You need to use <QUOTE REPLY> to have any hope of asking a specific follow-up question back to anyone specifically. Expecting everything in an image to be 'in focus and sharp' is either a misreading or a misunderstanding of hyperfocus. Look at the 1:1 crop example above. Are the rocks at the focus point out of focus? At the distance of the camera to these small details at 24mm, they're in focus enough. Looking at the details beyond their 1:1 pixel-level detail will only make those details softer as the digital sensor captures at pixels and our computer monitors display at pixels. That 1:1 (one to one) mapping of pixels is the maximum level of detail available in the file. If you want to see more 'details' of that small section of the image, you need to be closer so that those details better cover more pixels on the sensor.

When I download and look at your first image in Capture NX-D, there are no active focus points. It's also shot at 1/20 sec at a 105mm focal length. This raises several questions:

1. How are you focusing? Why are there no active focus points?
1a. The image reports Affinity Photo, possibly this software has suppressed the AF information in the EXIF. We need an original version of the image, not using Affinity. Be sure to store the unprocessed JPEG attachment.
2. Was this image captured on a tripod or handheld?
3. You say AF-S. Does the camera beep a focus confirmation? If beep off, do you half-press the shutter for a second or so and allow the camera to focus?
4. Are you using selective focus with a single AF point or group / zone? For this first image, where did you want to focus?
5. Given the first image is not anywhere near in-focus, are you using the camera / lens Auto Focus feature?
6. Have you considered the ideas presented as: How to obtain sharp images in digital photography

You don't need software to sharpen out of focus images. Please provide details for the questions and an original image direct from the camera, without the EXIF being suppressed / stripped.

I appreciate your candid response. I have followed your posts since I became a member of UHH and feel I have and will learn a lot through the advice you give each week. I took up photography only a few years ago so I am still learning when to apply certain settings and what type of adjustments to make on my camera. When I get into the field, I invariably forget to adjust some critical setting to the photo. Since you seem to present the most pointed questions, I chose to answer you directly and would appreciate any other comments you might have.

To explain my setup, until I read your post on Sharp Images in Digital Photography, I had my camera set to AF-S. You suggest AF-C so I made that change with single point (S). I compose the scene in Live View, zoom in to my focus point and have always used BBF to sharpen the image. I use either spot metering or center weighted avg. metering. If I feel there is a need to make an adjustment with my focus ring, I try to do so but the movement of the focus ring is not very smooth so I usually rely on autofocus.
I always have my camera mounted on my tripod (Manfrotto 055XPROB). It is not a flimsy tripod so there should not be any camera shake due to that. I ensure I have the camera/tripod as stable as I can get it and do everything to eliminate any camera movement. To take the photo I usually use either a remote shutter release or a two second timer on the shutter. Unless I am missing a critical setting, I feel the settings on my camera and the mounting of the camera on the tripod (in this case sitting on my driveway) should eliminate any possibility of motion blur.

One of the responders mentioned the images I uploaded did not reflect a landscape photo so I took a new photo to show the issue I am having. I captured a screen shot just to show the focus point (on the center tree about 1/3 up in the image) as well as some EXIF data. I feel the distance to the trees could well reflect the hyperfocal distance of a landscape scene. The zoomed photos No's 3,4 & 5, are at 100%, 200% and 300% respectively.

With my equipment and setup I feel I should be getting better photos than what I am getting. I would appreciate your insight and comments. If you feel it is a non-issue I would appreciate telling me so. If you feel I should have my camera and lens evaluated, I would appreciate that as well. Thank You!

"...Canon has 2 fine calibration adjustments. Nikon has only one..." You're a tad behind times LEWHITE7747, Nikon has actually caught up to Canon.

"Nikon announced the D780 in January 2020, it's the first Nikon camera that allows “two point adjustment” – AF Fine Tuning at BOTH ends of the the focal range for zoom lenses!"

That said, I've been migrating to primes only... Not only does this go a long way toward mitigation of focus challenges it significantly reduces an optic's weight. So funny how I began shooting commercially on primes and I'm returning to same after decades of abuse by all those zoom optics' shortcomings.

But wait! Mirrorless changes everything with contrast detection auto focus... Issues with phase detection focus accuracy may no longer a variable in the equation moving forward...

Best Advice? Shoot Primes :) Works for me...

btw, I totally agree with Joe, the lens in question isn't the "Sharpest" optic either...
Virtually all Nikon's 85mm primes puts it to shame...

Hope this helps...