Digital wedding image quality film/digital

Will shooting on f8 or 11 better the files sharpness

 

I am shooting with a Nikon d100. Mostly on p setting auto and I feel that the

pictures are always not as sharp as I want.

 

I believe this is built in I also believe they have a built in slight under

exposure feature to avoid blown highlights.

 

If I shoot on F8 or 11 On A setting will the images be sharper.

 

I like shallow depth of field but never feel like I have a super sharp image.

 

Do I have to depend on my film cameras for image quality and shoot with the

digital as back up or as a film money saving tool.

Have you sharpened any of these pictures in post-processing? Even photos from the D1X and D2H I have used needed sharpening in photoshop.

A cautionary note on "under exposure setting". Contrary to popular belief there is only room for one kind of exposure and that is for the highlight. Shooting digital requires more care than say E6!! To do it properly requires much more than setting the camera on auto and trying to "crutch" yourself through the assignment. As per the previous post you are probably needing to sharpen your images in PS or some other software.

I agree that most digital is 'soft' in comparison to film. However, there are sharpening actions for PS available, that work! WELL!

 

Fred Miranda has a great one that is also reasonable I believe.

 

When shooting with digital, I find I am far more critical of sharpness than I ever was with film. I also tend to up the F-stop by 1/2 or more from the lowest setting it has.

 

I use mostly L glass and it works well. Nikon have great lenses that are fast and, IMHO, sharp.

Perhaps a shot at zone focusing will do the trick (albiet with a need for great response time on your part).

JT, what lenses are you using? Cheap glass isn't usually very sharp at maximum apertures.

At f/8 or so they get a lot better.

 

Shooting on P all the time may not be correct for certain subject movement. Learn to use

the other settings, when to use them, and why.( See manual ).

 

For a real assurance that it isn't the gear:

 

Bench test your camera lens combination to evaluate if it is your gear or shooting

technique. First set up a 12" ruler horizontal to the floor at a 45 degree angle centered to

the camera on a tripod; set the self timer to 10 seconds; open the aperture to the max;

focus very carefully on the 6" mark; shoot. Process the image (including the use of a

sharpening tool) and see where the camera actually focused. If the 6" mark is the sharpest

point, then the camera focus isn't the problem. If it isn't sharp, repeat the process a couple

of times including using manual focus to be sure. If the 6" mark is still soft, then send the

camera/lens in for calibration and include the test shots to show where the problem is.