Also try the timer delay, it also helps improve the sharpness if using a tripod. 😉

I am not sure it’s the same, no. It could well be some kind of thumbnail. You can’t zoom in to 1:1 for instance. You can only zoom in 14x, and by my calculations the screen at 230kp is 1/52 of the size of a 12Mp image.

If you can zoom in 1:1, then fair enough. If you can’t, there’s potential for all kinds of discrepancies. Even in Photoshop I’ve found images have to be viewed at very specific sizes to avoid distortion. But hey, if it works, keep doing it.

Because the mirror is in front of the sensor – when you take the shot the mirror flips up and the focal point has effectively moved backwards. Large aperture/short focal length combo will make DOF very narrow and throw the shot OOF.

Caution: DSLR muppet alert

Why would IS/VR cause this kind of problem?

Because the mirror is in front of the sensor – when you take the shot the mirror flips up and the focal point has effectively moved backwards.

Good point in general, but this is in live view (where I do most macro work) so no mirror involved.

rocketman – IS (in my camera) moves the sensor about in response to movements of the camera. I think of it like a tennis player bobbing about on his toes ready to respond to the next shot. The theory is that this mechanism moves every so slightly on its own like the tennis player ready to respond to a camera movement. If the camera is 100% steady though on a tripod, these little movements will blur the image.

thanks molgrips that makes sense