What aperture do you prefer to shoot on?

L

leaftors

Well-known member
Specifically with canon / sigma lenses, what aperture do you like to shoot on? If you had lenses that opened up to 1.8 would you shoot at 1.4 or 4.0?

Is 4.0 sharper than 1.4?
 
Well if I had a 1.8 lens, I would never in a million years think about shooting at 1.4 with it. :happy:

In all seriousness it depends on the lens, what look you're going for, lighting, etc.

As far as sharpness, a lens' sweet spot is usually a stop or two from wide open, but it depends on the lens.
 
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5.0 unless its for some arty shallow DOF thing. I've done interviews at 1.4 for the look and it really doesn't work for me. Even with my Zeiss lenses that are sharp stopped down, they are quite soft fully open.
 
leaftors said:
Specifically with canon / sigma lenses, what aperture do you like to shoot on? If you had lenses that opened up to 1.8 would you shoot at 1.4 or 4.0?

Is 4.0 sharper than 1.4?
Click to expand...

Some lenses are designed to be sharp at widest aperture, others give you more light sensitivity but sacrifices sharpness. Take Zeiss Super-Speeds. They open to a T/1.3.... but they are very soft at that aperture. If you close them down past a T/2, even to a T/2.8 you get a sharp image. Higher end lenses will be made sharper when open.

It just depends on the quality of the lens.

For the most part, lenses stopped down are a bit more sharper than when they are wide open.


That is just on sharpness... for aesthetics, I like T/2.8 or T/4 on s35mm or APS-C sensors. Gives me a nice balance of out of focus but not a world of blured shapes.
 
leaftors said:
Specifically with canon / sigma lenses, what aperture do you like to shoot on? If you had lenses that opened up to 1.8 would you shoot at 1.4 or 4.0?

Is 4.0 sharper than 1.4?
Click to expand...

For stills with 35mm lenses, Nikon... F/5.6 or F/8. Since I've been shooting with the GH-1 moving pictures, I've tended to shoot the 14-140mm Panasonic lens at 5.6.

The biggest problem shooting at those apertures is the amount of light or higher ISO required for a good exposure, at the shutter speed of 1/50 or 1/60.

But in any case, unless tested for sharpness, I'd shoot any lens stopped down 1 to 2 stops, because most lenses have some distortions, or errors, when used wide open... of course money can
mitigate some of that, perhaps enough to make it worth the cost...

As a note, I also like a deeper focus that many who are attempting to achieve a paper thin DoF...

For me the only reason to shoot wide open, would be to get the shot at all given the low light, at the given shutter speed and desired ISO...
 
When I have enough control to choose, and with lenses in the middle focal length range -- f/4 or f/5.6. You can achieve reasonable selective focus without losing all sense of the surroundings, and the lenses are performing close to their maximum sharpness.

More often, though, in news and reality situations, I don't have that much choice, and go with what's necessary to get a good exposure and adequate (often meaning deep) DOF.

- Greg
 
I often shoot wide open on my canon fd f1.4 and I do get a soft image, I think it's sweet spot is around 2.8, which I have started shooting on recently, but I have found a love for deep depth of focus now, and I am finding myself shooting higher aswell, upwards of f8 and higher!
 
Depending on the project, equipment available from the budget, and aesthetics, it can vary wildly. But, for your standard drama on S35, I prefer to shoot at T4, sometimes T4.8, in most circumstances, especially when I'm shooting on matched lenses, like CP.2's. I shoot a lot of shorts, so the depth of field and sharpness at that stop lend a continuity to the film, scene to scene, shot to shot.
 
Since I'm often pressed for light, I often have to shoot as wide as I can but I don't find that preferable as it does soften the lenses I've worked with and I don't always want a super shallow DOF.

If I I'm able to light the scene to my satisfaction, I like being at F4. It gives me enough separation from the background in close-ups but still lets me feel the BG.
 
T2.8/4 split.

This the best balance of lens performance, ambent light control, dof/1st AC relief, and image balance as far as in/out of focus.
 
NO mention of sensor size - I guess all the above comments go for S35

Me? 5d (FF35 4-5.6)

FS100 (S35) 2-4

EX1 (2/3) - 1.4 (or whatever its widest is)

S
 
TimurCivan said:
T2.8/4 split.

This the best balance of lens performance, ambent light control, dof/1st AC relief, and image balance as far as in/out of focus.
Click to expand...

Exactly. This was actually one of the reason I decided to get all my Nikon lenses with 2.8 aperatures (the other being that it allowed consistent aperature for all the lenses and partly economical).
 
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