Thomas Dekany
New member
If I'm not using a tripod I'm usually shooting at an f stop of 11 or 9 and even lower
Now we are getting somewhere!
"Most" zooms are inferior to primes to begin with. So if you see really sharp pictures, with the same camera AND lens, look at the efix info - copy that and go from there.
As far as shooting at f11 without a tripod - there is your lack of sharpness, even if your lens have VR IS - why are you not shooting smaller?