For pin sharp images
. Use a good quality tripod.
. Turn off i.s. on your lens or camera, as the motor will hunt
and cause vibration in the camera that you do not want.
. Select mirror ‘lockup’ in the menu settings on your camera,
this will stop the camera vibrating when the mirror opens
inside your camera.
. Use a remote shutter release, either radio controlled or cable.
. If you do not have a remote cable use the camera’s 2 second
timer.
. To reduce noise use a iso setting of 100.
. Lens sweet spot, for full frame camera’s use f/16.0 and for
cropped sensors aps-c use f/11.0.
. Camera straps can cause unwanted camera vibration so best
remove or tie up away from the camera and tripod.
. Stormy windy conditions, it might not be good enough to have
the camera on a tripod, increase your iso to increase your shutter
speed to reduce the affect of vibrations and maintain a high aperture
f/11.0.
. Focus stacking - alternatively shoot at f/5.6, a low iso i.e. 200, this
will reduce noise in your image and allow you to use a high enough
shutter speed to reduce the risk of vibrations then focus stack three
images later in photoshop, foreground, mid ground and background,
note this may not work so well if there is a lot of moving elements
in the scene.
Note: I use a Canon Eos 5D Mkii for my landscape photography
and a Canon Eos 60D for every day photography, below
are the custom functions for these two cameras, the
first press of the shutter opens the mirror, the second
press takes the photograph and closes the shutter
again.
Canon Eos 5D - C.fn 12
Canon Eos 40D - C.fn iii / 7