Is f11 max practical in the field?

**Leigh** · 19-Apr-2017, 15:46

The slower lens may be a problem if you check depth of field before you shoot.

I normally stop down to taking aperture (2 or 3 stops from wide open) to check.
With my f/5.6 lenses that puts me at f/11 or f/16, which is viewable but not bright.

If you shoot an f/11 lens, that puts you at f/22 or f/32, which will be rather dim.

- Leigh

**Michael Kadillak** · 19-Apr-2017, 16:43

Originally Posted by Leigh

The slower lens may be a problem if you check depth of field before you shoot.

I normally stop down to taking aperture (2 or 3 stops from wide open) to check.
With my f/5.6 lenses that puts me at f/11 or f/16, which is viewable but not bright.

If you shoot an f/11 lens, that puts you at f/22 or f/32, which will be rather dim.

- Leigh

It does not matter if you start at f5.6 or f11 if you need to stop down to gain sufficient DOF for your specific image and verify the physical result on the GG to ascertain if it is truly "dialed" in. As a result I chose to not have to lug that heavy piece of glass around that you factually do not need. You should be able to qualify the precision needed in the image just by the placement of your film focus plane. Once you have precisely dialed in your two focus plane targets (near and far) pull out your new high lumen LED flashlight and shine it on your focus planes and it takes you about 15 seconds to do a couple of iterations of tilt and check and stop down and get your shot. Howard Bond has a tremendous primer on this topic. You simply cannot believe the lumination that the Fenix or other LED flashlights are now capable of so use technology when necessary. In 8x10 I rarely stop down less than f32 because I need all that there is at this f stop for sharpness on the negative. On 11x14 it is usually f45. The more you shoot, the easier it gets.