Are Your Canon EOS 5Ds Images Not Sharp?

Obvious is that the Canon EOS 5Ds is a much higher resolution camera than the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Because the 5Ds has more pixels in the same amount of sensor space as the 5D III, camera and subject motion causes subject details to cross over pixels at a faster rate, potentially resulting in blur and a loss of pixel-level sharpness. Because of this, you may find that a faster minimum shutter speed is necessary for handholding this camera (and that image stabilization becomes more important). Similarly, fast-moving subjects may require faster shutter speeds to avoid pixel-level motion blur.

This is the 5Ds change with the biggest learning curve. But, get the shutter speed wrong and you may have a fallback option available.

The momma black bear showed up and I sprung into action. With the Canon EF 100-400mm L IS II Lens mounted to the 5Ds (the "R" in this case), I quickly estimated the manual exposure needed. Black bears rendered large in the frame tend to be overexposed in auto exposure modes and I was able to dial in the right manual exposure setting just as fast as determining any exposure compensation needed. I made one quick ISO setting change after seeing the first image on the histogram and began rapidly capturing frames.

Unfortunately, most of my shots from this 2 minute session were throwaways, primarily due to the bear's constant fast movement creating poor head positions. Some of the better-composed images were not as sharp as desired due to motion blur.

Hindsight is usually clear and I know that I should have opted for a higher ISO setting and shorter shutter speed, but I was hoping that the bear would pause occassionally, affording me the opportunity for sharp images at 1/320. When modestly blurred images happen, the fall-back option available is to reduce the final image dimensions until it is the desired sharpness. Reducing the final image dimensions to those of the 5D III (or similar) will give you the about same sharpness results as if the image had been captured on that lower resolution camera.

Here is the full resolution crop example showing what I was not satisfied with:

Full Resolution 5Ds Sharpness

Take this image down to 5D III pixel dimensions and ... I have an image I can be happy with:

Reduced to 5D III Size Sharpness

In the case of my bear photo, 5D III dimensions result in an acceptably sharp image (the DOF is centered closer to the eyes, leaving the teeth slightly out of focus). While I would rather have the full 50.6 megapixel image be sharp, having this image sharp at 22 megapixels does not leave me with big regrets.

I know, the bear is not looking at me. I always recommend taking a tastier (and slower) friend along when photographing bears. The bear was looking at her. I'm kidding of course. :)

Posted: 7/3/2015 7:25:15 AM ET   Posted By: Bryan
Share on Facebook! Share on X! Share on Pinterest! Email this page to a friend!
Send Comments
Terms of Use, Privacy  |  © 2024 Rectangular Media, LLC  |  Bryan CarnathanPowered by Christ!