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 Shooting wide open all the time?

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TScyxnide
post Jul 27 2022, 09:52 AM, updated 2y ago

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From: Johor


Hi otai2!

So my first month with a DSLR is coming to an end, throughout this period I have noticed myself only shooting at my lens maximum aperture (f4.5) all the time.
I just put my camera in Av mode exclusively and only adjusting ISO a little bit and EC whenever needed.

Most of my shot ended up soft looking pretty soft, and I feel like I'm not using my camera and lens to its true potential.

Are there any tips that you guys could share on how to determine what aperture to use, and what modes do you usually shoot in?

Here are some of the shots that I think looked way too soft (I only realized these after I go back home and put it into my PC for post...)

user posted imageAnother attempt at street photography by Henry FH, on Flickr

f5.6, ISO800 (forgot to lower it after low light shot the day before), 166mm

user posted imageSultan Ibrahim Building by Henry FH, on Flickr

f4.5, ISO100, 89mm
apendots
post Jul 27 2022, 10:05 AM

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From: shah alam


i always shoot as widest the lens go.
unless studio shooting
jaycee1
post Jul 27 2022, 10:18 AM

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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
Dark_Angel85
post Jul 27 2022, 10:46 AM

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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
TScyxnide
post Jul 27 2022, 11:19 AM

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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 brows.gif brows.gif

This post has been edited by cyxnide: Jul 27 2022, 11:20 AM
Dark_Angel85
post Jul 27 2022, 12:55 PM

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QUOTE(cyxnide @ Jul 27 2022, 11:19 AM)
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  brows.gif  brows.gif
*
Spot on. Not all focal lengths of your lens exhibit optimal sharpness too. Looks like you found yours!

Bro, it's real. it'll get you, but I always say.. nothing wrong with being a gearhead. Many people like to say things like "Oh, it's not the gear that matters and it's all about the 6 inches behind the camera".. which could hold its candle in certain discussion topics... but there are also times where we just love gear itself. Not just cameras... we boys love our cars, computers, powertools, nerf guns, phones... the list is endless when it comes to GAS! brows.gif


This post has been edited by Dark_Angel85: Jul 27 2022, 12:55 PM
Hexlord
post Jul 29 2022, 10:45 AM

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From: Kuala Lumpur


QUOTE(Dark_Angel85 @ Jul 27 2022, 12:55 PM)

Bro, it's real. it'll get you, but I always say.. nothing wrong with being a gearhead. Many people like to say things like "Oh, it's not the gear that matters and it's all about the 6 inches behind the camera".. which could hold its candle in certain discussion topics... but there are also times where we just love gear itself. Not just cameras... we boys love our cars, computers, powertools, nerf guns, phones... the list is endless when it comes to GAS! brows.gif

*
Well, even artists need to upgrade their stuff once in a while esp when their existing ones began to wear out. bruce.gif
Hexlord
post Jul 29 2022, 10:48 AM

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QUOTE(cyxnide @ Jul 27 2022, 11:19 AM)
Glad I'm not the only one doing that then.
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!
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 honestly feel that your composition is alright! And yeah typically the budget end lenses are not particular sharp at the wide open end of the aperture.

Like some of my older primes, only relatively sharp at f4-5.6 bye.gif

This post has been edited by Hexlord: Jul 29 2022, 10:48 AM
cawan
post Jul 29 2022, 11:27 AM

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open wide apature will miss sharpen of picture.

while for fast action, movement yes recommend.

i always balance it beween 5 - 6 point.
N33d
post Sep 15 2022, 01:29 PM

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i shoot on the widest aperture most of the time for the first few years of my journey but because my camera at that time is only m43 sensor and most of m43 native prime lens is consider sharp at the widest aperture (f1.7/f1.8), so i didn't notice the lack of sharpness. I also want to max out IQ(lowest ISO possible) from that small m43 sensor so shooting at the widest helps.

Now for m43,
i am usually at F4 and above for studio type of shot(with help of flash) where i want deeper DOF or sharpness from the lens
F5.6 and above for landscape/scenery type
F1.8/F2.8 (widest available) when low light where I don't care about sharpness at all, just want max IQ from my camera or action type since more concerned about the max shutter speed I could use before the IQ falls apart

for apsc, FF, generally i just add another 1 or 2 F-stop from my m43 practice


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