QUOTE(apendots @ Jul 27 2022, 10:05 AM)
i always shoot as widest the lens go.
unless studio shooting
Glad I'm not the only one doing that then.
QUOTE(jaycee1 @ Jul 27 2022, 10:18 AM)
Soft is ok. Not all pictures need to be tack sharp. The important part is the picture captures what you want to capture. A picture is a capture of a moment of time.
Dont worry so much about sharpness and work on your composition. That will yield much more impressive pictures despite being soft.
If softness is a concern, select a prime lens f1.4 or f1.8 and stop down to f4. Most lens will be soft wide open especially on the edge of the frame and only sharp when stopped down a bit.
If you have a crop sensor, you can use a full frame lens and you have a bit more leeway to sensor crop out the softer edges
Thank you for your feedback! You're right I should focus more on my composition as I feel most of my shots are kinda crappy in terms of composition...
I'll try to stop down to something around f7 to f9 next time I bring my camera out and when the light is good!
QUOTE(Dark_Angel85 @ Jul 27 2022, 10:46 AM)
Not accounting a variety of other factors like shooting in direct sunlight, low light, more current lenses also have more modern coatings, etc... and purely talking about resolving power and sharpness of a lens....
1. As far as that is concerned, most lenses benefit from stopping down up to the point of diffraction. Fast lenses or even faster primes tend to be sharper cause they have more leeway of stopping down before that point. I do have lenses that I consider 'sharp enough' wide open, but STILL... stopping down does produce more contrast and resolution or clear up the vignette a little better. It's a matter of each lens benefitting from stopping down at varying degrees. You can actually test this out for yourself to know which point it is at its optimal sharpness.
If your lenses already starts at f4.5 or at the tele end f5.6, you don't have many stops before F11/F16 where it starts getting softer. On crop sensors, the defraction sometimes starts earlier i.e. F8 or maybe F6.3.
If your lens is F1.8, then you can still stop it 2-3 stops up to F4-F5.6 where it might be sharper and still clear from the point of diffraction.
2. This might sound like it's time to shop around for another lens IF that is the only thing that seems to be limiting your creativity or fun experience in shooting. However, like what @jaycee1 mentioned, have fun shooting first and doing all the other things that make an impressive picture... I also don't think most people will look at a genuinely interesting picture but go "aww... if only it was sharper".
Splurging for a nicer lens of course is exciting though. hehehe
Thank you for the detailed explanation!
I actually noticed that on one or two of my photos taken at f7.1 and ~125mm to be significantly sharper than other focal length + aperture combo.
I'll try to stop down from the maximum next time I bring it out.
And you're right, I'll work on my composition more!
Edit : I am still considerably safe from GAS at this moment, not sure how long I can stay this way tho
This post has been edited by cyxnide: Jul 27 2022, 11:20 AM