Sharpest aperature

[ignatiusjk]

Does anybody know how to find the sharpest aperature of a lens? I'm not sure if it really exist or if it's worth the effort or not. If the difference is so small a scanner can't pick it up then why try. Let me know.

[Walter Calahan]

That's APERTURE.

It's usually the mid-point aperture. That's half way between the biggest and the smallest, give or take.

Ultimately, it really doesn't matter. The correct shutter speed and the correct aperture are the ones that allow you to express yourself.

[Ron Marshall]

Does anybody know how to find the sharpest aperature of a lens? I'm not sure if it really exist or if it's worth the effort or not. If the difference is so small a scanner can't pick it up then why try. Let me know.

Lens tests at f11, f16, f22:

http://www.hevanet.com/cperez/testing.html

f-stop selection for maximum sharpness:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/fstop.html

[Lachlan 717]

Does anybody know how to find the sharpest aperature of a lens? I'm not sure if it really exist or if it's worth the effort or not. If the difference is so small a scanner can't pick it up then why try. Let me know.

Generally speaking, if you want to get the best range of sharpness, don't use the first 2 available f-stops on any given lens.

For example, on an f5.6 lens, don't shoot on f5.6 or f8; start at f11.

Hope that assists a little...

Lachlan.

[Brian Ellis]

Yes it exists but it varies from lens to lens and IMHO isn't very important with 4x5 film anyhow. You're usually enlarging 4x5 by such a small factor that things like "sharpest aperture" that may have been important with smaller formats, especially 35mm, are largely irrelevant.

I avoid the widest aperture, it's there mainly for ease of focus, but other than that use whatever aperture you need for the depth of field you want (which could call for a wide aperture if you want to throw the background out of focus or a small aperture if you want a lot of depth of field) and that's consistent with the shutter speed you want if that's important (as it sometimes is if foliage is moving in a breeze, with running water, etc). But see for yourself. It isn't that difficult to make the same photograph using four or five different apertures and then make some prints at your most common size.