Can someone help me find 'The Sweet Spot' (Im talking my camera here)

[AmericanJesus]

Hey,

I keep hearing about cameras having there best settings for getting the sharpest most focused photos and i was wondering how to figure mine out. If you need any specifics just ask! and all my camera gear is in my sig.

 

[dpolston]

Are you talking about the focus points? Like on the Nikon D200 it has 11, the new D3 and D300 have 51. I'm not sure if that's what you're talking about.

On portraits, the sweet spot is the eyes, but that's a photographer thing not a camera thing. It's not like a baseball bat because your image is never the same.

 

[AmericanJesus]

Are you talking about the focus points? Like on the Nikon D200 it has 11, the new D3 and D300 have 51. I'm not sure if that's what you're talking about.

On portraits, the sweet spot is the eyes, but that's a photographer thing not a camera thing. It's not like a baseball bat because your image is never the same.

Ive just heard that different lenses have different favorite f/stops that create the most focused image aside from doing your best to focus it. Like i cant seem to figure out how to get really sharp images, my best one so far was this.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/Yen1222/Lisa-1.jpg

Also anyone have a good tutorial on how to use the unsharp mask?

 

[soylentgreen]

The "sweet spot" refers to the aperature that a particular lens performs its best at. Usually 1-2 f-stops from wide open, though lesser quality lenses may need to stop down a bit more. On the better premium lenses, wide open is fairly good, hence the larger price tag. My EF 300 f/4 L IS is crazy sharp at f/4. Stopped down to f/5.6 or f/8 and its lights out. You will lose a lot of light, so be mindful of the shutterspeed and ISO.

 

[AmericanJesus]

The "sweet spot" refers to the aperature that a particular lens performs its best at. Usually 1-2 f-stops from wide open, though lesser quality lenses may need to stop down a bit more. On the better premium lenses, wide open is fairly good, hence the larger price tag. My EF 300 f/4 L IS is crazy sharp at f/4. Stopped down to f/5.6 or f/8 and its lights out. You will lose a lot of light, so be mindful of the shutterspeed and ISO.

Would you call sony lesser quality?

 

[Antithesis]

The general rule of thumb is to be at f/8.

 

[soylentgreen]

Not at all. Sony makes outstanding lenses. But there is a range they produce for consumers and pros/sem-pros. The consumer lenses tend to not be up to the quality of the better glass, due to the elements used, features, build quality, etc. that pro lenses possess. Usually the price will denote the difference in quality.

 

[Happy Hour]

The general rule of thumb is to be at f/8.

I'd say the majority of my lenses are the most crisp at f/8 also it's a good starting point anyway

 

[AmericanJesus]

Thanks for the responses everyone! Much appreciated.

 

[Happy Hour]

Thanks for the responses everyone! Much appreciated.

hey i noticed your a Alpha shooter!!! Yaaaaa another alpha lover!!!! were few and far in between on this site.:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

 

[AmericanJesus]

hey i noticed your a Alpha shooter!!! Yaaaaa another alpha lover!!!! were few and far in between on this site.:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

I almost baught a rebel, glad i didnt. I like this much better.