You've been around this stuff for some time, a uhh member for over 5 years now, and used other equipment enough to probably know that there's something wrong with your lenses, or camera, but you might be able to give them a little better test and answer your own question a little more definitively. Rather than aim the lens at a wide open field, as you have in that image you posted, I'd like to suggest that you perform a more specific test. Get something like an eye test chart, a rifle target, something with distinct and fine lines on it, tack it to a fence a few feet away in good light, with no wind, and do the tripod thing with a remote control or use the 10 second timer rather than the two second, getting some images that you can blow up and see whether or not your lenses are focusing properly. It is often said that many lens are sharpest a couple of steps up from wide open. Don't just shoot at f/8 but rather, try other f/stops and see if there are other stops that give you sharper images than f/8 - maybe from f/4 to f/16, for instance and compare them against f/8. Some people use a newspaper or a magazine cover as targets even. It doesn't look to me like you're giving your lens much of a test, aiming them into a wide open field like that, with no particular discernible subject even though you say you did roughly use the bottom of that fence post as a tentative subject. It certainly isn't all that evident just what you were shooting at upon first glance.

Hi all,

A bit of a problem and I figure this is the place to find answers...

I own a Sony A7rii which I think is a mighty fine camera but I can't get a decent photo out of it. I might be wrong but I strongly suspect there is no problem with the camera but suspect it's a lens thing. Everything I shoot is soft. Nothing is ever well focused. Auto focus, manual focus, doesn't matter. Nothing is ever sharp.

I have the Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS lens and the Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm f/4 ZA OSS lens and they both take very soft photos. Neither of these are the much more expensive ' G ' models, which I"m sure are much better, but for the price of the ones I have I would have thought that I could have gotten some pretty good shots.

Could it be me, the camera or is it possible that these two lens are just never going to shoot truly sharp photos ?

Your thoughts greatly appreciated.

Thanks !

Do you use focus peaking? Does the focus peaking correspond with the depth of field you expect from your hyperfocal calculations? Try something with a tighter DoF to check.
Do you have the latest firmware? One of the earlier updates dealt with some focusing issues.
Check your Image Size and Quality settings.
Try a Setting Reset?

There is definitely something wrong with the results you are getting. Your two lenses have a sharpness rating of 26 and 24 on a A7Rii per DXO. Not stellar but very good for a zoom lens.