Sharpest f stop?

[six-five-two]

problem solved: f/22

 

[usayit]

It depends on the lens.. but for the typical lens, increased sharpness usually starts 1-2 stops in from the max aperture. Some lenses are sharp even wide open.

For landscapes with max depth of field, I'll shoot usually at f/11 or f/16.

 

[jstuedle]

The term "F8 and be there" was coined for a reason. Most glass has a "Sweet Zone" around f/8-11. But as mentioned above, some are designed to be sharpest wide open. The old MF Nikkor 400 f/3.5 comes to mind. Every lens is differant, ever the same model lens from the same production run will have piece to piece variations. Use it, test it, and decide what works best for you and your style and equipment.

 

[skieur]

If you read the lab reports on particular lenses as I do, then you realize that it is often f2.8 or f4.

skieur

 

[Garbz]

Skieur what kind of lenses are you using that are sharpest at f/2.8???? Mostly the sharpness curves follow the standard bell curve for a reason.

Normally they are sharpest 2-3 stops from wide open. On an f/1.8 lens it may be f/4-5.6 is sharpest. On my 18-70 it's around f/8. One thing important to note is that at f/11 diffraction on a digital camera causes a loss of sharpness. On a film camera or a full frame sensor camera like the Canon 5D this is around f/16.

 

[skieur]

Skieur what kind of lenses are you using that are sharpest at f/2.8???? Mostly the sharpness curves follow the standard bell curve for a reason.

Normally they are sharpest 2-3 stops from wide open. On an f/1.8 lens it may be f/4-5.6 is sharpest. On my 18-70 it's around f/8. One thing important to note is that at f/11 diffraction on a digital camera causes a loss of sharpness. On a film camera or a full frame sensor camera like the Canon 5D this is around f/16.

Minolta and Tokina.

skieur

 

[Iron Flatline]

Many Leica lenses are sharpest at maximum aperture.

"F8 and be there" means you can turn your camera into a nice Point-and-Shoot whereby your DOF makes almost everything more than five-to-six feet away in focus.

 

[usayit]

Minolta and Tokina.

skieur

Specifics.? I'm curious too.... not too many lenses that have their sharpest aperture at max aperture.

Leica have some sharp lenses at max but even those show improvement as you stop down. 35mm f/1.4 Summilux asph for example.. >>read<< expensive.

 

[six-five-two]

The two lenses I have is the Pentax 75-300mm f/4.5 f/5.8 (my zoom lens) and my primary lens: Pentax 18-55mm K100D Kit Lens.

 

[jon_k]

If you read the lab reports on particular lenses as I do, then you realize that it is often f2.8 or f4.

skieur

Where can you get the reports / data / graphs and how do you interpret the data? Can you share more information.

Everyone says each model lens has a different sweet spot. Where's the site that reports lenses and their sharpest apertures.

 

[abraxas]

f22-f32 for my stuff.

 

[Case]

Noob post engage..

So basically Fstop is Aperture? And Aperture is the amount of light let into a lens when taking a picture?

So basically higher Aperture settings make for a sharper, more clear image?

When a lens says f/4-5.6 does that mean the HIGHEST Aperture setting that lens can be set to is 5.6?

Sorry for the noobish questions, we all have to start somewhere.

 

[Patrolman Pat]

Noob post engage..

So basically Fstop is Aperture? And Aperture is the amount of light let into a lens when taking a picture?

So basically higher Aperture settings make for a sharper, more clear image?

When a lens says f/4-5.6 does that mean the HIGHEST Aperture setting that lens can be set to is 5.6?

Sorry for the noobish questions, we all have to start somewhere.

f/4-5.6 would be found on a zoom lens. f4 would be at the shortest focal length of that lens, f5.6 at the longest focal length.

Prime lenses would be quoted with one f number.

 

[ann]

the higher the fstop number the greater the depth of field.

the fstop numbers on the lens are the widest fstop available at the shortest and longest focal lengths. Lower number fstops = less DOF

 

[abraxas]

I try not to concern myself with the technicals, but before the wizards wake up and explain it correctly, the following works for me;

f/stop is aperature. The larger the number, the smaller the little hole, the less light let in. This and using a slow(?) iso like 100 results in longer shutter speeds. I like the thorough depth of field I get. Tripod and remote cable are necessary.

I learned this twice- once in high school many years ago and again about 10 years ago when I first read about the f/64 club.

I'm waiting, and this could be forever, for a camera, hopefully Nikon that has ISO of 50 or even 25. This would be cool to me. Looks like it's going the other way though.