Highest Image Quality

This workshop demystifies the wonderful world of image quality. What is it? Why does great gear fall short of expectations? Most of all: how can you extract the maximum from your kit? 

You have invested heavily in premium cameras and lenses, yet may still feel your images don’t live up to the promise. The reason is rarely the equipment. Even with excellent technique, subtle missteps in settings, focus, handling can quietly erode image quality.

Small differences — a single stop here, a fraction of a second there — can tear holes in the images of top-tier gear. Conversely, well-used mid-range gear can outperform superior equipment used poorly.

This workshop shows you where image quality is won and lost, and how to stop leaving performance on the table unnecessarily.

We will use a proven format: morning learn, afternoon apply.  In the morning we cover the essentials in clear, non-technical language. In the afternoon, we put theory into practice by testing your own lenses and settings, so you leave with practical, repeatable knowhow — not just knowledge.

Morning session: Understanding image quality

In plain language, we unpack the optical and sensor-related factors that determine image quality:

• Lens aberrations and their real-world impact
• Resolution, sharpness, contrast, and how they differ
• Common sources of degradation: focus error, camera movement, subject motion, atmosphere
• Controls that matter most: aperture, exposure time etc. and their limits
• Digital corrections: what helps, what harms, and when to use them
• Output issues: screen versus print

Afternoon session: Getting the best from your gear

In practical shooting scenarios, we test your lenses to identify their individual sweet spots. This gives you confidence that you know exactly how your lenses perform — especially important with zoom lenses.

For each prime lens, and for each major focal-length range in zoom lenses, we determine:

• Focus accuracy and methods
• Stability and support, handholding technique
• Optimum aperture for maximum sharpness
• Optimum aperture for even illumination across the frame
• Zoom settings that minimise distortion
• Digital improvement: the limits

By the end of the day, you will know how to consistently achieve the best image quality your equipment is capable of delivering. You will be able to enjoy your photography by making the most of your investment

Note: This workshop applies to all makes of lenses and cameras, including film-using gear.

BONUS!

First four to sign up will receive a $20 Photogear voucher.

• Focussing
• Exposure
• Processing

• Lenses to test
• Camera body
• Memory cards
• Tripod
• Laptop (optional)