Soft focus?

I shot some footage of downtown Dallas yesterday and I don't know if I have just been looking at a computer screen too long and my eyes are glazing over but does this shot look like it has a soft focus? I can't decide if I am falling short of infinity focus or not. I just think I need a second pair of eyes.

I swear you can drive yourself crazy looking at this stuff. I am also adding some shots I took under a bridge that I thought would make a good infinity focus test and give myself a good comparison of all my lenses. If someone has a minute to look at the DNG files and give some feedback on softness, etc.. I would be most grateful. I started to color correct the downtown shot in speedgrade and wasn't loving what I was seeing. Again, I may have been looking at a computer screen too long since I had been doing some intense after effects work prior.

You can get the files here: https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B5DMu ... sp=sharing

yep, definitely soft.

Have you tried any other lenses?

Not sure if this is an infinity focus issue.

I'm no expert, but these look right to me.

I've got the Rok 8mm & BMCC and what I'm getting looks the same to yours.

Were you saying one of those looked soft to you, or all of them?

Some are a touch soft but does not look like infinity focus issues.

At what aperture where these shot? Did you use ND? If so what ND?

Most lenses are not sharp wide open. Most hit their sweet spot after about 2 stops.

The 14mm is defintely soft.
Just check if you can go a little beyond infinity with it.

This looks exactly like what I just experienced. I ordered a 14mm Samyang that was super soft. It was worse than my cheap 18-55 Canon zoom that came with my t2i three years ago. I just shipped it back today. The lens itself is not bad in general, but there are bad copies floating around and I (and you, apparently) got one of them. I made sure it wasn't an infinity issue - I could see the image getting as sharp as it would, then continue past that. Not like the Tokina where I'm focusing 10 feet away, I'm almost there and clunk, it stops.

Some are a touch soft but does not look like infinity focus issues.

At what aperture where these shot? Did you use ND? If so what ND?

Most lenses are not sharp wide open. Most hit their sweet spot after about 2 stops.

Not using any ND. I was floating around the teens as far as aperture in these shots. Although I can't remember specifically I know I wasn't getting lower than 11 or so. I read that the 8mm doesn't really get sharp until around 11,.. so I tried to keep it around there.

It was a windy day and there was a little bit of a haze in the sky, perhaps that could be effecting the perceived sharpness? I just shot a whole bunch of stuff today using every lens I own at one point or another, so it will be interesting to see what it looks like. I am really debating whether I need to send my camera in to get recaliberated or not. None of my lenses have a major infinity focus issue like what I saw when I threw on a Tokina 11-16 in my local camera shop. There was no question on that one.

However, some of my shots just look slightly off to me at times, and I don't know why exactly. If I am having an infinity focus issue then it is very slight. Some time when I get a minute I need to do a critical focus test on all my lenses and really see what the deal is.

I would hate to send in my camera since it would be out for about two weeks and I have use for it quite regularly. But I definitely want it to be sharp and working at it's fullest potential.

You can drive your self crazy examining the details.

This looks exactly like what I just experienced. I ordered a 14mm Samyang that was super soft. It was worse than my cheap 18-55 Canon zoom that came with my t2i three years ago. I just shipped it back today. The lens itself is not bad in general, but there are bad copies floating around and I (and you, apparently) got one of them. I made sure it wasn't an infinity issue - I could see the image getting as sharp as it would, then continue past that. Not like the Tokina where I'm focusing 10 feet away, I'm almost there and clunk, it stops.

You might be right. What was really confusing me was that it would look like it was about sharpen up just a little before I hit infinity but never changed at the last little bit of the turn. It's like it reaches a point where it's almost super sharp and never gets past that even though I am still a little short of infinity. Of course it was hard to be sure since I was outside looking at a glare ridden screen trying check sharpness. Man I really need an EVF.

By the way, thank you all for your responses. I appreciate the help.

Another thing to consider is a diffraction softness. Which of course can became a big issue with the smaller sensor sizes at the higher aperture values, which further will be amplified by going really wide. Not sure this is a problem you're having, but something to think about when using cameras with m4/3 sensors and one of the biggest arguments for using neutral density filtration.

Diffraction might be setting in if you were in the teens. With small sensors I wouldn't go beyond 11, rather get NDs. I was bitten badly once by a "HD" video camera that allowed 16, but the results were softer than SD…

Another thing to consider is a diffraction softness. Which of course can became a big issue with the smaller sensor sizes at the higher aperture values, which further will be amplified by going really wide. Not sure this is a problem you're having, but something to think about when using cameras with m4/3 sensors and one of the biggest arguments for using neutral density filtration.

Diffraction might be setting in if you were in the teens. With small sensors I wouldn't go beyond 11, rather get NDs. I was bitten badly once by a "HD" video camera that allowed 16, but the results were softer than SD…

This is very interesting. You know I remember having an issue on some videocameras in the past where the image just went to pot as soon as you got into the teens. Same issue?

I guess I am going to need to invest in a mattebox for my 14mm and I guess my 8 mm? Obviously I can't screw my variable ND on these two lenses. The other thing I could do when doing shots like the downtown shot is to change my shutter angle to knock down the amount of light coming in. Is there is anyway to get an ND filter on the back of these lenses on an EF mount?

I haven't really started looking at matteboxes yet because I spent all my money on other accessories and lenses and am still recovering from that. What would you guys recommend as far as matteboxes that are reasonably priced and have slots for filters? I'll start looking around but if you have something you like and have a good experience with then let me know.

Thanks for all the help!!

It looks like diffraction softness was the culprit. I did a test this morning with a few of my lenses to see how soft they were at different apertures. I shot some bare trees way off in the distance that had a lot of little branches,.. lots of detail. Sure enough they were soft at high numbers. Here is what I discovered:

8mm f9-16 (sweet spot) Actually a big difference between 16 and 22.

14mm F9 (sweet spot)

24mm f9 (sweet Spot)

Thanks for the help guys. This is just a reminder that I need to upgrade my glass at some point. Be interesting to see what comes out in response to the BMCC.