Razor Sharpness

[Irishpix]

Hi Guys,
I need your help please, I need Razor Sharp Group Photo's and I am not getting currently INDOORS with my SB800 on my new D3 using 24-70mm lens, may I hasten to say it's not the equipment guys, it's the man.
How can I be gaurenteed Sharp Shots of groups of four plus people standing shoulder together
indoor average lighting where I focus on the centre and both other sides are softish when blow up a little.What settings on the camera is best to use. I alway keep my Flash on TTL..always.
Thank you.
Joe Aka Irishpix

[kencaleno]

focus manually Joe, Regards, Ken

[pkd14u]

Use a smaller aperture (larger f/number) to achieve a deeper depth of field.

[Irishpix]

Ken,
Many thanks and also for previous help much appreciated.

[Irishpix]

PDK14,
Thank you.
Does the zoom make a difference in sharpness ie,.should I be at the 24mm end rather then mid way to 70mm ?

[Montec]

Like stated above, use f/8 or higher and try not to be right at the max zoom (24).
You also should strive for a shutter speed of about 1/125th to freeze the action.

I use the D700 with the 24-70 and this is the sharpest lens I have ever used, even at 2.8!

With your D3 you can easily boost the ISO to get your desired shutter speed.

On a side note are you using the flash in TTL? Sometimes the pre-flash can make people move as they think the photo has already been taken, when i use TTL I will use the FV lock function to set the flash in advance and eliminate the pre-flash.

Cheers,

[spazoid1965]

The use of a tripod will reduce the chance of camera movement.

[RexK_Cozumel]

it could be bum equiptment. You can send it to me and I will test it for you...

Joking aside. What is the shutter speed you are using? The motion blur can cause your photos to be less sharp than you would like. The flash will freeze motion but you can still have a bit of motion blur depending on what your shutter speed is set to. Also can you post some photos with a 100% crop so that we can see what you are talking about? It will be easier to diagnose the problem if we had some examples.